VRA Quarterly Newsletter | Summer 2023
The VRA’s Summer 2023 Quarterly Newsletter is here!
Summer 2023 Association News
VRA 2023 Conference
There's just over a month left to take advantage of the Early Bird discount on registration for the VRA 2023 Conference in San Antonio! Check out the preliminary schedule on Sched and register now to join us September 26-28. Remember to use the code EARLY BIRD to get your discount!
Book your stay at Hotel Valencia Riverwalk at the special VRA Conference rate of $169 (+taxes) per night by using the VRA 2023 Annual Conference Booking Link, or call the reservations line at (855) 596-3387 and ask for the Visual Resources Association 2023 Annual Conference group.
Travel Awards Deadline Extended
Good news! The deadline to apply for a VRA Travel Award has been extended to July 30th! Travel Awards provide financial support for your attendance at the 2023 VRA Conference. Recipients will be announced the week of August 11th. You do not need to be a member of the VRA to apply for a Travel Award. Apply today!
VRA Awards Scouting
The VRA Awards Committee is scouting for potential nominators and nominees for the Distinguished Service (career achievement) and Nancy DeLaurier (project, publication, or other accomplishments) 2023 Awards to be conferred at the Annual Conference in San Antonio. If you would like to share your ideas about any deserving people or impactful projects, please complete this Google form. More information about the awards is available on the Awards page.
Internship Award Applications Close July 31st
Applications are open until July 31st for the 11th VRA Internship Award. Generously funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the award grants $3,000 to support a period of internship in archives, libraries, museums, visual resources collections in academic institutions, or other appropriate contexts. It also provides $1,000 for professional development along with a one-year complimentary student membership in the Visual Resources Association. Contact Grants Officer Liz Gadelha at grants@vraweb.org with any questions about the award and application process.
VRA Bulletin Spring/Summer 2023 Issue Published
The Spring/Summer 2023 issue of the VRA Bulletin (VRAB) is now available. Explore the new issue of the VRA's fully open access journal.
VRA Bulletin Fall/Winter 2024 Special Issue Call for Papers
The VRAB issued a call for papers for a special issue, "The Root of Things: Grounding the Digital Humanities in an Increasingly Groundless World," to be guest-edited by Apartheid Heritages. Proposals are due by August 15th. The issue will be published in late fall 2024.
Summer Educational Institute (SEI)
The Summer Educational Institute (SEI) for Digital Stewardship of Visual Information, a joint program of the Art Libraries Society of North America and the VRA, was held June 12-16 online using the Zoom platform. Highlights included the keynote "Our collective survival: Radicalizing care work in digital scholarship" by Elvia Arroyo-Ramírez, which was livestreamed on the VRA's YouTube channel.
EAC Community Hours
The Equitable Action Committee (EAC) continued their Community Hour series. Topics of focus included a discussion of the text "Fostering Transformation: Ethnic Studies as Critical Intervention for Primary Source Pedagogy" and working towards an equitable workplace when hiring, supervising, and mentoring student employees and interns. Community Hour notes are available on the committee’s webpage.
VRA-L
The VRA Listserv, VRA-L, moved to a new platform. From now on, all listserv posts should be sent to VRA-L@vra.memberclicks.net. The Board thanks Membership Services Coordinator Lisa Hawkos for her work coordinating this change that will give VRA-L the support it requires to remain vibrant! The new platform, MemberClicks E-lists, also allows for E-lists to be created for VRA member groups such as committees and task forces. If you are interested in learning more about this option, contact Lise at join@vraweb.org.
Upcoming Events
EAC Community Hour: “Nice White Meetings” Article Discussion
Monday, July 24, 1 p.m. EDT / 10 a.m. PDT
Join the EAC for a discussion of "'Nice White Meetings': Unpacking Absurd Library Bureaucracy through a Critical Race Theory Lens" by Lalitha Nataraj, Holly Hampton, Talitha R. Matlin, and Yvonne Nalani Meulemans.
Our Stories, Our Voices: A Hands-On Workshop on Digitizing Community Archives
August 25th, 9:30-5pm EDT
In-person workshop at George Eastman Museum, Rochester, NY
Limited to 20 participants | $125 registration fee
LINK TO REGISTER | Link to info sheet for participants
Digitization, by us, for us. This workshop led by Elizabeth Chiang is geared towards community archives, kinfolk historians, and small groups, particularly those who want to leverage digitization as a means of sharing and preserving community history.
VRA Annual Conference
Tuesday, September 26-Thursday, September 28, 2023, San Antonio
Deadline Extended: VRA 2023 Travel Awards ✈
The deadline to apply for a Travel Award to attend the VRA’s 2023 Conference in San Antonio has been extended!
