Post-Conference Discussion and Meeting Minutes

Another great conference draws to a close! What were your favorite sessions? Learn something interesting you’d like to share? For first-time attendees, how was your experience? Anything you’d do differently? Let us know in the comments on this post.

If you weren’t able to make it to our annual meeting, you can catch up on the meeting minutes below.

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ArLiSNAP Section Meeting Minutes

Sunday, May 4th, 2014

ARLIS/NA Annual Conference, Washington, DC

Penn Quarter A Room

8:00-9:00 am

Meeting called to order at 8:05 am. Seventeen people in attendance.

Welcome

Co-Moderators Stephanie Grimm and Ellen Tisdale began the meeting with a welcome to new members and to all present. Brief introductions were given from each of the meeting’s participants. ArLiSNAP Liaisons were thanked for the work they have contributed to the blog over the past year. The incoming Co-Moderator for the 2014-2016 term, Rachel Schend, was introduced to the group via Skype.

Ellen shared some statistics regarding the ArLiSNAP blog from the past year, noting that individual visits had increased from 31,848 visitors between March 2012 and March 2013 to 34,346 visitors between March 2013 and March 2014. The preliminary results of the survey questions included in the election poll were also presented. While 40 people voted for the next Co-Moderator, not all respondents answered all survey questions. 65% chose to identify themselves as students, while 11% identified as new professionals, some claiming both. Most respondents (44%) follow the ArLiSNAP Facebook page to keep up with our news. When asked to rank five ArLiSNAP activities in order of importance, “professional development opportunities (webinars, courses, etc)” was often ranked most important, with an average score of 4.16 out of 5. “Job postings” were also considered important by many, scoring 3.40 on average; “discussion and news relevant to art librarianship” came in close behind, with an average score of 3.28. “Local chapter events and opportunities” scored 2.48 on average, and “conference attendance tips” scored 1.68. It was decided that these survey questions would be posted once more after the conference, in an effort to gain a more complete picture of member ideas and opinions.

Agenda and Discussion

The topic of which platform would be best to facilitate group discussion was brought forward, comparing blog comments, Facebook discussions, and twitter chats. Turning the Facebook page into a Group was suggested, as members could exert more control over how often ArLiSNAP posts appear in their news feed, and the group would be listed on the left sidebar of their Facebook page. The idea of a weekly digest of blog posts via mailchimp was also put forward for consideration, as a way to promote discussion posts and encourage participation. It was noted that the blog is a good central place for discussion, as it is possible to comment anonymously.

The question of what needs are being unfulfilled by the blog was raised next. Participants noted that more could be done to reach out to various student groups, and support for students hoping to build an art librarianship student group in their institution could be improved. Information and ideas for forming student groups could be added to the resources available on the blog. The current listing of resources should also be updated, including investigation into the availability of a more recent edition of the bibliography of art librarianship that is currently available.

Liaison roles were discussed next, with the possibility of a quarterly liaison chat raised. This general discussion could be extended to members interested in sharing ideas and comments. A chat could be arranged through GoToMeeting with the support of TEI, or alternatively as a Google Hangout. The need to reorganize and tidy up the GoogleSite used for liaison documents was also addressed. A further suggestion to change liaison roles was to have liaisons specialize in topics that interest them, in a similar way to ARLIS/NA’s SIGs. Specialized liaisons could share news and resources relevant to their topic, and help to enrich the resources available on the blog.

Internships were the following topic for discussion, with participants sharing their experiences with and opinions of unpaid work. It was suggested that new professionals should be encouraged to set standards for the unpaid internships they take, ensuring that this experience will build their skill set. Another suggestion was that members could encourage institutions to apply for grants to support paid internships. A resource page could be created on the blog to provide advice for internship seekers.

Other improvements to the blog were suggested, such as drawing inspiration and resources from blogs like INALJ and hiringlibrarians.com. Information about how to have your work published would also be beneficial for readers, and it was suggested that ARLIS Multimedia & Technology Reviews be promoted as a good opportunity for publication for those new to the profession. It was noted that the blog will likely be changing to a new platform in the near future, so while it would be useful to begin gathering resources and information, substantial redesign of the blog will not be pursued until the future platform is established.

Meeting adjourned at 9:00 am.