IPR Committee Meeting | February 2023
Join the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Committee on Tuesday, February 7th at 2pm EDT / 11am PDT for our first meeting of 2023!We would like to invite you to (re)introduce yourself and engage with fellow VRA members. This is also a great opportunity to brainstorm ideas for the upcoming VRA 2023 San Antonio Conference.Click here to register for the IPRC February 2023 Meeting.Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the IPR Committee leadership at IPR@vraweb.org.Kindest Regards,IPR Leadership
VRA Regional Workshop Interest Survey
The VRA Regional Workshop Implementation Team (RWIT) invites you to complete the 2023 VRA Regional Workshop Interest Survey. In this brief survey, RWIT hopes to gauge interest in certain workshop topics and hosting opportunities. Thank you in advance for taking the time to complete the survey!Link to survey: https://forms.gle/cG6eQ4SuB7VZx53p9 Beth Haas, Workshop CoordinatorJanice Shapiro Hussain, Sr. Workshop LiaisonMichelle Schierburg, Jr. Workshop Liaisonworkshops@vraweb.org
January EAC Community Hour: New Year’s Check-in, Resolutions Not Required
We invite you to join the EAC on Wednesday, January 18th at 2pm EDT / 11am PDT for our January Community Hour: New Year’s Check-in: Resolutions Not Required.As we begin 2023, we want to take the Hour to validate our concerns for the year to come. While we often feel pressured to “start fresh” and “make resolutions” for the new year, it is a fact that we will continue to face many of the same issues and roadblocks we were met with in December. While we welcome tips to navigate self-motivation, as well as integrating manageable goals, we hope this will be a space to come together to support each other and be candid about our worries for January and the spring!As always, we do not record the community hours to encourage free and open discussion.Click here to register for EAC's Community Hour! Have an idea for a future Community Hour? Share your idea with this form!Best,Lael and LesleyEAC Co-Chairs
VRA Bulletin | Fall/Winter 2022
VRA Bulletin Vol. 49 No. 2 (2022): Fall/Winter
The Fall/Winter 2022 issue of the VRA Bulletin (VRAB) is now available. Explore the new issue of the VRA's fully open access journal.
IN THIS ISSUE
VRA Baltimore Awards: Exceptional Contributions to the Visual Resources Field in 2022Maureen Burns
ASSOCIATION NEWSREVIEWSReview of MHz Curationist Akeem FlavorsReview of "Metadata Best Practices for Trans and Gender Diverse Resources" Briana MeyerCopyright Management by Design: Review of The Copyright Management Guidelines for Cultural Heritage Institutions Chelsea Stone
PERSPECTIVESDeep Dives into Digital Cultural Heritage Practices: An Interview with Diane ZorichSara Schumacher
Slides as Artifacts of Nostalgia: Personal and Professional RuminationsLael Ensor-Bennett
FEATURE ARTICLESUncovering Connections: CAQDAS and Tropy for Art Historians and ArchaeologistsKayla Olson
About the VRA Bulletin
The VRA Bulletin (VRAB) is the journal of the Visual Resources Association (VRA), a multidisciplinary, international organization dedicated to furthering image management education and research by providing leadership in the field, developing and advocating standards, and offering educational tools and opportunities for the benefit of the community at large. The VRAB is a fully open access journal and issues are available to anyone immediately upon publication. All costs of publishing are borne by the Visual Resources Association; there is no cost to the authors in order to publish.
