Art Libraries Society
Central Plains
ARLIS/CP is a chapter of:
Central Plains Irregular
Number 43, December 2007
CHAPTER NEWS
Unofficial meeting notes from the Fall 2007 Meeting
by Tom Young
The Central Plains Chapter held its Fall meeting in Norman, OK, September 27-29, 2007. The meeting was hosted by the University of Oklahoma; local arrangements were made by Matt Stock, the Fine & Applied Arts Librarian at the University of Oklahoma. On Thursday evening ten attendees gathered for dinner at Coach’s Restaurant and Brewery.
The meeting proper was held on Friday at the Oklahoma Memorial Union on the campus of the University of Oklahoma. There were fourteen in attendance for the meeting, which opened with a welcome from Dr. Sul H. Lee, Dean of the University Libraries.
Ellen Urton, Chair of the Central Plains Chapter, officiated over the business meeting, which was followed by a session on Native American Art Resources: Paper and Electronic. The session was presented by Thomas Young, who presented the Paper portion, and Mari Russell, who presented the Electronic portion. Thomas Young spoke about the usefulness or the lack of usefulness of most of the published basic fine arts bibliographies, as well as presenting a bibliography of bibliographies, biography, and current periodicals relevant to Native American art. Mari Russell followed with a presentation and discussion of twelve websites, both free and subscription, which she has found to be useful for her students of Native American art and culture.
Following a lunch break the group reconvened at OU’s Charles M. Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West. The Director, Byron Price, discussed the soon to be released catalogue raisonné of Charles M. Russell. The book will have an associated website with images of all 4000 plus known works by Charles M. Russell. He also spoke in general about the programs and goals of the Study Center.
Following the adjournment of the meeting, most in attendance went across the street to visit the Fred Jones, Jr. Museum of Art. Later that evening most of the attendees got together for dinner at Himalaya’s Indian Food Restaurant. There were no scheduled tours for Saturday, but some people stopped at various museums or sites in Oklahoma City (e.g. Oklahoma City Art Museum, National Cowboy Hall of Fame, Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum).
Report from our Midwest Regional Representative
The ARLIS/NA Board of Directors has been busy discussing the Assessment Task Force recommendations and comments from the membership about the proposed changes. After careful consideration, the board is moving forward with some changes as described in President Deborah Ultan Boudewyns’ messages to the membership on ARLIS-L and on the ARLIS/NA web site (see the News page.) Currently, board members are exploring how functional board roles might work and how the board can best retain regional representation and foster board member attendance at chapter meetings. Other proposed changes will not come to pass. For example, members spoke out strongly in favor of retaining the existing sections, divisions, and committees and these will remain intact.
The Board has also been reviewing reports from committees, including the Membership Committee, which conducted a membership survey earlier this year. The Education Task Force has been a topic of discussion, along with the implementation of “MemberClicks” and a proposed technology advisor to consider the society’s technological framework. We have also been considering an advisory group that would undertake long-range planning for the popular Summer Educational Institute, a joint program of ARLIS/NA and Visual Resources Association.
Look for more information on these topics in the coming months and at the 2009 annual conference in Denver, Colorado. There will also be an opportunity to vote on revisions to the ARLIS/NA bylaws as they relate to some of the changes proposed by the Assessment Task Force and approved by the Board. In the meantime, please feel free to contact me at aetrendler@bsu.edu or 765-285-5858 if you have any questions or comments.
Amy Trendler
ARLIS/NA Midwest Regional Representative
Architecture Librarian, Ball State University
MEMBER NEWS
KANSAS
Ron Michael reports that the Birger Sandzen Memorial Gallery in Lindsborg is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this fall, and that his ten-year anniversary as Curator and Librarian at the Gallery occurred on April 1, 2007. The chapter congratulates Ron!
Mari Russell (Haskell Indian Nations University, Lawrence) reports that, besides the presentation she made at the chapter’s fall meeting, she presented a session on “Good Managers, Great Leaders” at the 2007 National Conference of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums in Oklahoma City, OK in October. 550 attended this conference. She was also part of a panel at the Leadership Institute on Diversity at Emporia State University School of Library and Information Management in October. She is still learning her new job as Director of the Academic Support Center at Haskell, having been there 10 months now. She has hired a new Librarian and a new Library Technician. On a personal note, she is enjoying her Lawrence home, doing some landscaping and fixing up. She is taking a monoprinting class at the Lawrence Arts Center. She further reports that it is great being in Lawrence and seeing her colleague Susan Craig now and then.
Lois Crane (Wichita Art Museum) would like everyone to know that the conversion of her library’s card catalog to an online format hosted by Wichita State University is proceeding in good order. A large percentage of the library’s records are already available on the WSU catalog, with an added feature of a map showing how to get to the museum from the campus. Soon, patrons will be able to limit their search to find only Wichita Art Museum holdings. She is also preparing a list of artist files, projected to be about 1800 names, to add to the online database.
MISSOURI
Sally Closson (Kansas City Art Institute) announces her retirement. She writes this message to the chapter:
“I’m retiring from KCAI after 24 years of “librarying” here. My last day to work is January 4, 2008. I’ve seen many changes in the technology used in libraries in that time, in cataloging, reference services and circulation procedures. What has remained unchanged is the committed and sincere desire of librarians to provide the best and most complete information resources to their patrons. In my book (pardon the phrase), the members of ARLIS/CP are the “Best of the Best” as an example of this. It has been my great pleasure to be associated with our chapter over these years.