Good news! The deadline to apply for a VRA Travel Award has been extended to July 30th!
Travel Awards are here to provide financial support for your attendance at the 2023 VRA Conference in San Antonio, September 26-28, 2023. You do not need to be a member of the VRA to apply for a Travel Award.
A preliminary conference schedule can be found here: https://vra2023.sched.com/. To assist with budgeting conference registration fees and the hotel rate are available on the conference webpage.
Before you apply, please read "Travel Award Rules and Guidelines” for VRA Travel Awards Applicants, and "Types of Travel Awards," both linked here as PDFs.
Please also note that award checks are scheduled to be mailed to recipients after the Awards ceremony at the conference and as such, recipients will not have access to those funds ahead of the conference to set against travel expenses.
Travel Awards are intended to provide partial support for an individual's conference attendance, and typically supplement support from one's employer and/or personal resources.
We always suggest budgeting for the conference hotel if you can manage it. Staying at the Hotel Valencia Riverwalk in San Antonio supports the organization and provides ample time to get to know your fellow attendees. It is also a great deal this year! VRA has secured rooms at the special conference rate of $169 (+taxes) per night.
The list of recipients will be announced the week of August 11. Contact the Travel Awards Committee at travelawards@vraweb.org with any questions.
VRA Bulletin | Spring/Summer 2023
VRA Bulletin Vol. 50 No. 1 (2023): Spring/Summer
The Spring/Summer 2023 issue of the VRA Bulletin (VRAB) is now available. Explore the new issue of the VRA's fully open access journal.
IN THIS ISSUE
ASSOCIATION NEWS
2023 Mid-Year State of the Visual Resources Association
John Trendler
Fiscal Year 2022 Visual Resources Association Treasurer's Report
Ann McShane
PERSPECTIVES
Centering Humans and Humanity in Visual Resources: An Interview with Rebecca Y. Bayeck, Ph.D.
Sara Schumacher
The "Life Cycle of Visual Assets": Advocating for the Profession
Carolyn Lucarelli, Betha Whitlow
Beyond Translation: Translating VRA Core 4.0 into Chinese
Xiaoli Ma
FEATURE ARTICLES
Comparative Study and Expansion of Metadata Standards for Historic Fashion Collections
Dina Smith-Glaviana, Wen Nie Ng, Caleb McIrvin, Chreston Miller, Julia Spencer
REVIEWS
Review of "Global Debates in the Digital Humanities"
John J. Taormina
Review of "Artefacts, Archives, and Documentation in the Relational Museum Review"
Jennifer Galipo
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 the VRAB website.
VRAB Call for Papers: Digital Humanities Special Issue
Call for Papers for the VRA Bulletin Fall/Winter 2024 Special Issue
The Root of Things: Grounding the Digital Humanities in an Increasingly Groundless World
Guest Editors: Apartheid Heritages
This issue seeks to tackle how we, as digital humanists, archivists, librarians, and otherwise find solid ground to work from as we face an onslaught of precarity exacerbated by systemic injustice. “The Root of Things” will feature contributions by invited scholars, including leading scholars in the field. This is a peer-reviewed issue, and we invite all genres and projects of academic writing, including standard journal articles, state-of-the-field essays, and metareflections on previous experiences. Scholars and practitioners at all career stages, including students, and those from different disciplines are encouraged to submit an abstract. Abstracts for articles co-authored with community collaborators/co-creators or abstracts from community engagement offices are not just welcomed but encouraged.
Timeline:
August 15, 2023: submit short abstracts of about 250-300 words
September 15, 2023: editors will notify contributors
February 15, 2024: articles are due for submission
June 2024: peer-review edits will be returned
The publication of the special issue is planned for late Fall 2024.
Link to the complete Call for Papers: https://vra.memberclicks.net/assets/docs/VRAB_CFP_FallWinter2024.pdf
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.
Explore the VRAB Archives: https://online.vraweb.org/index.php/vrab/issue/archive
Announcing the VRA 2023 Travel Awards! ✈
We are delighted to announce that VRA Travel Awards are available for attendance at the 2023 VRA conference in San Antonio, September 26-28, 2023! The application submission deadline is July 7 at 11:59 pm EDT. The list of recipients will be announced the week of July 31. Contact the Travel Awards Committee at travelawards@vraweb.org with any questions.
A preliminary conference schedule can be found here: https://vra2023.sched.com/. To assist with budgeting, the conference registration fees and hotel rate are available on the conference webpage.
