ARLIS/DC-Maryland-Virginia Chapter
2012 Caroline Backlund Professional Development Award
Deadline Feb. 3, 2012
ARLIS/DC-MD-VA will present a professional development award of $500.00 to a chapter member to attend the 40th Annual ARLIS/NA Conference to be held this year in Toronto, March 29–April 2, 2012. This award is intended to help members become more involved in ARLIS/NA at the national level.
For more information on eligibility and application process visit: http://arlisdmv.org/membership/awards/
The Solemnity of Shadows: Juan Laurent’s Vision of Spain
J. Laurent and Company, General interior view of the new bullring, Madrid, c. 1874, albumen silver print, Department of Image Collections, National Gallery of Art Library
The National Gallery of Art Library’s continuing exhibition program displays selections from its rich rare book collection in two separate venues, one in a permanent gallery on the ground floor of the Gallery’s West Building, the other in the Library atrium on the ground floor of the East Building. A few of these exhibitions each year draw from the more than 13 million images representing the entire history of Western art preserved in the Library’s Department of Image Collections.
From November 7 to December 30, 2011, the department presented The Solemnity of Shadows: Juan Laurent’s Vision of Spain in the atrium of the Study Center. On view were 23 rare large-format albumen photographs, a collodion glass negative, and three albums of Spanish art and architecture by Juan Laurent (1816–1886), a preeminent figure in the history of Spanish photography. Laurent began his career as a portrait photographer in Madrid in 1856, but soon grew and expanded his business until it became the most recognizable topographical photography company in Spain. Large format photographs of Spain’s public works, architecture, cities, popular types in their natural settings, art collections, and contemporary art expositions were his specialties, which he sold in his shops in Madrid and Paris singly or compiled into albums according to customer preference. The Laurent company’s output was immense, and its commercial reach was truly international in scope. Laurent’s was the first commercial firm to photograph the art collections of the Prado Museum, the Royal Armory, and the Academy of San Fernando, earning him a place of honor with other distinguished European photography houses like Alinari in Italy, and Adolphe Braun in France. read more…
In the Library: Marks of Ownership
The National Gallery of Art Library is pleased to present an exhibition entitled “In the Library: Marks of Ownership,” on view in the East Building, Ground Floor, Study Center, open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. For admission, please come to the guard’s desk at the Study Center entrance.
Congratulations to Shalimar Fojas White, the new Vice-Chair of ARLIS/D.C.-Md.-Va.
Shalimar will succeed Sarah Osborne Bender, who will move into the Chairpersonship on January 1, 2012.
I’d also like to extend a special thanks to our candidates, Heather Slania and Marla DiVietro, for making this year’s race so exciting! I know everyone in the chapter appreciates their commitment and hard work.
Here’s to an exciting 2012!
Best,
Anne Simmons
Chair, ARLIS/D.C.-Md.-Va.
Below you will find statements from our candidates for 2012 Vice-Chair/ Chair-Elect. We have three candidates this year: Marla DiVietro, Heather Slania, and Shalimar Fojas White. Ballots will be sent out via the Chapter list-serv. If you are a member, and are not on the list-serv, please subscribe or email a-simmons@nga.gov.
Thanks,
Anne Simmons
Chair, ARLIS/D.C.-Md.-Va.
2012 Vice-Chair / Chair-Elect Candidates:
Marla DiVietro
Hi Everyone! I’m excited to be running for Vice-chair.
I graduated from the University of Virginia in 2005 with a degree in Art History.
I am currently finishing up my last year at Catholic University’s Library Science program and work at Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens in the library and as Visual Resources Associate.
I am looking forward to getting to know everyone in our local chapter better.
Heather Slania
I am pleased to accept the nomination for Vice Chair of ARLIS/DMV. Attending my first ARLIS/NA conference in 2010 was an inspiring experience. At last I found my home in librarianship and vowed I would find ways to help our profession successfully navigate the future. As Vice Chair of ARLIS/DMV, I would assist our membership as we move forward. For the benefit of chapter members in making their decision during this election, I have outlined my experience and vision.
I began my career in libraries and art 15 years ago at Northwestern University, as a studio art major working in the library’s Conservation Lab. Since then I have worked at a paraprofessional level in almost every library department. I received my MLS in 2007 at the University of Maryland with an Archives concentration. For the past five years I have worked as a librarian at both University of Maryland and Georgetown performing original cataloging, reference, instruction, Special Collections, and art bibliography. In April 2011 I became the Director of the Library and Research Center at the National Museum of Women in the Arts where I am using every skill I’ve learned, and learning new skills, to revitalize a once shuttered art library.
With my new position as Director I crafted a vision for my library and am working to make it into a reality. I can help do that for ARLIS/DMV. My ideas for our chapter are built on conversations I’ve had with many ARLIS/DMV members over the last two years. ARLIS/DMV should set an example for excellence by engaging in issues of both local and national importance. We are helped in this endeavor by the exceptional librarians in our area, two library schools, and our location close to the seat of the United States government.
ARLIS/DMV should be a leader amongst the regional divisions of ARLIS/NA in three ways:
1. Provide professional development opportunities for our members
2. Contribute towards the national dialogue on issues facing art librarianship
3. Sponsor outreach and mentorship opportunities for library school students
First, in addition to providing networking, our meetings should offer significant professional development through workshops and lectures on topics requested by members. These learning opportunities should encourage more people to join as members and boost meeting attendance. Also, we should create more such opportunities outside of our meetings. Secondly, hosting the 2014 ARLIS/NA conference will showcase the excellent work that our chapter does as well as provide a uniquely political location for conversations concerning art librarianship in the 21stcentury. While we are busy preparing for the conference, our chapter should engage with emerging challenges and publish our thoughts and experiences with these issues to put us at the forefront of art librarianship. Finally, let us provide more mentorship opportunities for students interested in art libraries including resume workshops and field trips. Outreach programs can work to introduce the field of art librarianship to many student groups and help diversify our field.