I’m moving into another phase of my life, including becoming a grandmother for the first time (so exciting), spending more time at the nursing home with Edward, and going through everything in my house, with the intention of moving to a smaller situation and less maintenance in about a year. When people ask me what I will do with my time upon retiring, I just want to roll on the floor and laugh hysterically. Mostly, I want to stay healthy and be able to do all the things I need and want to do. My best wishes to all of you for health, good fortune and happiness. Thanks for your friendship.” The chapter congratulates Sally on a job well done, wishes her well, and will definitely miss her.
Marianne Cavanaugh (St. Louis Art Museum) reports that the Richardson Memorial Library is now fully operating in the OCLC environment. The library’s holdings can be found in the WorldCat union catalog, but not the public WorldCat.org, as that requires additional fees. The library welcomes new part-time employee Bryan S. Young as the new Interlibrary Loan clerk. Bryan has recently retired from the Monsanto Corporation where he toiled as its Electronic Resources Librarian. He is helping with switching to OCLC’s World Resource Sharing, and the additional number of requests that have been filled.
Marianne also announces that the library recently sent out the Biennial Report of the Saint Louis Art Museum to its exchange partners. Please allow time for delivery. If you are not an exchange partner, please contact the library for additional information.
Additionally, the office of the Museum Archives has been moved into the former Resource Center. This will allow the Archivist and Assistant Archivist to keep much more research materials available for use during the construction of the new David Chipperfield wing of the museum. The storage areas for the museum’s archives will be heavily affected by the building project. With the retirement of the Resource Center Manager, and the loss of that full-time position, it was decided to integrate the Resource Center materials into the library’s collection and create a teaching materials center within the Reading Room. This will probably be the arrangement until the new renovated space for education and public programs is developed. An Art Technology Center is currently proposed for this new space which could incorporate many of the Resource Center’s items.
Suzy Frechette (St. Louis Public Library) reports that the Richardson Memorial Library of the St. Louis Art Museum donated five books to the Steedman Architectural Library. Three are mid-nineteenth century folio volumes that document the structure and renovations of major French churches, one is a late nineteenth century volume on the history of the City Hall of Paris, and one is a seventeenth century folio volume consisting of three titles that document the palaces, gardens, and fountains of Rome. These books are very beautiful and valuable additions to the collection.
The Steedman library was briefly featured in a seven-minute segment about SLPL on the St. Louis PBS station’s program on local topics. To view the segment, choose “Library Tour” from the KETC Channel 9 video archive Living St. Louis.
NEBRASKA
Kay Logan-Peters (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) has been on faculty development leave since July 1, developing a web site on the architectural history of the UNL campus. This is a project she started years ago, but the web version is relatively new. She hopes to have it completed within a few weeks. She has researched and created an entry for every significant, or not so significant, building on the city and east campuses. For each building, she has researched the architects, costs, university personnel or donors associated with the building, found photos and building plans. The website will feature over 60 buildings, and hundreds of photos. View the website at: http://libr.unl.edu:2000/historic_buildings/index.html
Kay also advises that the new building for the International Quilt Study Center and Museum is nearing completion and will be dedicated in late March. The building was designed by Robert AM Stern, and is “quite a sight.” There is a webcam feature on the IQSC website for watching the construction.
OKLAHOMA
In honor of the 100th anniversary of statehood, Susan Bobo published Oklahoma Built: a bibliography of information sources on Oklahoma’s built environment. It contains more than 600 entries covering the state as a whole, counties and regions, cities and towns, building types, architects, landmark buildings and related internet links. Oklahoma Built is an e-document in OSU’s institutional repository and can be accessed through the following stable URL: http://e-archive.library.okstate.edu/arch/1/
Last summer, Susan and a crew of six, including her husband Paul Bobo, successfully moved the Architecture Library to temporary quarters. Because the Architecture Library’s former home for the last 30 years is going to be completely renovated, everything down to the bare walls had to be moved. All the pain and hard work was worth it, though. On October 30th ceremonies were held to signify the official start of the renovation and expansion of the 87 year-old building, funded in large part by a 14.8 million gift from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. The OSU School of Architecture and the Cunningham Architecture Library expect to move into their new home in summer 2009.
The chapter welcomes new member Tori Gregory. Tori has been an Assistant Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences and the subject specialist for fine art, theatre and design at Oklahoma State University since 2002. She has also been the Branch Librarian at Hill College, Johnson County Campus in Cleburne, TX and a Reference/Instruction Librarian at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, TX. She holds a Master’s of Library Science from Texas Woman’s University and is active in several professional organizations including the Mountain Plains Library Association and the Oklahoma Library Association as well as ARLIS/NA. She has held committee positions in each of these organizations and at Oklahoma State University. In addition to collection development and reference duties, Tori conducts research in the area of user information needs (specifically the information needs of working artists and art faculty) and has published articles in Collection Development and Art Documentation. In her spare time, Tori enjoys designing and making quilts and researching textile arts.
Long-time chapter member Tom Young will celebrate a career milestone next month. In January 2008 he will complete thirty years of service with the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa. Congratulations, Tom. Well done!