Before you apply, PLEASE READ "Travel Award Rules and Guidelines” for VRA Travel Awards Applicants, and "Types of Travel Awards," both linked here as PDFs.
You do not need to be a member of the VRA to apply for a Travel Award.
Please also note that award checks are scheduled to be mailed to recipients after the Awards ceremony at the conference and as such, recipients will not have access to those funds ahead of the conference to set against travel expenses.
Travel Awards are intended to provide partial support for an individual's conference attendance, and typically supplement support from one's employer and/or personal resources.
For 2023, we are fortunate to have generous financial support from sponsors and funds provided by the membership including:
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Award. Up to $1,000
Earmarked for applicants from underrepresented and underserved communities, which may include but is not limited to: neurodiversity, persons with (in)visible disabilities, gender identity, LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, socioeconomic status, religion, sex, age.
Two New Horizons awards. $850 to $700 each
Earmarked for applicants in one or more of the following categories: first-time conferee, solo, part-time, or geographically isolated practitioner.
Tansey awards. $1000-$400 each
These awards are intended for applicants with insufficient (or no) institutional support from their employer or academic program.
Tansey Top-Up awards. $300-$250 each
These awards are intended for applicants who have demonstrated need for only partial support on top of other funding (typically from employers or graduate programs).
New Horizons Student award. $300
Earmarked for a currently enrolled student.
Garneta E. Taormina Memorial Student Travel award. $300
For full-time graduate students enrolled in an accredited degree program and considering a career in visual resources and/or digital humanities.
More awards may become available and will be announced via email, as well as further details about the conference. Please email travelawards@vraweb.org if you have any questions not answered by the documents noted above.
So don't delay - apply today!
VRA Awards Scouting 2023
The VRA Awards Committee is scouting for potential nominators and nominees for the Distinguished Service (career achievement) and Nancy DeLaurier (project, publication, or other accomplishments) 2023 Awards to be conferred at the Annual Conference in San Antonio. To learn more about these awards, please see the Awards webpage.
If you would like to share your ideas about any deserving people or impactful projects, please complete this Google form.
Completing the online form is not a formal nomination, but a simple start that can be completed quickly to offer your ideas. The Awards Committee will follow-up with you about your suggestions and provide assistance with any potential full nominations later.
Although nominations need to be initiated by Visual Resources Association members, the nominees themselves do not need to be members of the organization.
Please consider contacting us about any colleagues deserving of recognition. We so welcome your ideas and suggestions sent on through the Google form or to our shared e-mail at vra.awards@gmail.com.
Apply now! VRA 2023-2024 Internship Award
The Visual Resources Association (VRA) is pleased to invite applications for the 11th VRA Internship Award in visual resources and image management. This internship is generously funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Applications are accepted May 15 - July 31, 2023.
The VRA Internship Award provides financial support for graduate students and recent graduates preparing for a career in visual resources and image management. The award grants $3,000 to support a period of internship in archives, libraries, museums, visual resources collections in academic institutions, or other appropriate contexts. It also provides $1,000 for professional development along with a one-year complimentary student membership in the Visual Resources Association.
Candidates should apply after developing a project with a specific collection and prospective supervisor. Priority is given to applicants who submit projects that support art historical or related visual cultural heritage research and scholarship. The VRA Internship Award Committee favors opportunities in which the intern may integrate skills acquired during the course of the intern’s academic training to manage a project from beginning to end, with the host institution receiving needed help in making valuable cultural collections visible. Projects that would not occur without funding for an intern may be given special consideration.
A complete description of the internship and application instructions are available at the bottom of our Internship Award page.