Interested in publishing in the VRAB? Information about the submission and publication process is available on theDecember EAC Community Hour: An Intro to the Metadata Best Practices for Trans and Gender Diverse Resources
As we barrel headlong into the busy holiday season, the EAC cordially invites you to our last Community Hour of 2022. Please join us and our guest Devon Murphy on Thursday, December 1 at 2:00pm EST / 11:00am PST for An Intro to the Metadata Best Practices for Trans and Gender Diverse Resources.Responding to the lack of attention paid to description of trans materials in GLAMS (galleries, libraries, archives, and museums), a group of trans and gender diverse information professionals convened over the course of a year to create the Metadata Best Practices for Trans and Gender Diverse Resources. Murphy, one of several editors on the project, will provide a brief overview of the Best Practices' making and their major guidelines. Discussion is welcomed on how the best practices can fit into your visual resources workflows. Prior reading of the guidelines is not required; simply bring your thoughts and questions.Devon Murphy (they/them) is a white, nonbinary, and chronically ill metadata worker based in Austin, Texas, United States (Tonkawa, Comanche, and Coahuiltecan land.) They currently work as the Metadata Analyst at the University of Texas at Austin Libraries, managing metadata for cultural heritage collections and building metadata aggregation services. They are active in creating ethical guidelines, being an editor/drafter on the Metadata Best Practices for Trans and Gender Diverse Resources, and being an active member of the QMDC (Queer Metadata Collective).Click here to register for EAC's Community Hour! Have an idea for a future Community Hour? Share your idea with this form!Best,Lael and LesleyEAC Co-Chairs
Registration Open: ArLiSNAP / VREPS Virtual Conference 2022
Art Library Students and New ARLIS/NA Professionals (ArLiSNAP) and Visual Resources Association's Emerging Professionals And Students Group (VREPS) invite you to save the date for our 2022 Fall Virtual Conference!This conference is open to all, but focuses on the needs of students and new professionals. Attendees interested in art librarianship or visual resource management will have the opportunity to learn from peers and celebrate each other's work through virtual posters and presentations. Via this conference, we're seeking to foster a sense of belonging and growth in our community, and we invite all interested students and new professionals to participate.SAVE THE DATEThe virtual conference will take place on Saturday, November 5th. The full program and registration information will be released on the ArLiSNAP blog and VREPS blog. To stay up-to-date, subscribe to the ArLiSNAP listserv, follow ArLiSNAP on Twitter / Instagram, and check the VREPS blog.Please register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYkf-usrTktE9BJdpSyIBpNVrEoor3jnycxYou will receive a link to join via Zoom when you register. If you have any questions, please send an email to arlisnap.na@gmail.comSchedule1:00 pm ET | 10:00 am PT - Welcome!1:10 pm ET | 10:10 am PT - Fresh Eyes 2.02:00 pm ET | 11:00 am PT - Posters/Break2:30 pm ET | 11:30 am PT - Poster Q&A + Social3:30 pm ET |12:30 pm PT - The End!
October EAC Community Hour: Personal & Professional Positionality
Join the EAC and our special guest Sara Schumacher on Wednesday, October 26 at 2:00 p.m. EDT / 11:00 a.m. PDT to discuss how you can create your own social identity profile by using positionality maps and power wheels. We will reflect on how our identities impact how we perceive images and thereby our jobs as visual resources professionals. When we understand our unconscious biases and relationship to power, what responsibilities do we have and what actions can we take?To learn more about intersectionality, positionality, and privilege, visit this infographic from the University of Michigan’s Center for Social Solutions.Sara Schumacher is the Architecture Image Librarian at Texas Tech University. Her research interests include visual literacy instruction, ethics, and bias.Click here to register for EAC's Community Hour! Have an idea for a future Community Hour? Share your idea with this form!Best,Lael and LesleyEAC Co-Chairs
Announcing the Fall 2022 VRA Professional Development Grant Recipient
Yolanda developed an in-house digitization program at the museum and has digitized over 10,000 assets. In reviewing the current efforts, she has identified three areas that would enhance the success of the department's efforts: Taxonomies, Resource and Metadata Sharing, and Grant Writing.Taking advantage of support from VRA, she will attend Heather Hedden's "Taxonomies and Controlled Vocabularies" online course as well as two offerings from the Library Juice Academy. We hope she enjoys the courses a great deal and look forward to a report of how they will help the museum's digitization plans.The VRA Professional Development Grant Program reflects the broad mission of the VRA to support professional development in the field of visual resources and visual information management. The grant can be used to participate in a professional development opportunity of the grantee’s choosing (such as a conference, symposium, workshop, online education), or to enroll in relevant research activities (such as hands-on field work or a site visit for scholarly purposes).For more information about the VRA, the VRA Professional Development Grant, and other VRA programs, please visit vraweb.org.