Thank you for the nomination and good luck to all those nominated.
Shalimar Fojas White
It would be an honor to be considered as a candidate for Vice-Chair of the ARLIS/DC-MD-VA chapter in 2012. I have been a member of the local chapter for 5 years and a member of the national organization for 7 years. While I was a student at the Pratt Institute School of Information and Library Science, I received the Celine Palatsky Travel Award from the ARLIS/NY chapter, which allowed me to attend the 2004 ARLIS/NA conference in New York. This support provided me with my first introduction to art librarians as a group, a formative experience that led me to this profession. As I noted in my conference report: “Being a first-time ARLIS/NA attendee was rather like going to a foreign country, being temporarily bewildered by the language and customs of the inhabitants, and then… discovering that it feels a lot like home. As the name of the professional organization suggests, art librarians speak a unique language made up of many acronyms, initialisms, and abbreviations. They use these terms with great facility, but are not reluctant to explain their expansions to uninitiated students like myself. All in all, the conference was a very positive experience, reinforcing my desire to enter a profession filled with such passionate and welcoming practitioners.” So, from the very beginning of my career as a librarian, ARLIS/NA and my local chapter played a vital role in inspiring, supporting, and encouraging my professional development. For this, I am deeply grateful and thus very eager to contribute to our local chapter and the society as a whole.
After completing my M.S. in Library and Information Science at Pratt Institute, I joined the ARTstor Digital Library, first as a Public Services Librarian and then as a Collection Development Manager. During much of this time, I was commuting between New York and Washington, D.C. and endeavored to be as active as possible in both chapters and the national organization. In the past, I have served as chair of the ARLIS/NA Membership committee (2008-2010) and as a member of the Gerd Muehsam Award committee (2008-2011). Currently, I am serving as a member of the International Relations committee and just joined the Research and Travel Awards sub-committees. Last year, I left ARTstor to assume the role of Manager of the Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives at the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. Now that I am in DC full-time, I would like to become more active in the local chapter and contribute to the planning for the 42nd annual ARLIS/NA conference in 2014. Having been introduced to the profession through such a positive conference experience, I am excited about the opportunity to draw new professionals to the field by showcasing the passion, knowledge, and expertise of its current practitioners in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia area.
MICA: Making History /Making Art by Douglas L. Frost was recently awarded the 2011 Arline Custer Award by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC). The book, published by Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), covers nearly two centuries (1826-2011) of the Baltimore art school’s history.
About the Book:
On November 3, 1825, in a large assembly room on South Charles Street a group of Baltimore’s leading citizens met to organize a new educational institution they called ‘The Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts.’
Thus begins the story of present-day Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), and the text of MICA: Making History / Making Art by Douglas L. Frost. The book utilizes hundreds of documents—texts and images—from sources held in the MICA Archives at the Decker Library & Media Resources Collection and in other collections in Baltimore and beyond. read more…
Text and photos by Sarah Osborne Bender
Our day began in a meeting room at the Victor Building where the library for the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery is housed. Library director Doug Litts welcomed us with coffee and pastries. Our program began with a greeting from Martin Sullivan, director of the National Portrait Gallery. Martin graciously acknowledged the value of art librarians and archivists in the research for notable exhibitions such as Hide/Seek, Seeing Gertrude Stein, and an upcoming show on artistic representations of the war of 1812.
Our first presentation of the day was from Erin Rushing, Digital Images Librarian for the Smithsonian as well as the Social Media Co-Chair for the Smithsonian Institution Libraries. She discussed the recent effort to coordinate social media outreach over a variety of platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, and the Smithsonian Libraries blog. She discussed the advantages of group participation in keeping ideas varied and fresh. Documentation of social media practices and guidelines is thorough and an internal calendar is used to keep content managed and regularly published. Erin shared examples of the limited marketing the group has done for their social media outlets, mentioning that their flyers and cards have made appearance at conferences. Giving everyone a chuckle, she let us in on what content gets the best response in social media with “pretty pictures” and anything food-related leading the way, followed, surprisingly, by the extreme niche subject of antique sewing machines. She emphasized the value of interdepartmental collaboration in the group and says that the group is looking forward to new platforms and focusing on engaging audiences rather than simply new ways to disseminate information.
read more…
ARLIS/D.C.-Md.-Va. is seeking nominations for the 2011 Vice-Chair.
The Vice-Chair acts as chief executive officer in the event that the Chair is unable to serve, assists with programming, keeps meeting minutes, and automatically serves as Chair in 2012. The Vice-Chair must be a 2011 member of the local and national chapters.
If you have someone you’d like to nominate or would like to volunteer, please email both Anne Simmons, Chair at a-simmons@nga.gov and Megan Halsband, Secretary/Treasurer, at m-hals@loc.gov.
Official ballots will available in late November/early December.
Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is seeking a Director of Decker Library.
Position Description:
The Director of Decker Library is responsible for all aspects of the management and planning for the Decker Library/Media Resources Collection to ensure quality library services, collection materials, and resources are provided to students, faculty, alumni, and local communities. This position reports to the Dean of Academic Services.
read more…
ATTENTION STUDENTS:
Funds are available for students to defray transportation and meal costs for attendance at the ARLIS/DC-MD-VA Fall Chapter Meeting. If you’d like to receive this $20 disbursement, or have any questions, contact Anne Simmons at a-simmons@nga.gov.