Save the Date for SEI: June 12-16, 2023, Online
Registration for the virtual SEI 2023 is now open! We are very excited about this year's curriculum and instructors, and hope to see many of you online on June 12-16, 2023.SEI is a fantastic learning and networking opportunity for GLAM professionals and students interested in creating and maintaining sustainable digital collections. SEI 2023 is a virtual workshop, and will open on Monday, June 12, with an orientation activity facilitated by the SEI Team. Most days feature two curricular workshops led by instructors and optional social events, during which the SEI Team plans to make time and space for SEI attendees to build community socially and professionally. SEI will close on Friday, June 16 with a wrap-up activity, also facilitated by the SEI Team. Registration rates for SEI 2023 are $225 for members of ARLIS/NA and VRA and $250 for non-members.SEI is committed to creating and supporting inclusive, diverse, accessible, and equitable communities of practice. We invite you to read our Inclusive Language Guide, which joins our Code of Conduct, Land Acknowledgement, and other documents about SEI.This comprehensive introductory workshop is limited to 50 participants. We expect to meet our registration cap quickly, so be sure to register as soon as possible!If you have questions, please don't hesitate to write to the SEI Co-Chairs at seiworkshop.contact@gmail.com or via our website.SEI 2023 Implementation TeamSenior Co-Chair: Jasmine Burns, Cornell UniversityJunior Co-Chair: Natasha Bishop, Cornell UniversityFaculty Liaison and Curriculum Specialist (ARLIS/NA): Maggie Murphy, UNC-GreensboroFaculty Liaison and Curriculum Specialist (VRA): Summer Shetenhelm, Yale UniversityWeb Designer & Publicity Specialist: Meghan Rubenstein, Colorado College
VRA Right To Be Workshop: Bystander Intervention in the Workplace
The Equitable Action Committee (EAC) and the Visual Resources Association Executive Board are pleased to offer "Bystander Intervention In the Workplace," an interactive training workshop led by Right To Be on Thursday, March 23rd, from 2:00pm-3:00pm EST / 11:00am-12:00pm PST.This workshop is free to VRA members as well as students and professionals in the field of visual resources and has been customized to address scenarios we may encounter in our unique workplaces.About Right To Be:Our goal is to reduce instances of workplace disrespect and harassment by giving employees the tools they need to disrupt those perpetrating it. We will equip you with tools to be an effective bystander in the midst of workplace disrespect or harassment by using our proven 5Ds of bystander intervention methodology - distract, delegate, document, delay, and direct. 98% of employees leave our training committed to intervene next time they witness disrespect or harassment at work.REGISTER HERE!
Register Now! VRA Regional Workshop on Creating Professional Partnerships
The Visual Resources Association (VRA) is pleased to announce registration is now live for Collaborating Across the Institution and Beyond: Creating Professional Partnerships to Support Cultural Heritage! This two-part online workshop will be taught by Maureen Burns and held via Zoom on Fridays, March 24th and March 31st from 12:00-2:00 pm EDT.REGISTRATIONTo register, please visit the workshop webpage. The workshop fee is $50. If you have questions about registration or general questions about the workshop, email the Regional Workshop Implementation Team at vraf.rwit@gmail.com.WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONCultural Heritage professionals are finding new, mutually beneficial ways to work together to develop their resources. In this workshop, we will discuss:
- Improving discovery and broader access to digital resources
- Collaboration and partnerships between units to further common goals
- Current emphasis on institution-wide and inter-institutional work
- How collaborating can provide learning opportunities, expand job scope & develop professional skills
- Expanding networks through collaborative research and projects
- Real world examples of projects that have proven successful
This 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.ABOUT THE INSTRUCTORMaureen Burns is an information professional with over 35 years of experience developing and managing teaching resources of analog and digital images at UC Irvine, the Getty Villa, and CSULB. Presently working on a consulting basis through IMAGinED, she is the sales representative for Archivision/vrcHost, technical consultant on the CSU Archives Japanese American Digitization project, and participating in other image-focused and educational work. Burns’ degrees are in History, Art History, and Education. She recently completed 7 years of work on a NSF-funded arts and science integration UCI teacher training program and continues as the production editor for the electronic Journal for Learning through the Arts. She is active in the Visual Resources Association participating in the work of VRA’s Awards and Financial Advisory Committees and is also a past VRA president, past director of the VRA Foundation, past editor of the VRA Bulletin, and past chair of the VRA’s Southern California Chapter.
Join the VRA Education Committee
The Call for Proposals (CFP) for the 2023 VRA Conference in San Antonio was recently announced. On behalf of the Education Committee, we would like to welcome you to a meeting to discuss EdComm’s support of conference content and to provide a supportive space to help develop 2023 conference proposals.An important part of the committee’s charge is to develop programming for the VRA conference that responds to the interests and educational concerns of the VRA membership. Once the CFP is released, EdComm is busy formulating and endorsing proposals to submit for conference inclusion.Please join us if you would like to explore this as a group! We welcome new and returning committee members! Our meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 28, at 2pm Eastern, on Zoom. We plan on giving a brief overview of the committee followed by a group brainstorming session on topics for VRA 2023 San Antonio.Please click here to register and we will send you the Zoom link prior to the meeting. If you are unable to attend the meeting, but are still interested in becoming involved with EdComm, you may indicate this on the registration form, too.We hope to see you soon!Patricia Guardiola, VRA Education Committee Co-ChairAssociate Librarian and Coordinator of Research, Instruction, and Digital Scholarship ServicesHaverford College LibrariesAmy McKenna, VRA Education Committee Co-ChairVisual Resources CuratorWilliams College