VRA Quarterly Newsletter | Fall 2022
Fall 2022 Association News
Conference Update
The VRA’s 2023 Annual Conference will take place September 26-28, 2023, in San Antonio, Texas. Be on the lookout for a call for proposals! An updated annual calendar of association events and activities will be provided to leadership this month.
2022 Workshop Season Underway
The VRA’s 2022 Workshop Season kicked off in September with Learning to Look and Looking to Learn: A Workshop on Visual Literacy. Don’t miss the upcoming workshops included in the event listings below! Thank you to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation for their continued support of the VRA Regional Workshop Program and to the VRA’s Regional Workshop Implementation Team for their work developing this programming.
VRA Internship Award
Sagan Thacker of Asheville, North Carolina, is the recipient of the 2022-2023 VRA Internship Award. Through their internship at the Black Mountain College Museum, Sagan will help launch the museum’s first online portal, which will help make its holdings viewable to the general public. The VRA Internship is generously funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.
VRAB Call for Reviewers
The VRA Bulletin (VRAB) is seeking reviewers for the Fall/Winter 2022 issue. Check out the list of resources available to review and sign up by October 7th!
Mid-Atlantic Chapter Meeting
The VRA’s Mid-Atlantic Chapter held an in-person meeting on August 12th at Penn State hosted by the university’s Center for Virtual/Material Studies. The day included an introduction to the Center’s new space, business meeting, visit to the Matson Museum of Anthropology, and visit to the School of Theatre Fashion Archive.
Leadership Updates
Intellectual Property Rights Co-Chair
Donna McClendon was appointed Co-chair of the Intellectual Property Rights Committee. Donna is Imaging Services Librarian at the Menil Collection in Houston. If you would like to get involved with the committee, contact Donna and Chair Kerry Annos at IPR@vraweb.org.
Current Opportunities
Executive Board Openings
The VRA Executive Board is seeking volunteers for three Board positions: President-Elect, Secretary, and Junior Director of Events and Initiatives. Executive Board Officers are elected by the Board. Terms of office will begin in Spring 2023 following a period of shadowing the current officers. Benefits of serving on the Board include complimentary membership and conference registration. Contact board@vraweb.org to find out more.
Upcoming Events
VREPS Welcome HourOctober 5th, 4 p.m. Pacific/7 p.m. EasternGet to know the Visual Resources Emerging Professionals and Students (VREPS) at their Fall Virtual Welcome Hour!Can We Do That?: Intellectual Property Rights and Visual MediaFridays, October 14th and 21st (register by October 7th!), 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. EasternThis workshop is aimed at helping information, academic, archives, and cultural heritage professionals navigate the murky waters of US copyright law as it relates to visual media.Registration fee: $50Something Mappy This Way Comes: An Introduction to Digital Mapping TechnologiesTuesday, November 1st and Wednesday, November 2nd, 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. EasternA crash course in available digital mapping technologies including: ArcGIS, Carto, StoryMaps developments, and free open source technologies.Registration fee: $50ArLiSNAP / VREPS 2022 Fall Virtual ConferenceSaturday, November 5thThis one-day conference is open to all, but focuses on the needs of students and new professionals. Attendees interested in art librarianship or visual resource management will have the opportunity to learn from peers and celebrate each other’s work through virtual posters and presentations.Collaborating Across the Institution and Beyond: Creating Professional Partnerships to Support Cultural HeritageFridays, December 2nd and 9th, 11:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m. EasternThis workshop will provide concrete strategies for building stronger professional collaborations by exploring the benefits and barriers to creating collaborations and offering specific techniques to build successful partnerships.Registration opening soon!