Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Announcing the Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect 2010

Lisa Conrad was elected as Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect for 2010/2011. Congratulations, Lisa!

Lisa Conrad's statement: click here

Lisa's resume: click here

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Fall Meeting, October 23rd, Academy of Sciences

The fall meeting of our chapter was held at the California Academy of Sciences on October 23rd in San Francisco. In addition to chapter business and discussion, we visited special collections and explored the beautiful new museum.

The agenda included a presentation on a web-based platform for digital exhibitions developed by chapter member Mia Jaeggli. We also had an informal group discussion where each of the attendees introduced themselves and described their current projects. The group was then treated to tours of the collections in the Naturalist Center and in the Research Collection by librarian Larry Currie and archivist Danielle Castronovo, as well as other gracious librarian hosts.

The full minutes of the meeting will be posted soon.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Summer Social Gathering Aug. 14th

A small but enthusiastic group visited the Estuary Art Attack in Alameda, CA on August 14th. We enjoyed food and drink at the Speisekammer Beer Garden and visited several galleries, including Autobody Fine Art, Forrealism Studios, K Gallery @ Rhythmix. We found a lively and diverse art scene and artworks in many media.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Minutes from May 1, 2009 Meeting

Spring Meeting Minutes
Friday, May 1, 2009
University of California, Berkeley

Chair Lisa Velarde called to order the spring meeting of the ARLIS/NA-Northern California Chapter at 9:30am after the 30 members in attendance enjoyed a delightful reception with refreshments. Thanks to Elizabeth Byrne, UC Berkeley Environmental Design Library, for hosting and coordinating the meeting. New and recently renewed members were welcomed; guests were encouraged to join the chapter via the online form available on the chapter website. Lisa announced that ARLIS/NA is going to begin supporting the chapter website in the future.
At the next business meeting, the chapter will elect the next Vice Chair; Anna Fishaut is moving into the Chair position. Lisa called for Nominating Committee volunteers. Kathryn Wayne volunteered to serve on the committee.

At 9:35am, highlights from attendees of the National Conference in Indianapolis were shared.
Anna Fishaut:
1. “If You Sit There, Will They Come? The Changing Reference Landscape” discussed innovative ways to get the public to come back to the library, including a book club; new members came to the Cleveland Museum of Art specifically to participate in the book club. Another idea involved an Antique Roadshow-like event whereby materials were gathered that relate to on-going exhibitions.
2. “Visual Literacy: What, Why and How?” discussed the ability to deconstruct an image, to look at a painting and talk about it without using outside materials, and how all students can be taught to think that way because every discipline is becoming more visual. Ian McDermott at Yale Center for British Art did a pathfinder consisting of podcasts of people talking about images, as well as a “funny sort of slide show thing” called “Why We Cite!”
Following Anna’s comments, Lisa pointed out that the ARLIS/NA website will have all of the proceedings and PowerPoint presentations from the conference posted soon, as it does past conference information.

Greg Borman, first time conference attendee and SJSU SLIS student, attended the resume workshop and received the “best feedback”; he also signed up for the mentor program. There were numerous events for first time attendees that provided many opportunities to meet other ARLIS/NA members from throughout the country. Greg enjoyed the “New voices in the profession” session especially.

Next Kathryn Wayne offered some unfortunate news related to the economic crisis.
1. In addition to layoffs, the Getty will be transferring the Avery Index to Columbia. The Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA), now called International Bibliography of Art, needs a new home; it will continue until January prior to finding a new sponsor organization.
2. At the National Conference, there were only 25 vendors (down from 50 or more), which raised concerns about location.
3. On a brighter note, the Indianapolis Museum of Art recently put some very insightful information about the organization on its website; Kathryn suggested we all put up statistics like this for our patrons.
4. Parker Library on the Web is a digitized product containing early printed books and manuscripts from the 14th century, and digitized at Stanford. It is available for $9,500 and a maintenance fee of $500.

Linda Psomas, who also attended the Indianapolis conference, mentioned that the ARLIS/NA National Conference is going to start having exhibitions at the next conference for member artists, as they used to in the past.

ARLISNAP is a resource for art library students and new professionals; includes job listings. The regular ARLIS/NA website also has employment postings.

At 10:00am Louisa Roberts read the Secretary/Treasurer’s Report. The chapter gained 5 new student members since the November meeting: Kara Flanigon, Mia Jaeggli, Carrie McDade, Mary Poupart, and Leia Casey, all from San Jose State University. There were 4 student renewals as well. In addition to 2 new members, David Eifler from UC Berkeley, and Dasha Dekleva, there were 33 renewals. If anyone forgot to renew for this year, you can renew on the arlisnanc blog, under "Join the Chapter/Renew Your Membership" section.
$150 was donated to the ARLIS/NA Welcome Party at the annual conference. The total cost of the November meeting at Oakland CafĂ© was $429, $400 of which was paid for by attending members. The chapter paid for the difference of $29. $810 in membership fees was collected before this meeting as well as $75 in donations to the Ann Gilbert Travel Award and $135 for unrestricted use. The chapter’s bank balance as of May 1st, 2009 is $2280.25.
Next, ideas about the next meeting location were discussed. It was determined that the Academy of Sciences library would be the ideal location if available. New members Mia Jaeggli and Greg Borman volunteered to explore this idea.

