What I’ve learned since I graduated.

Posted: April 20, 2015 | Author: Allana | Filed under: Advice, Advice: Job Search, Advice: New Professionals, Discussion, Professional Associations | 1 Comment

As of this writing, it’s been just about six months since my degree was awarded. I handed in my last coursework at the end of August 2014, and did some nail-biting while my thesis was graded. But I didn’t actually see my physical degree, framed and signed and in all its majesty, until last week, when I went home for Easter! It was surprisingly affecting — I didn’t think seeing my name all gussied up like that was going to be such a gut-punch of emotion, but I am really proud of that big piece of paper.

so, I hadn't actually seen this before just now. turns out it's actually pretty cool. pic.twitter.com/ROPJOhaoiN

— Allana Mayer (@allanaaaaaaa) April 3, 2015

Between seeing that and reading this, I thought I’d try my hand at articulating a bit of perspective. It’s hard for me to write a “what I’ve learned” article without hedging my bets a bit — there are things I’ve started to dig into deeper, but I wouldn’t say I’m an expert or that my knowledge has yet paid off in practical terms. I started a full-time job as a corporate archivist the week after handing in my thesis, so a lot of what I can recommend isn’t directly applicable to arts librarianship or even the majority of MLIS/MISt graduates who might be reading this. But, I’m going to tell you what I do anyways, and it starts with how I …

1. Criticize myself.

There is no time for a break, no time to kick back and separate yourself from the field once you hand in your last assignments. Chances are you’ve got a job offer lined up, unfinished research projects, a handful of applications to send out, a move, some volunteer commitments or conferences, or some other thing that should be occupying your time.

But you should prioritize a few hours (ideally with wine) to assess your situation, yourself, and your goals: what gaps are left in your education that will stand between you and your dream jobs? What experience do you lack based on the job postings you’re seeing? What’s the most likely progression going to be for you, from entry-level onwards? How can you prepare for each of those steps?

One of the best little tricks is to go back and read the term papers and assignment you handed in in your first semester. Does it make you cringe now to see how naive you were? Alternatively, aren’t you impressed with how far you’ve come in such a short time?

I never would’ve guessed I’d end up in corporate, but here we are, and I’m trying to look critically at which of the soft skills I’m picking up here (project management, training, research and policy-writing, etc.) are transferable and provable, and which ones I still need to acquire, so that I can start out at higher than entry-level when I get back into art and media work. But I have to acknowledge that some of my discipline-specific skills are getting rusty, so I …

2. Keep abreast.

Are you happy with all the listservs and newsfeeds you belong to? Could you stand to add more, or lose a few of the less-relevant options?

Personally, my feed for information on the profession comes from a couple of Canadian archiving lists, ARLIS, AMIA, SHARP, MCN, and the ALCTS eForum I mentioned previously. I’ve pared down a bit, and there are a few lists I’d like to be on for which I can’t afford a membership.

AMIA, for example, is a fantastic way just to keep in mind all the weird format issues and preservation challenges that multimedia workers face every day — there are always emails about finding a specific fitting for a rare tape player, or how best to clean a certain type of film with flourescent dye on it. If you’re bad at mechanical terminology, I guarantee you’ll pick it up quickly.

I use the Art News mailing that comes via CARLIS-L to remind me to check websites like Artforum and Canadian Art. Otherwise I tend to forget.

I don’t read any librarianship-specific websites regularly (other than job boards, for ArLiSNAP), but because of Twitter I’m constantly seeing blog posts from people like Barbara Fister on Inside Higher Ed, updates to journals, etc. If you want art-specific Twitter accounts to follow, check out the institutions and individuals that the ArLiSNAP account follows. (I follow a more eclectic collection, but hey, here are a couple suggestions.)

I can’t afford individual journal subscriptions, and I don’t have institutional access to that stuff, but I do read up on accessible (OA, PD) things when they go by in my feed. I only splurge on one physical publication, and that’s Cabinet Magazine, which doesn’t keep me up-to-date so much as inspire me regularly on all fronts.

On WordPress I follow things like Archives Gig, SNAP RT, most of the ARLIS SIGs’ and Sections’ blogs, and a few oddballs like Artist-Driven Archives and Failure in the Archives. I’m sure someone will tell me that I should consolidate or aggregate a bit better, but, nah.

I’ve also got a special label in Gmail just for Calls For Proposals from the various listservs: I’m not going to apply for many this year, and most of them aren’t applicable to what I do, but I like being able to see what kinds of research and projects are being asked for, when the various deadlines come up, and which journals and conferences I might just want to consume without contributing to. But, occasionally, I do apply for stuff, because it’s always important to …

3. Hustle.

On top of the full-time job, I’ve got a few guest posts and articles queued up for publishing, two regular volunteer commitments (ArLiSNAP, and a journal I help copyedit) and some irregular ones (peer-reviewing for two journals), an ongoing data-mining project with a non-profit here in Toronto (no funding, just fun!), writing for ArLiSNAP and my own blog, and maintaining a Twitter presence of questionable quality.

I’ve done two conferences so far this year, and have two more to come (both speaking engagements, one of which is reporting on a yearly survey I run using Google Forms). This weekend I decided to start a project to improve listings of library and archives associations in Canada (probably with the goal of making Wikipedia pages for each). I have at least four copyright-related tumblrs I’d like to start. Now that I’m thinking of it, I volunteered to copyedit a new book by CARLIS, which I should be hearing about any day now ….

I think of all this as essential to keeping myself engaged with the fields I want to be in. As opposed to grad school, where my time was occupied in shallow exploration of a lot of subjects of varying interest to me, now I get to dig deep into the things I’m passionate about, and construct a broader career arc that includes artists’ practices and intents, copyrights and moral rights for creators, the history of print, preservation and access of both art and art-related documentation, and new techniques for analyzing art. Without calling it “personal branding,” I will say it was a lot easier to define some long-term research goals once I distanced myself from the generalist approach of my classes. Which leads me to …

4. Forget about everything I did in school.

No offense to my alma mater, but I didn’t leave school with a huge network of trusted peers and great professors (or respect for government funding for higher-ed, or ALA accreditation, or …). There was little critical education in the classes I took, which is understandable given the breadth of what has to be taught, but it meant I didn’t find people who thought and argued like I do. Being thrown into a room with people doesn’t guarantee you’ll find things to talk about — and the #1 thing I’ve learned since graduating is that there is a huge variance of why people got into this profession, and what it is they want to accomplish within it.

I moved away from Montreal when graduation was in sight, so I may have shot myself in the foot a little there (also I’m not on Facebook and am only a recent convert to Twitter), but I’ve managed to network so much better back in Toronto, without many ties to the people I spent a year and a half interacting with. A lot of it is online, through associations and listservs and volunteer work with eventual face-to-face meetings at conferences — and a lot of it is engaging people on social media once I’ve come to know and respect their work.

I think the best part of my MLIS was the four jobs I did during that time — one RA position, one job in the library, one internship for a design company, one summer contract with a non-profit — because it gave me at least some experience in a diversity of settings. While I am invested in the academic use of the degree, I wasn’t going to get a job without being able to articulate some proven skills and accomplishments. So, yeah, I recycled some term papers as applications for student awards, sure, but I don’t think my classwork and student chapter attendance are worth much now — and I’m sure they’re not all you have to offer the world, either. Which is why it’s good to ….

5. Stay smart about career moves.

I’ve taken to reading Get Bullish for career inspiration and advice; you might enjoy one or more of the following, if these questions are on your mind:

http://www.getbullish.com/2012/10/bullish-how-to-compete-when-youre-young-and-inexperienced/
http://www.getbullish.com/2015/04/bullish-qa-how-to-effectively-share-examples-of-your-work/
https://www.themuse.com/advice/no-really-these-are-the-best-conference-networking-tips-weve-ever-heard
http://www.getbullish.com/2012/03/bullish-the-nerdy-reflective-persons-guide-to-networking/
http://www.getbullish.com/2015/03/bullish-qa-how-do-you-get-motivated-for-a-huge-unimaginable-life-change-like-graduation/
http://www.getbullish.com/2012/06/bullish-three-tips-for-pitching-your-dream-gig-and-why-you-need-to-pitch/

I am also a fan of the Billfold, not just for the voyeurism involved in their “how other people do money” column, but for some of these:
http://thebillfold.com/2013/05/how-to-make-a-linkedin-profile-that-will-actually-help-you-get-a-job/
http://thebillfold.com/2013/02/meet-people-get-a-job-even-if-youre-an-introvert/
http://thebillfold.com/2012/05/reader-mail-how-much-should-i-be-earning-after-graduation/

… I think that’s it. Other than “Don’t be ashamed of using a lot of spreadsheets to get things done.”

ARLIS/NA 43rd Annual Conference: Some Thoughts

Posted: March 27, 2015 | Author: Arielle Cohen | Filed under: 2015 ARLIS/NA Conference Fort Worth, Discussion | Tags: ARLIS/NA National Conference | Comments Off

Another ARLIS/NA Conference has come and gone; Art Librarians from not only North America, but from around the globe, congregated in Fort Worth, Texas last week to discuss current trends and issues in our niche field of librarianship, debate the future of art books and bibliography in the wake of e-publishing, and just generally mingle with one another. Unlike past years, however, this year I got to count myself as one of the conference’s many attendees. That’s right, folks, I actually had the opportunity to attend our parent organization’s annual conference, and I’ve got the tote bags to prove it…I know, you’re all very happy for me.

So I went to the conference really hoping to come away with concepts to implement in my own workplace, and although there were some very interesting presentations, the truth is that many of the topics discussed were not all that applicable to my niche within a niche library. As someone who works in the private sector, an art gallery to be exact, something like library programming, while important to many art libraries, is not something that works, or is necessary, for a corporate art library.

Yet despite this, what some might call, failing, I still feel as though I got a lot out of my time at ARLIS/NA. I walked away with a large number of resources previously unknown (to me) from which the users of my library will definitely benefit, such as the Art Discovery Group Catalogue (ADGC), the first discipline-specific view of WorldCat records, and I cannot wait to introduce my users to this, as well as many other cool new tools.

Of course, conferences are also about networking, which is especially important for those of us new to the art library world, either as students or as new professionals. I met some really great people and had some interesting conversations. Of particular note to me was a fascinating conversation about how to deal with post-it notes in books when the person who put them there has the authority to request that said post-its remain in perpetuity…yeah, that’s a thing that happens in private libraries. Anyway, the short answer is: try to explain that post-its are the mortal enemy of books, but the long answer is, try to come up with alternatives for your users, even if it means you may have to take on more work.

So that was my first ARLIS/NA conference-going experience, and I think it rather rocked. How about you guys? Did you go? If so, how was it? Any cool takeaways?

Let the knowledge sharing continue!

Some good resources from the ARLIS/NA 43^rd Annual Conference:

Art Discovery Group Catalogue (ADGC) – http://artlibraries.worldcat.org/

Getty Research Portal – http://portal.getty.edu/portal/landing

A/V Artifact Atlas (AVAA) – http://avaa.bavc.org/artifactatlas/index.php/A/V_Artifact_Atlas

Quality Control Tools for Video Preservation (QC Tools) – http://www.bavc.org/qctools

Visual Arts Research Data Management

Posted: February 17, 2015 | Author: hmm882014 | Filed under: Alternative Careers, Discussion, Metadata/Tagging | Tags: conservation and preservation, management, metadata, Outreach | Comments Off

Visual arts research data management (VARDM) seems to be a burgeoning subfield among art librarians and visual resource professionals that will be increasingly relevant to the success of emerging professionals in these fields. VARDM is the subject of a workshop at the VRA Annual Conference in March and, with the advent of data management services and interdisciplinary research, we can expect to see data management spread beyond the sciences into the arts and humanities.

VARDM is currently more developed in the UK than the US, due to a series of JISC funded projects that have investigated the topic since 2007. These projects have labored to define the field, its component parts and the different roles that exist for researchers and data managers. The projects have made their various outputs available – most notably a series of online training toolkits aimed at students, researchers and data managers.

A common thread among these projects is the struggle to define key terms like ‘research data’, ‘data set’, and ‘research output’ as they pertain to the visual and performing arts. Some definitions that recur in the existing literature appear below.

Research Data

“A useful point to consider is that the research data of today may well be the special collections of the future” (cited in Murtagh, 2011)

“Research data is digital information created in the course of research but which isn’t a published research output. Research data excludes purely administrative records. The highest priority research data is that which underpins a research output” (Research Data Management Glossary)

“Data which arises out of, and evidences, research” (Garrett and Gramstadt, 2012)

Research Output – regardless of presentation, is a planned public statement of new knowledge or interpretation

Data Set – research collated in a certain way to substantiate a particular interpretation, analysis, or argument. May not always lead to a research output (Garrett and Grandstadt 2012)

Evidence – Evidence which is used or created to generate new knowledge and interpretations. (Garrett 2012)

The concept of the ‘visual arts researcher’ is a broad one, drawing from the fields of art, architecture, art history, design, dance, performance, etc. and including both practitioners and researchers from within each – including those who would identify simultaneously as both. Thus, ‘research data’ is understood to encompass sketches, samples, notebooks, process materials, reference materials, and any number of other things. Thinking about VARDM poses interesting challenges because, in addition to the logistics that need to be resolved in order to effectively preserve and provide access to the materials throughout their life cycle, one must constantly be distinguishing between the creative process and the research process, all the while recognizing moments when they intersect and align.

To date, most of the efforts to tackle these problems and get a handle on research data in the visual arts have been funded in various ways by JISC in the UK. Between 2007 and 2009, JISC funded a project called Kultur which developed an institutional repository model for research output in the creative and applied arts. Kultur was succeeded by a project called Kultivate which applied the best practice developed by Kultur. In August 2010, the JISC Managing Research Data Program (MRDP) funded the CAiRO project (Curating Artistic Research Output) which ran until July 2011 with the goal of creating a teaching and learning module designed for researchers at the postgraduate level.

CAiRO was followed by the KAPTUR project (also funded by JISC MRDP) from 2011 – 2013 which, “investigated the nature and scope of research data in the visual arts”, and, “created a sectoral model of best practice in the management of research data in the visual arts, consisting of: toolkits, workshops, case studies, institutional policies, a technical requirements analysis, and business and sustainability plans”. For more information, see the project’s outputs – in particular the KAPTUR Environmental Assessment Report. The report investigates issues of terminology, the role of the visual arts researcher and the visual arts research data lifecycle by exploring the following two research questions:

What is the nature of visual arts research data?

How can we support the needs of visual arts researchers through institutional infrastructure

KAPTUR also developed three of the previously mentioned online toolkits designed to provide an introduction into research data in the visual arts and its management – two of the toolkits are geared towards researchers (Introduction to Research Data, Data Management Planning) and the third is intended for visual arts data managers (Managing the Material).

KAPTUR was succeeded by a group called VADS4R (Visual Arts Data Skills for Researchers) from February 2013-July 2014 which built upon the work of KAPTUR by piloting and further developing additional training plans and making the KAPTUR toolkits available. VADS4R created two additional toolkits: How to Avoid a Data Disaster and Writing the AHRC Technical Plan.

Within the VADS4R toolkits the merits of effective research data management are discussed at great length and I will not reproduce all of them here. The concise version, available on the project site, is as follows:

Managing your research data can…

…Ensure you meet research funder expectations

…Make it easier to understand successive iterations of your research

…Make it easier to re-visit your research if changes are required, for example by a journal editor or exhibition curator

…Enable easier access to your research for re-use in other projects

…Avoid the serious implications of having to re-do your research from scratch, for example due to data loss or inaccessible data

For emerging professionals, the point of interest here is not so much the history of VARDM projects in the UK, but the methodical aims and prodigious outputs of these projects which are exceptionally well documented and easily accessible online. While earning my MLIS I was not aware of any coursework addressing VARDM and I would be very interested to hear about any programs that offer this kind of material or institutions that are actively addressing it.

In the recent conference co-sponsored by ArLiSNAP and VREPS, “Visualizing the Future: New Perspectives in Art Librarianship”, Kate Thornhill of Lelsley University College of Art and Design discussed the early stages of her foray into VARDM. If you’re interested in initiating VARDM programming at your institution, I would recommend reviewing her presentation in addition to the VADS4R toolkits and Kultur outputs.

For more information:

Kultur – http://kultur.eprints.org/index.htm
Kultivate – http://www.vads.ac.uk/kultur2group/projects/kultivate/
CAiRO – http://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20140614073310/http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/mrd/rdmtrain/cairo.aspx

KAPTUR – http://www.vads.ac.uk/kaptur/
- events: http://vads.ac.uk/kaptur/events.html
- blog: https://kaptur.wordpress.com/
- Environmental Assessment Report: http://www.research.ucreative.ac.uk/1054/
- Outputs: http://vads.ac.uk/kaptur/outputs/
- SlideShare: http://www.slideshare.net/kaptur_mrd/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/MTG_work

VADS4R – http://www.vads4r.vads.ac.uk/p/welcome.html
- Toolkits: http://www.vads4r.vads.ac.uk/p/online-learning.html

Garrett, Leigh.”KAPTUR: Managing Visual Arts Research Data” Poster presentation for JISCMRD program meeting (October 2012) http://www.slideshare.net/kaptur_mrd/kaptur-postera1
Garrett, Leigh and Gramstadt, Marie-Therese (2012) KAPTUR: exploring the nature of visual arts research data and its effective management. EVA LONDON 2012 Electronic Workshops in Computing. pp. 88-96
Marieke Guy, “Definitions of Research Data in the Arts” presentation: http://www.slideshare.net/MariekeGuy/kaptur-def2
Murtagh, J. (2011) An arts persepective: day two and three – the sixth DCC Roadshow on data management http://www.dcc.ac.uk/news/arts-perspective-dcc-roadshow
Research Data Management Glossary: http://vocab.bris.ac.uk/data/glossary/

News from the Off-Season: some conference cogitations

Posted: February 4, 2015 | Author: Allana | Filed under: ALA, Discussion, News, Professional Associations | Tags: ALA, Canada, OLA | Comments Off

Happy February!

I’ve just gotten back to work after a five-day weekend. Three of those days were spent at the Ontario Library Association Super Conference, here in Toronto, so, not exactly a vacation, but definitely a change from the 9-5.

Besides a ton of useful tech sessions (including on OpenRefine for data cleaning, Koha [an open-source cataloguing system], and a review of the Google Art Project by some local ARLIS/NA student chapter members), this conference is basically the Canadian answer to ALA and draws 5,000 registrants.

Speaking of, ALA Midwinter happened this past weekend as well, with roughly the same numbers flocking to Chicago. They had Jason Segel as a keynote speaker, while we had Welcome to Night Vale. It’s a toss-up, really.

ALA, of course, being that body that accredits those programs we’re taking, has measurably more weight in the profession. They’re neck-deep in campaigns for governing positions, including someone that champions lowering the admission rates to MLIS/MI programs to compensate for the underemployment problem, and someone who thinks librarians are “the best profession in the world.” Sigh. (You can see the debate recording here.) If you’re an ALA member, I strongly suggest you vote in the elections.

A hot topic in both conferences was the new information literacy standards being passed by the ACRL — or, rather, the Framework, as the new concepts are being billed. I did some ranting about this subject a while ago, but I’ll remind you that the ACRL Visual Literacy Standards from 2011 were built upon those original IL standards, which means we should expect a VL-specific interpretation of the Framework in the near future. I have been trying to mull over what those will entail, but, it’s been a busy winter so far. I’d love to hear about your ideas, in the comments! (My first guess is going to be a threshold concept of “the realization that you’re committing copyright infringement basically every time you go online.”)

Meanwhile, back in Toronto, I was finding that quite a few of the conference sessions I attended were hard-pressed to name an audience: a curious newbie, or a field specialist? Even sessions with “current trends” in the titles spent the majority of their time rehashing the basics. I definitely valued the technology demonstrations, and the guides to cataloguing in certain metadata schemes, but I think I’m too niche in my interests to find the bulk of presentations at big library conferences to be worthwhile. And some of the most interesting sessions happened concurrently, so I couldn’t sit in on the session on 3D printing and copyright without missing that Google Art Project discussion down the hall.

But on the upside, I got these awesome socks:

“Due Date Card” Library Socks from Out of Print

Digital stewardship and art librarianship

Posted: November 2, 2014 | Author: seymoresarah | Filed under: Art Librarianship, Discussion | 1 Comment

In the vein of “Hack your MLIS program: Art Librarianship,” we want to gage the interest of those of you who are working with digital collections (including visual resources) and those of you who want to work with digital collections in art librarianship.

For me, I knew I wanted to work with digital collections and digital projects, and luckily there was a digital librarianship track in my MLIS program. Integrating art librarianship into my track was not difficult with numerous digitization projects happening at museums, libraries, and archives. My current position involves cataloging digital collections (the visual resources collection included) and supervision of digitization projects.

Metadata is a big part of my job and there are a lot of opportunities to learn more about it outside of your MLIS program. However, it’s not just about understanding the multitude of different schemas/standards/vocabularies/ontologies/taxonomies/etc. but understanding crosswalks and how to represent the data in different languages. Currently, my workplace is migrating to Linked Open Data (LOD) and much of the field (both “traditional,” MARC-focused metadata and metadata for digital objects) is moving toward functionality with the semantic web. In order to keep up, I’m taking the Certificate in XML and RDF-Based Systems from Library Juice Academy. There is also the Mechanics of Metadata Series for those of you who might be interested.

Coursework preparation

What are you learning about managing/cataloging digital collections in your classes (or outside of your program)? What do you want to learn? Do you have a digital librarianship track or similar coursework requirements?

I only had one metadata class in my MLIS program but all of my other classes supplemented that knowledge with hands-on practice. There were also a variety of classes that dealt with cataloging items of cultural heritage or data management for larger data gathering projects. Most of what I know about metadata and managing digital collections came from my internships and jobs, however, where institutional standards and practices were also important considerations.

“Real world” preparation

What are you working on in your internships and/or positions? Do you feel prepared to enter the professional field? Or, were you prepared?

Also, many metadata and digital initiatives positions are requiring more technical knowledge, as well as experience with MARC and RDA cataloging. What do you think about this? My coursework and professional experienced has been geared towards management of digital objects with little experience cataloging books and other monographic items. Also, my IT classes were focused on web publishing and design rather than markup languages, which are necessary skills for metadata librarian positions!

Thoughts? Please let us know your experience and share any advice you have!

Art, Cultural Heritage, and Law

Posted: September 30, 2014 | Author: Allana | Filed under: Copyright, Discussion | Tags: art, Copyright, cultural heritage, forgery, law | Comments Off

Having recently completed a thesis on copyright for cultural heritage, and started an archiving contract with a law firm, I felt reasonably confident about my grasp of most aspects legal of the GLAM field. (I have also read the Canada Evidence Act. A lot.)

Boy, was my face red when I discovered there is a Center for Cultural Heritage Law, that had somehow eluded all my research attempts. And similar think tanks, under various names, like the Institute for Art and Law. There is a very real legal sub-field, just for us!

The Center and the Institute have their respective blogs (mostly promotional, sometimes informative), issuing opinions and decrees on everything from: how Detroit’s bankruptcy relates to their art collections, the return of looted cultural property, tax exemptions and receipts for art, theft and forgery, copyright and originality, technology and privacy …. it’s all there.

The Center also publishes the Journal of Art, Technology, and Intellectual Property Law, which I am now bulk-downloading before I graduate and lose my database access. They’re even hosting a debate competition on changes to the Visual Artists’ Rights Act, in February 2015.

The American Bar Association has a committee (loosely associated with the Center) on Art and Cultural Heritage Law, and the Center also collaborates with the Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation (I’ve linked to their list of art-and-law courses offered by American universities, just in case you need an elective).

It looks to be an emerging field, and I question whether there is space within information-science programs to incorporate the numerous lessons that cultural heritage law can offer. In my experience, legal compliance was mentioned ambiguously in my records-management class, and copyright was alluded to in the introductory “information and society” course. But pursuing a more in-depth course of study on legal issues was left to independent credits.

Besides the legal angles of running a cultural heritage group / institution / consultancy / what-have-you, we obviously have an interest in questions such as whether Vivian Maier’s phenomenal photos are considered “property” in the case of defaulting on a storage locker (and whether copyright is a “property” included in a storage contract):

“… not only will a lot of Maier’s work be tied up in litigation for years, it may not be able to be reproduced in books or shown in art galleries until everything is said and done. This is beyond unfortunate, and, in many ways, not what copyright law was intended to do.”

Or how to deal with art forgeries in our collections:

“… the former registrar of the Cincinnati Art Museum, Matthew Leininger, one of the first museum professionals to latch on to Landis’s faked donations, but whose obsession with his nemesis led to his eventual dismissal and whose young daughter can readily identify the subject of her father’s crusade with a disturbing familiarity.”

Or where our work sits on the line between intellectual freedoms, privacy, and protection from “hostile work environments:”

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Minneapolis Area Office, issued a Determination that the Minneapolis Public Library subjected librarians employed by the library to a “sexually hostile work environment” in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for maintaining a policy of unrestricted Internet access.

(I also zipped through this long-form about rare book theft last week, which has some hilariously botched sting operations, among other things.)

Let me know about your program in the comments — does your project management class discuss insurance, appraisals, and liability? Do you talk about salaries and working conditions in the field, and delve into issues of gender parity and harassment, workplace health and safety (like breathing mould), or academic rights and freedoms? Could you write an acceptable term paper on the issues surrounding the indexing and return of looted art (and how linked data could aid this work in the future)? Or the contract issues around hiring an independent conservator? Or what happens when collections merge, as in the Corcoran, or the Glenbow? Or a comparative look at legal environments for cultural heritage work across the world?

August 19th: #SLATalk tackles entrepreneurship

Posted: August 18, 2014 | Author: Allana | Filed under: Discussion, Opportunities: Professional Development | Tags: advice, Discussion, interactive, librarian, SLA, special libraries association, twitter | Comments Off

Short notice, but the Twitter-advice-fest that is #SLATalk is happening tomorrow, August 19^th at 3:00 pm EDT – 4:00pm EDT. As it’s pursuant to some of the other content [I made] on this blog, I thought I’d pass it along!

#SLAtalk: Trailblazing! Info Pros and the Entrepreneurial Spirit

Join @SLAhq and the Association of Independent Information Professionals (@AIIP) for an hour-long Twitter chat about what it takes to be a trailblazing information professional. Whether you are already an independent info pro, looking for a career change or are leading the pack from within your company, share how you exemplify an entrepreneurial spirit within your industry.
Tuesday, August 19^th from 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm EDT
What time is that where you are? http://time.is/compare

►        New to doing a Twitter chat? Take a look at “How to #SLAtalk” http://www.sla.org/slatalk-plus-slatalk-archives/

►        Follow @SLAhq and @AIIP – and use hashtag #SLAtalk to be a part of the conversation!

Q1       (first 15 minutes)        Talk about an entrepreneurial break-through moment in your career. If you own your own research business, how did you win your first client? If you provide in-house services to a company, how did you “sell” your services to an important member of the organization? Or, how did you gain the support needed to undertake an important project?

Q2       (second 15 minutes)    Personal branding. Whether you work independently or in-house, how do you make yourself known? More than just marketing, how do you be a self-starting, risk tolerant and just an all-around go-getter in order to be a trailblazing info pro?

Q3       (third 15 minutes)       If you’re thinking about making the leap into the independent info pro world, what tips or advice would you like to know? If you are already independent, what would you tell someone new to your professional community?

Q4       (fourth 15 minutes)     What are some best practices to having an entrepreneurial spirit? What are some skills, mantras or attitudes one can create and maintain for themselves in order to keep the spirit alive?

Can’t join us live on Twitter? Check the SLA Blog’s #SLAtalk category for the recap which will be posted following the session.

≪ Professional Development Reading List Klaxon ≫
Brush up on what it means to be an entrepreneur with some of these articles below:

Information and Visual Literacy, Academic Rigor, and Professional Skepticism: some conference cogitations

Posted: August 15, 2014 | Author: Allana | Filed under: Academic Librarianship, Art Librarianship, Discussion, Information Literacy, Instruction, Visual Resources | 4 Comments

This summer I had to cancel a job interview. (Sacrilege, I know!) It was especially unfortunate because the interview would’ve required a presentation and a web-tool showcase, which I was excited to perform — it’s nice to have a structured interview that you can prepare for practically. The presentation would have been on essential information-literacy skills for first-year college students, and I was planning on using a bit of humour and cultural reference as an attack plan.

Specifically, I think students (and web-users at large) would benefit from holding up Sherlock Holmes as their spirit animal: use a bit of skepticism and plenty of attention to detail, and work hard to connect all the dots, no matter how disparate things seem at first [1]. Context is everything, and reading (everything — new stories, academic studies, and statistics-laden infographics) needs to be analytic and critical. I won’t offer any contemporary examples, for fear of digressing into those discussions, but let’s all be aware of the general state of misinformation and gullibility in the world (or, I dunno, trusting the “true story” claim at the beginning of Fargo?).

You thought I was going to put up Cumberbatch, didn’t you.

Lots of people have been discussing information literacy online lately, and I’ve been mulling on it as well. I missed the visual literacy session at ARLIS/NA this year, because I was at the information literacy MOOC session next door, where I brainstormed some alternative MOOC models (universal design, anyone?). Perhaps those of you who attended the visual-lit session can fill me in on which “real-world [library] examples of how ACRL’s visual literacy guidelines have been implemented” were shared, and whether any suggestions were made as to how to supplement the ACRL guidelines with library-specific instructions (is there a forthcoming ARLIS/NA occasional paper on this? There should be).

One question I’ve been pondering since then is how to incorporate research methods and scientific rigor lessons into information and visual literacy — how to make Sherlocks of us all. I’m sure we all took a (strenuous / boring) research methods class in the MLIS program; for me it was a repetition of the undergraduate research methods I learned as part of a psych minor. Every time you consult a data-collection study, you still have to ask: did they use a control group? Did they control for conflating variables? Are they making assumptions about causation, or drawing one of many possible conclusions? Was there a replicating study? Were the survey questions priming, or compound? Did they set their sights on statistical significance? My MLIS-level research course didn’t really enforce these obvious questions, although we all tried our hand at evaluating a study or two for rigor.

I thoroughly enjoyed the “criticisms” section of my article-evaluation assignment.

It’s being generally acknowledged that LIS / GLAM scholarly work has a relatively low standard of scientific rigor: we don’t replicate studies, we generally only survey an easily-accessible demographic (i.e. college students), and our studies are designed less to further intelligent work in our field and more to push academic librarians into tenure. We could point to a number of problems: peer reviewers with no skills in research analysis, the general left-hand/right-hand divide in LIS between practitioners and academics, and professional associations that don’t push hard enough for presentations and publications that span our full profession. If we’re no good at research methods, how will we impart these skills to our patrons?

The contemporary debate has scared me off using the word “rigor” at all, for fear of it being taken for the opposite of “diversity,” as it seems to have been co-opted lately. Rigor in a strict statistical sense transcends demographics; “rigor” used in reference to higher-education skill-sets could absolutely use some work, but that’s really more of a bad-teachers problem in my thinking. Universities have plenty of resources for academic writing, tutoring, disability accommodations, ESL upgrading, computer lessons, etc., if only students were being made aware of their shortfalls through teacher interaction and feedback.

Libraries are doing essential work in both supplementary education for students with shortfalls and in instructional design for teachers, which should include some basic lessons in how to assess students for these problems, and get them working up to speed before final marking. Is there space for librarians to provide supplementary instruction in not just information literacy and research rigor, but in visual and media literacy as well — and to target students who need that training most?

The number of high-school grads that go to post-secondary tends to hover around the 68% mark in recent years, meaning that, if we can educate every college student in basic info- or visual-literacy, we can put a huge dent into general gullibility and increase the knowledge of intelligent research methods. (I couldn’t begin to imagine how to insert this education into secondary school, but if you have suggestions or resources to share, I’m all ears.) And the sooner we plant the seeds of good scientific design, the sooner we’ll see a general improvement in scholarly output — or at least more articles admitting their limitations and mistakes from the get-go.

But this is all, literally, academic. How do we get information-literacy education out into the public, especially when most popular news outlets seem to benefit directly from a lack of critical thinking? More specifically, how do arts librarians working in visual literacy and media literacy help to educate both their patrons and the public at large — especially if visual literacy skills are universally important but we only get access to arts students?

If you haven’t read the ACRL Visual Literacy Standards, here they are (2011). ARLIS/NA has also put out standards and competencies for information literacy competencies (2007) and instruction (2002). As it stands, it’s our job to (not only teach basic info-lit, but also) hand out lessons on copyright and plagiarism, good design and accessibility, data visualization (and how it can mislead!), image-editing detective work (which invariably leads to an addiction to Photoshop Disasters), and everything from technical evaluation (“how true is the digital colour to the original?”) to art-education evaluation (“what period/genre is this from?”) and semiotics / semantics / cultural theory diversions. Skepticism and rigor in visual literacy could, I predict, lead to everything from a higher interest in art and design among the general populace, to better body image (“Nobody is that beautiful without airbrushing!”) and consumer ethics (“I’d better not buy this plagiarizing pillow“). And sometimes it’s just about getting the joke.

Let’s play “name the reference.”

Information literacy might need a bit of a rebrand: like taking a technology class at your library, lots of people aren’t willing to admit they could use a refresher or don’t really get the underlying principles behind their daily use. As usual, the best policy seems to be “Get ’em while they’re young,” and making digital / media literacy and scientific rigor a base part of public education — a required seminar for all first-year college students, at least.

Can art librarians design a quick, fun, painless way to lay out the pitfalls and consequences of being design-dumb? Are the threats of bad website navigation, low-resolution printing, inadvertent copyright infringement, and lack of accessibility important enough to get bureaucratic and financial support? Or will the information-literacy MOOCs fall by the wayside, underused and unacknowledged?

[FYI: ARLIS/NA has an Academic Division (who worked with the ACRL VL Taskforce), a Visual Resources Committee, and a Teaching SIG, but no ongoing groups working on visual literacy specifically, or any published plans to update the 2007 info-lit guidelines. I have yet to hear about collaborations with the International Visual Literacy Assocation, or similar bodies, but if you know of any, post a comment! Maybe it’s time for a little ARLIS/NA visual literacy focus … ]

1: I have always been confused by Sherlock’s use of “deduction” — isn’t he using induction, to take the clues in front of his face and construct a narrative, rather than beginning from a premise and eliminating possible outcomes? If someone can give me a mnemonic or something, I would greatly appreciate it. Says he:

“Let me run over the principal steps. We approached the case, you remember, with an absolutely blank mind, which is always an advantage. We had formed no theories. We were simply there to observe and to draw inferences from our observations.”

– Sherlock Holmes, The Adventure of the Cardboard Box

On Freelancing and Contracting: some conference cogitations

Posted: August 1, 2014 | Author: Allana | Filed under: Advice, Advice: Job Search, Alternative Careers, Archives, Discussion | 5 Comments

I spent the end of June in beautiful, temperate, layers-friendly Victoria, BC, attending the Association of Canadian Archivists’ annual conference. It was amazing, scary, inspiring, and weirdly comfortable — no business cards were exchanged, but plenty of people wanted to gush about ideas.

I presented on the student panel between two very intelligent and articulate colleagues — my presentation was, let’s say, a bit more informal than theirs, but I think it went well. It was gratifying to hear some of my sentiments echoed in the closing plenary by Laura Millar. The main point I ended my student presentation on, which was picked up again by Millar, was the idea that the archiving profession needs to delve into freelancing models of employment.

This theme has been covered by the usual GLAM publishers (HLS on freelancing librarians; Hiring Librarians on contract work; INALJ on freelancing) — as has, of course, the dearth of cushy, steady, benefits-laden jobs you can hold for thirty years (or at least until all our icons and role models retire). I haven’t seen much discussion on how to freelance in art libraries or art archives, but I’d like to think there’s plenty of project work to be done in preserving and cataloguing artists’ files, implementing digital asset management, developing metadata schemes or collections mandates, digitization, publishing and reproductions management, exhibits and auctions, conservation for artists’ books….

#aca2014 Millar: We cannot wait for records creators, we have to go to them. We cannot do this on our own, we must enlist society to help us

— Sweeney139 (@Sweeney139) June 28, 2014

Millar: we need to engage actively and persistently with our communities if we are to survive #aca2014

— Hannah (@hannahwiseman) June 28, 2014

Millar: funding cuts is not our crisis. Our crisis is a chaotic digital world crashing into itself, destroying trust, authenticity. #aca2014

— ACA (@archivistsdotca) June 28, 2014

My presentation focused on diverse and underrepresented communities that have media-collecting and -preserving needs not being met by institutionalized archiving systems. I focused on virtual communities (because social-network websites are where the best media are being collected, obviously), which meant that everything archival got put into a very technological framework.

I tried not to scare anyone off with the fear of archiving in the digital age (“Imagine you work for a historical society that has collected materials from each and every single resident of the town,” I suggested, to get a scope of the problem/potential of virtual communities), but I’m afraid it’s a very real part of the future of the profession, especially as we start moving from digitization projects to interface design for presenting our materials.

Bringing information-professional skills and techniques to your average website-builder or community-organizer is likely a consultancy task: you start with assessment, then they find enough money for implementation, you make some recommendations for maintenance, and eventually every community or arts group has an archivist-on-call, or a librarian for a half-day a week.

That means we all juggle multiple clients and bounce from one deadline to the next. Many people do not find this a very rosy picture of the industry’s future. Then again, there are those of us that can’t imagine working the same full-time processing or reference job day in and day out.

There are definitely ways to do it right. I’ll be interviewing some freelancing and entrepreneur archivists and librarians in the near future, on this blog, so you can see for yourselves. There’s even an association for independent information professionals, and plenty of opportunities for mentorship, entrepreneurial bootcamps, start-up funding, and guides to the legal and financial steps to declaring yourself a businesswoman.

Ideally, I’d love to do private archiving with artists — which is never high-paying. It tends only to happen when the artist is anticipating an eventual donation of their records to an institution — there, the benefit of getting things organized beforehand is the tax credit offered upon appraisal (in Canada, anyways). While an artist or arts group may want to get the job done, the money, often, simply isn’t there.

[Ironically, I just found contract archiving work in the private sector, which is not exactly walking-the-walk, but maybe I’ll have time for some pro-bono projects with individuals and non-profits. Stay tuned!]

I’m interested to know everyone’s thoughts. There were lots of nodding heads when Millar said it, but I still felt a bit radical suggesting it myself (ah, what the confidence a thirty-year career could give!).

What do you think: are librarians and archivists destined for lots of part-time, contract-based, multi-tasking jobs, helping everyone manage unique information needs? Or will the majority of us find the full-time, paid-vacation unicorn we dream of? Is there a balance between the two?

More scarily: will freelancing mean we all have to learn how to administer databases and provide cut-rate graphic design services? Is there a way to freelance in GLAM-related work that isn’t technologically dependent?

Art Library Advocacy, Part One: Speaking Up for Libraries

Posted: June 27, 2014 | Author: ellenjt | Filed under: ALA, Discussion | Tags: ALA, library advocacy | 2 Comments

As someone working towards becoming an art librarian, I often find myself in conversations defending the arts, libraries, or both. This task is a bit easier, and a lot more effective, if you have some numbers and compelling arguments to back you up. In this series of posts, I thought I’d share some resources I’ve found that can help us advocate for the arts and for libraries. This first post will look at general library advocacy.

The ALA has some fantastic resources in their Campaign for America’s Libraries. This project works to increase public awareness of the importance of libraries and librarians. Although some points are geared more towards public libraries, many are relevant for the advocacy of libraries in general. Here are a few excerpts from their Key Messages:

“Libraries are changing and dynamic places. Today’s libraries go beyond books. While still offering traditional print resources, libraries have free computers, access to the Internet, free wi-fi and more.” This is one of the most common misconceptions I find among people who don’t often visit libraries. People are perplexed when I tell them my goal is to become a librarian – why devote your career to a dying industry? Whether print books will stick around in future generations or not, this demonstrates the importance of updating the image of libraries and talking about the work we do to stay relevant.

“Communicate about librarians as well as libraries.The campaign’s messages are designed to ensure that target audiences know that today’s librarian is a well-trained, technology-savvy, information expert who can enrich the learning process of any library user.” Many people aren’t sure about what exactly librarians do, nor do they realize the difference between librarians and library technicians or library assistants. Here are a few great examples from the Campaign’s Talking Points:

“Librarians are the ultimate search engine. Librarians are trained experts in finding information, wherever it is — in books, in archives, on the Web.”

“In a world of information overload, librarians are information navigators — clearing a path, pointing you toward the information you need.”

The ALA is also a great source for stats and figures. This Quotable Facts about America’s Libraries pamphlet, 2012 edition, has some interesting insights into the current situation of libraries in the U.S. The annotated edition provides links and citations. A few tidbits for academic libraries:

“College libraries receive just less than three cents of every dollar spent on higher education.”

“If the cost of People magazine had risen as fast as the cost of academic library periodicals since 1990, it would cost about $182 for a one-year subscription.”

“There are 584 students enrolled for every librarian in 2- and 4-year colleges and universities in 2010 in the U.S. as compared with 14 students for each teaching faculty member.”

This number is even larger among Canadian Research Libraries: CARL Statistics from 2010-2011 listed 627 students per librarian.

We’d love to hear from you: what are the most common misconceptions you’ve found come up in conversations with non-library-users? How do you respond? What are your tips for speaking up for libraries?

Discussion: An Example of an Unpaid Internship

Posted: June 10, 2014 | Author: Allana | Filed under: Discussion | Tags: Canada, Discussion, Internships, job market, job postings, volunteer | Comments Off

Pursuant to our ongoing discussions about unpaid internships, I thought this opportunity might be of interest:

Culture, Arts, and Innovation Summer Student – Baycrest Health Services, Toronto

http://current.ischool.utoronto.ca/jobsite/2014/culture-arts-innovation-cai-summer-student

(This link will eventually stop working; see excerpts instead)

“CAI is seeking a summer student to oversee a comprehensive campus-wide project involving Baycrests’ permanent art collection (over 900,000 works of art), as well as assist in the coordination of several arts based events throughout the summer in partnership with the National Ballet School and units within our Long Term Care setting.

“The incumbent will oversee a campus-wide art initiative that seeks to expand upon and modernize our current art inventory records. Utilizing museum database program Past Perfect as well as Microsoft Excel, the student will scan our campus, update records, research artists and key collection pieces, with an end goal of creating a comprehensive up-to-date database of our permanent collection holdings. With this new found knowledge, the student will be asked to curate a series of digital exhibitions….

“All the while, the student will be exposed to and called upon to contribute towards other exciting projects that are taking place in the summer months including the Dance Exchange, the National Ballet of Canada, and an industrial design project.”

Experience with Past Perfect? Curation, research, and collaboration with amazing cultural groups? 900,000 works of art?!

*chin-hands*

“This is a voluntary position. There is no compensation.”

…

Baycrest is essentially a seniors’ retirement home that is also a research facility, “fully affiliated” with the University of Toronto. They partner with public and private organizations, they’re launching a line of “aging oriented products,” and their president and CEO made over $700,000 in 2012. But they don’t pay summer students to manage huge database projects.

Now, I am not trying to public-shame anyone. But I want to use this as a very real example of what an unpaid internship looks like, and to ask whether or not our readers would think that this position is justified. The post doesn’t clarify whether this is full-time, part-time, or weekends-and-evenings, nor could I find a mirror of the job post on their site (under neither Volunteer nor Career Opportunities).

To me, the amount of experience it offers would make it very tempting — but if it was a full-time position without any compensation whatsoever, I would ready my rotten tomatoes.

Of course, I thought this was a good opportunity to follow my own advice about discussing unpaid internships with the hosting organizations themselves. I reached out to the listed contact and asked for more information about the position: one, why it was unpaid, and two, why there was no required background in art (for the sake of documenting, describing, and indexing: shouldn’t you at least know how to use the A&AT?). I sent out an email on May 7th, and didn’t receive a response.

I wish I had more to report, other than to say that I will probably continue to (politely) pester HR staff by email when similar posts pop up in the future, and I promise to keep everyone apprised.

In the meantime, what do you think?

Extracurricular activities?

Posted: June 3, 2014 | Author: Abigail_Sadler | Filed under: Art Librarianship, Discussion, [ ArLiSNAP ] | 5 Comments

Shortly into my MLIS program I realized that, while school and internships would no doubt provide me with indispensable knowledge and experience, it was important that I was not relying only on these things to help prepare me for a career in art librarianship. I assume I’m not alone on this that most of you are following blogs, reading journals, watching webinars or doing various other activities that you believe will help you to land your dream job or stay relevant in the field.

For this discussion post, I was hoping that we could share some of these resources that we rely on. I thought it might be interesting and helpful to see what other people are doing outside of work and school to sharpen skills or to learn more about the world of art librarianship. Please be encouraged to join the conversation and share any readings, websites, activities, or anything else that you feel has helped you.

Below are some of the things that I do, read, etc. that I think will help me in the long run, a few of these I have suggested on earlier blog posts but thought I might as well share them again. Enjoy!

Duolingo – It has been a few years since I’ve taken any language classes so my skills have started to get a little rusty. I wanted to re-familiarize myself with both Spanish and French for a number of reasons. First, I think that having a working knowledge of French, Italian, German, and to a lesser degree Spanish, can help a great deal in working with art historical publications since those seem to be the major research languages. Also, proficiency in more than one language is definitely a desirable skill and something that can set you apart from other job candidates.

Art Documentation – I read this journal to keep up to date on any important research, trends, or issues surrounding art librarianship. Plus, if you are a member of ARLIS/NA a subscription of the journal is included in your membership!

w3schools – In the past year or two, I have really been focusing on building my tech skills to help me compete in the job search, the tutorials on this website are free and really great.

That’s it for now, I wanted to first get the discussion started and then I’ll definitely join in and share some more.

Unpaid Internships

Posted: April 27, 2014 | Author: ellenjt | Filed under: Discussion | Tags: career planning, internship, unpaid internship | 4 Comments

There has been a lot of interesting discussion on ARLIS-L lately about internships, many of which are unpaid. We’d like to hear from you! Are you currently or have you previously worked an internship, paid or unpaid? What are your thoughts on this system? How did you choose which internship would be best for your career goals? And how can ARLIS/NA support you through this time of transition from student to professional?

By Filosofias filosoficas (File:Filos tercer logo.JPG) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

We would love to hear your ideas on this important topic! Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Arlisnappers: Which resources do you use for cataloging?

Posted: March 9, 2014 | Author: ellenjt | Filed under: Advice, Cataloging, Discussion | Tags: advice, Cataloging, Library of Congress Authorities | Comments Off

One of our members has a request for some advice. For those of you who have done cataloging in an art library setting, which resources do you use for reference? Which websites, books, or other materials have you found useful as you’ve learned to catalog? In our list of cataloging resources on the right sidebar of the blog, we currently have the Getty Vocabulary Program and the Library of Congress Authorities. Which other resources would you recommend for beginner catalogers?

Leave us a comment on the blog or on our Facebook page. Your fellow members thank you!

Image courtesy of The New York Public Library, via http://bit.ly/1oCJnUH

Data Visualization

Posted: March 4, 2014 | Author: Abigail_Sadler | Filed under: Discussion, [ ArLiSNAP ] | Tags: data visualization, information visualization, visualization tool | 1 Comment

Image from Wikimedia Commons

This semester I am taking a data analytics course and it has me thinking a lot lately about data visualization. Specifically, I am interested in the ways it could be used by information professionals to provide meaningful insight into the arts for researchers and patrons. I think it is safe to say that the use of data visualization in the field is still fairly new and evolving. But, it is a technology that has been getting a lot of attention and definitely worth knowing about!

This video features a discussion by NYU graduate student Shilpan Bhagat about the process of creating a visualization tool that was used for the IFA’s “Mapping Video Art” project. Follow this link to check out the actual project, it is an excellent example of how data visualization is currently being used in the arts.

There are some really good resources for those who want to learn more about data visualization. The website Flowing Data provides a wealth of information and examples about how data visualization is being used in various fields. Indiana University also offers this MOOC which provides an overview of information visualization. If you are interested in trying out some of the various data visualization tools available Creative Bloq created a list of what they consider to be some of the best. Go ahead and play around with some!

Do you have any thoughts on data visualization? Or any relevant websites, projects, or experiences using data visualization tools you’d like to share? Please feel free to do so!

Books of the Heart

Posted: February 8, 2014 | Author: Alison Larson | Filed under: Discussion, Fun | Tags: academic libraries, artist book collections, artist books, Artists Books, Baylor Artist Book Collection, Baylor University Library, Crouch Fine Arts Library | Comments Off

Pictured above are the current contents of the Crouch Fine Arts Library’s display at Baylor University Library in Waco, Texas. For the month of February 2014, a small but eclectic group of selections from the Baylor Artist Book Collection pertaining to *LOVE* in its varied manifestations engages viewers with themes as diverse as the playful revision of Shakespearian dialogue in r&j: the txt message edition to more jaded reflections in Heart Assortment: A Bittersweet Sampler.

Many academic libraries have artist book collections of various sizes and scopes. Some institutions collect regionally, thematically, or structurally, while others prefer a mix of all types and kinds. Collection scale, of course, depends heavily on the acquisitions budget. Art librarians have found artist books to be interesting objects for display within their libraries and useful tools for developing interdisciplinary relationships with faculty and students. The Baylor Artist Book Collection is often requested for art department classes, but is also requested by professors from other departments. An emerging trend at Baylor is engagement by students in the Medical Humanities program.

For more information on the collection see http://www.researchguides.baylor.edu/heartbooks.

What other ways are artist book collections used in libraries? Do you or would you collect artist books in your role as an art librarian? Why do you think these types of collections are popular in an increasingly digital age?

Are you Library Management Material?

Posted: January 19, 2014 | Author: Alison Larson | Filed under: Art Librarianship, Discussion, Education: LIS Programs | Tags: Library and Information Center Management, Library Management, library school, management, Management Studies | 1 Comment

Although it might seem to many of us, while students, that library management is something to consider years from now, if ever, it might be worth a second thought during your MLIS program. If you have been in library school any length of time, you are bound to have picked up on something like “a shortage of qualified library leaders is coming, so get ready!” While this may or may not be true, it is entirely within the realm of possibility that some of us will eventually be library managers. With the proliferation of educational tracks and certificate programs, choosing one is sometimes a daunting prospect. What would entice you to choose a Library Management emphasis over others?

Maybe the answer lies in taking stock of your personality, skills, abilities, and goals. For me personally, Management Studies is ideal. I LOVED 5300: Library and Information Center Management. I reveled in topics like Strategic Planning, Organizational Culture, Human Resource Management, Ethics, and Development/Fundraising. Of course, maybe this has something to do with the fact that I have had some management experience and can envision myself in a leadership role readily. Or maybe it’s simply that I like being in charge!

What about you? Can you picture yourself in a management role of some kind? Do you think the administrative side of the job would perhaps overshadow your primary objectives as a librarian? Yes or no?

Discussion: All About Metadata

Posted: November 3, 2013 | Author: Abigail_Sadler | Filed under: Discussion | 5 Comments

This week’s post is a continuation of the one I wrote a couple of Sundays ago about creating your own art librarianship track when your program does not offer one. I thought it would be useful in this post and the next to follow to delve a little deeper into the core courses I had previously mentioned. Today’s post is all about metadata- why it’s an important skill, what courses kinds of courses to look for and other useful resources for learning about metadata.

So, why metadata? Looking through recent job postings on both the ARLIS/NA and VRA websites there is a noticeable demand for knowledge of and experience with digital resource management and data standards. I think it is safe to argue that having a deep understanding of metadata is important to meeting these demands. Additionally, metadata application and standards are listed as one of the core competencies for visual resource management on the VRA website. Also, while looking at the ARLIS/NA website I found that metadata was often the focus of past publications and various conference programs.

Taking courses on metadata is key to gaining a better understanding of its applications and functions. Right now, I’m halfway through a course titled Metadata in Theory and Practice; the course has allowed me to become more familiar with applying metadata to cultural objects and using standards such as Dublin Core. While this and similar courses are an obvious choice for those interested in the subject, what might be some other useful classes to take? Classes in digital imaging and digital curation might prove useful as you will most likely be applying metadata to digital objects as part of the course requirements. What other kinds of courses might you seek out to learn more about metadata?

There are also opportunities and resources for learning about metadata outside of the classroom. Both of the websites for the Dublin Core and the VRA Core data standards provide a wealth of information that would prove useful to anyone wanting to learn more about best practices for the application of metadata. As mentioned in my previous post MOOCs are also great and while there are no upcoming sessions posted I’d keep an eye on Jeffrey Pomerantz’s Metadata: Organizing and Discovering Information available via Coursera. Lastly, I’d like to mention the ALRIS/NA-VRAF Summer Educational Institute. I attended SEI 2013 in Ann Arbor and learned a great deal about metadata and visual resource management-it was very worthwhile!

Please join in on the discussion! Any advice or thoughts on metadata?

Discussion: What do you do if your program doesn’t offer an art librarianship track?

Posted: October 20, 2013 | Author: Abigail_Sadler | Filed under: Discussion | 6 Comments

I thought it would be interesting to talk about creating your own art librarianship track when your program does not offer one. Many MLIS programs offer dual-degrees, certificates and specializations in various areas but unfortunately art librarianship is not always one of the options available. So, if you are not in a program that gives you the opportunity to follow a ready-made path towards art librarianship, how do you create your own? How do you pick which courses to take?

I think a good starting point is looking at the schools that do offer certificates or specializations in art librarianship to find out the kinds of classes that are included in their curriculum. The School of Informatics and Computing at Indiana University in Bloomington offers a dual-degree program and a specialization for those interested in becoming an art librarian. The School of Information and Library Science at the Pratt Institute also offers a dual-degree program in Art History and Library and Information Science. By glancing over the curriculums provided for these two programs and others like them you could gain a pretty good idea of the kinds of courses you might want to considering making a part of your plan of work. Courses that seemed central to these programs included ones that covered metadata, digital libraries, and humanities reference.

It might also be worth looking into educational opportunities outside of your program that will help you on your way to becoming an art librarian. A good place to start would be with ARLIS/NA’s webinars that cover a variety of important issues in art librarianship. There are also MOOCs; Harvard’s Extension School for example offers free courses on a variety on art, humanities, and museum studies that may help to deepen your knowledge of the field.

What about you? Are you in a program that offers an art librarianship track or have you had to create your own? What kinds of courses do you think are important? Any other comments/thoughts/advice?

The Sunday Scoop: Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon at the Portland Art Museum’s Crumpacker Library

Posted: October 13, 2013 | Author: ellenjt | Filed under: Discussion, News | Tags: open access, open access week, portland, portland art museum, wikipedia | Comments Off

Here’s an interesting event from the Portland Art Museum’s Crumpacker Library: a “Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon”, this library’s event for Open Access Week.

This event aims to improve coverage of local arts events through the creation of the Oregon Arts Project Wikipedia pages. It is a part of the Wikipedia Loves Libraries Initiative, a program that aims to encourage collaboration between libraries and wikipedia contributors. Visitors can contribute articles and photos concerning events and local monuments, and a facilitator will be available to support those who are new to editing Wikipedia pages. This event is taking place Sunday, October 13th 1pm-4pm.