10:20am Announcements:
Julian Woodruff gave an update on Crocker Museum. The Fantasies and Fairy-Tales: Maxfield Parrish and the Art of Print exhibit is still going on. Additionally, the expansion is going well. The museum will have to close for six months in 2010 to build a connection between the expansion and the old museum; unsure if library will remain open during the six month period. Julian will post information about this to the Crocker Museum website.

Kate Connell and her husband designed the Portola at Play project. 30 copies are available at the San Francisco Public Library or for purchase with a $50 donation to the Friends of the San Francisco Library. The project includes a CD of original music by John Calloway that describes the neighborhood, a short movie by Gustavo Vazquez who teaches film at UC Santa Cruz, a collection of images that tell the story of the neighborhood, and a Bingo-like game (54 images Porto-Loteria).

Elizabeth Byrne showed the new 1 page brochure about recent publications fromBerkeley/Design/Books and William Stout Publishers.

Ann Armstrong, immediate past Chair, gave thanks to Kay Teel for serving as Secretary/Treasurer.

10:30am Panel Discussion: Library Exhibition, Design, and Curating
Kate Connell, Library Exhibition Curator, spoke about the Rosenberg Library Exhibition Program at City College of San Francisco. The program will be celebrating its 100th exhibition; there is a blog for the library’s exhibits. Kate showed a poster for the current exhibition “Rooted in Hope” and read some of the students’ responses to past and present exhibits. The library partners with the graphic design department for posters as well as other departments. Despite a $600 annual budget, CCSF library has “a wealth of opportunities to collaborate.”

Miranda Hambro, UC Berkeley Environmental Design Archives, gave an interesting talk about certain curatorial challenges, including the suggestion to “panic now” because putting together an exhibit always takes longer than you think it’s going to; the problem of guest curators getting stuck on one image; lacking a narrative that matches your images and vice versa; and the problem of balancing curatorial duties with other duties. She also discussed the necessity in adjusting show narrative with what is actually available in the collection. Publicity and graphics: the library graphic staff does graphics in-house for the entire school; produces things like invitations, posters, etc.

Hannah Tashjian, UC Library Preservation, discussed preservation and exhibits, and specifically the damage acquired by materials in exhibits.
Four key points to consider:
1. Use surrogates whenever possible: it is becoming common especially when dealing with photographic materials that are sensitive to light and temperature; very carefully consider the benefits of displaying weak and easily damageable materials.
2. Length of exhibits: strongly suggest exhibits last no longer than three months because of damage from light; light causes fading and physically weakens the object, the damage is irreversible and cumulative (items will receive the same amount of damage at low lights over long time vs. high lights over short time).
3. Temperature and relative humility: both factors accelerate the aging process, the ideal temperature is 65 degrees, 35-45 degree humidity; expanding and contraction of materials causes damage.
4. Mounting: properly mounted items will express less stress and physical damage; when displaying books do not display upright or without support; consider where stress and gravity affect item over time; there are a number of kinds of supports; objects need to be protected from gas and emissions from the materials that are used to construct displays (wood, glues, fabrics, etc). Two-dimensional objects need additional support; matting and framing recommended for larger objects.

Aisha Hamilton, UC Berkeley Exhibit Coordinator, manages four areas: Bernice Layne Brown Gallery, Moffitt Exhibit Cases, Reference Exhibit Case and Prizewinner Exhibit. She described the different roles and components of the exhibit program as well as the process for proposing exhibits. “Exhibits are a team effort that requires a wide variety of expertise in content, development, presentation, design, production, and promotion.”
After a round of questions and answers with the panelists, Lisa adjourned the spring meeting.

Following lunch at the Men’s Faculty Club, the chapter was treated to tours of the new East Asian Library, the new Jean Gray Hargrove Music Library, and the recently renovated Environmental Design Library.

Submitted by Louisa Roberts, Secretary/Treasurer, May 30, 2009

Friday, September 11, 2009

Instructions for Joining Listservs

Here are instructions for joining discussion lists related to art librarianship.

ARLIS-CA, the Listserv for the Northern & Southern California Chapters:
  • Please note: As of Wed., Feb. 18, 2009, the listserv has migrated to new software. Please see the new ARLIS-CA Listserv Info. Page. Previous subscribers should be automatically migrated and need not establish a password unless they want to adjust settings or view list subscribers (go to the subscriber's section of the new info. page and follow the instructions). New subscribers and those needing more information should go to the ARLIS-CA Listserv Info. Page .
  • To POST a message to the list, you must first be a list subscriber. Send your post to arlis-ca@lists.csueastbay.edu. Specify in the subject line whether the message pertains to the NC chapter or to all CA members.

ARLIS-L, the Society-wide Listserv covering the US, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico

  • To subscribe to the listserv for ARLIS/NA, leave the subject line blank and send the message SUBSCRIBE ARLIS-L your full name (e.g.: SUBSCRIBE ARLIS-L Jane Doe) to: listserv@lsv.uky.edu
  • More information about this list is available here: ARLIS-L

VRA-NC, the Visual Resources Assoc. Northern California Chapter Listserv

  • If you are also a VRA-NC member, please subscribe to the VRA listserv.
    Send an email to majordomo@lists.stanford.edu and type in the body of the email: subscribe vra-northca
  • VRA-L - National Listserv
  • To subscribe to this listserv, send this message (subject line blank) to: listserv@uafsysb.uark.edu SUBSCRIBE VRA-L your full name (e.g.: SUBSCRIBE VRA-L Jane Doe)

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Chapter Officers

2009

Lisa Velarde, Chair - Lisa is a former Assistant Director/Reference & Instruction Librarian at the Academy of Art University in SF. She'll be working part-time at the College of San Mateo Library in the fall.
Anna Fishaut, Vice-Chair/ Chair-Elect
- Anna is Assistant Librarian at Stanford University's Art & Architecture Library. She received her MA in Art History from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her MLS from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Louisa Roberts, Secretary/Treasurer - Louisa Roberts completed her MLIS from Drexel University in March '09. She's just begun an internship at UCB Environmental Design Library and is currently on the lookout for her dream job in a museum or art history library.

For contact info. click here.

2008

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Members List

Irene Poon Andersen, Art Dept., San Francisco State University
Ann Armstrong, Student, San Jose State Univ. SLIS
Mary Ashe, Retired, San Francisco Public Library
Greg Borman, SLIS student, San Jose State University
Nensi Brailo, California College of the Arts
Howard Brainen, Two Cat Digital, Image Management Services
Abby Bridge, SF Museum of Modern Art
James R. Burch, Retired, Environmental Design Library, UC Berkeley
Elizabeth Douthitt Byrne, Environmental Design Library, UC Berkeley
Eugenie Candau, Retired, SF Museum of Modern Art
Ruth E. Carsch, Consulting Librarian/Information Specialist
Leia Casey, Berkeley Public Library
Kate Connell, City College of San Francisco
Lisa Conrad, SLIS student, San Jose State University
Edith Crowe, Retired, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, San Jose State University
Heather Cummins, Visual Resources Specialist, Academy of Art University Library
Abby Dansiger, Cataloger, Academy of Art University
Dasha Dekleva, San Jose State Univ. alumna
David Eifler, Reference and Instruction, Environmental Design Library, UC Berkeley
Anna Fishaut, Stanford University, Art and Architecture Library
Kara Flanigon, Berkeley Public Library
Elizabeth A. Ginno, Cal State University, East Bay
Jeff Gunderson, Anne Bremer Memorial Library, SF Art Institute
Nina Hagiwara, J. Paul Leonard Library, San Francisco State University
Katherine Henderson, Retired
Lillian Hetherington, Academy of Art University Library
Dayna Holz, Berkeley Public Library
Giovanna R. Jackson, California State University, Chico
Mia Jaeggli, Environmental Design Library, UCB and student, San Jose State
Stephanie Janney, Student, Univ. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Mary Marsh, City College of San Francisco
S. Elizabeth Marshak
Carrie McDade, student, San Jose State Univ.
Bonnie McLeskey,
J.B. Muns, Fine Arts Books & musical Autographs
Mary Poupart
Louisa Roberts, alumna, Drexel University, and intern, UCB Env. Des. Lib.
Barbara Rominski, SF Museum of Modern Art
Andrea Segall, Retired, Berkeley Public Library
Jay Towne Smith, San Francisco Public Library
Linda Smith, Menlo College
John Stucky, C. Laan Chun Library Center, Asian Art Museum
Kay Teel, Catalog Dept., Meyer Library, Stanford University
Darlene Tong, J. Paul Leonard LIbrary, San Francisco State University
Lisa Velarde, former Asst. Dir./Ref & Instr. Librarian, Acad. of Art Univ.
Linda Watson, San Francisco Public Library, Art & Music Center
Kathryn Wayne, Art History/Classics Library, UC Berkeley
Judith Wehlau, Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising