CANVAS   The newsletter Of the Art Libraries Society southern California chapter   Volume 27 Number 1  May 25, 2004

     

Ì  From the chair

Thank you for supporting the ARLIS Southern California Chapter. The Board works to support local professional development in the field of art librarianship and to keep you informed on what is happening in the Southern California art library community.   We have many great events planned for 2004. Don’t miss the tour of Our Lady of the Angels cathedral and MoCA on June 7. In July, we will have our business meeting at UCSD while participating in the Summer Summit. And talk about something to celebrate, our chapter has now been around for 30 years! Vice Chair Nancy Norris has begun planning a party for this fall.

We are also striving to make ourselves more visible to the art library community, reaching out to potential new membership. Our outreach efforts include increasing our mailings and staying connected with the local library schools to promote our events. The website is currently being redesigned – stay tuned for announcements – and we have registered our own domain name, www.arlis-sc.org. In addition, our secretary Micki Breitenstein has taken on the task of newsletter editor. Micki comes to us with loads of experience, having been the newsletter editor for the NY chapter for several years. We are thrilled to have her on board to develop the newsletter and create our mailing announcements.

I look forward to seeing each of you at the events we have planned for this year. If you have suggestions or ideas for ARLIS/SC future events, please contact us. We welcome ideas and participation from our members.

— Kelley Wolfe

ARLIS/SC Chair

Ì  from our western region representative

I assumed my responsibilities as Western Representive for ARLIS/NA at the conference in New York City. The ARLIS/NA board met for two full days to discuss issues left over from last year and new issues we will tackle this year. One of the main items the Board must address is the legal relationships between the national organization and the chapters; there will be a series of models for the Society to consider to clarify these ties. In addition, the Board recognized two new Round Tables based upon petitions submitted with 15 or more members signed on: the Public Libraries Round Table and the Book Arts Round Table. This summer, ARLIS/NA members will be receiving a ballot to approve a new dues structure in place of the old one based upon salary, so be on the look out for that. The Board accepted the Publications Committee proposal to form a web site task force and which will begin to examine design, content and functionality of the society web site. This will be an important undertaking which will provide the Society with opportunities to define ourselves via our Web presence.

Until next time!

— Peggy Keeran
Arts and Humanities Reference Librarian

Penrose Library, University of Denver
2150 E. Evans Avenue, Denver, CO 80208
Email: pkeeran@du.edu

Ì  Keith Smith and Scott McCarney lecture at Otis

On March 11, 2003, ARLIS/SC, the Los Angeles Book Arts Center, and the Otis Laboratory Press sponsored a talk by book artists Keith Smith and Scott McCarney. The event was a huge success, with 140 people in attendance. Among the crowd were book artists, students, bibliophiles, art lovers, and of course many ARLIS/SC chapter members. This lecture was the third in LABAC’s “My Life in Books” series. 

Keith Smith is a well known book artist and has authored numerous publications on book making. Scott McCarney produces one of a kind and limited edition books, which can be found in collections across the country. The lecture focused on their current projects, where each described their creative processes accompanied by slides of works. At the end of the lecture, guests were invited to handle recent works by Keith Smith and Scott McCarney, as well as some of Keith Smith’s recent publications on book making.

The collaboration between ARLIS/SC and the Los Angeles Book Arts Center for this event is something that we hope will continue in the future. Many of our chapter members care for collections of artists’ books, so it seems like a natural fit to work with and learn from the artists and other individuals that make up the membership of LABAC. For more information about LABAC, see their webpage at www.LABookArts.com.

	Keith and Scott in Rochester, NY, sporting LABAC aprons.

 

Ì  Travel award presented at Arlis/na

This year’s ARLIS/SC Travel Award to attend the ARLIS/NA meeting went to Alyssa G. Resnick. The award was given in recognition of her contributions to the Chapter.

Alyssa (left) receiving the award and congratulations from Chapter Treasurer Trish Rose at the meeting in New York.

Alyssa has had a long history of service to ARLIS/SC. She was Vice-Chair in 1999 and Chair in 2000. In addition, she was part of the local planning committee and responsible for receptions and special events for the 2001 ARLIS/NA meeting in Los Angeles. Alyssa, who recently accepted a position as the Senior Library Supervisor at the Brand Library and Art Center (a branch of the Glendale Public Library), has been absent from the art library community for the past three years in order to pursue opportunities in library sales. In her new position, she states, “I am eager to settle back into art librarianship and reconnect with the ARLIS community.”

Ì  Winery lunch and museum of neon art tour

On December 6, 2003, twelve members and guests attended a lunch and wine tasting at the San Antonio Winery in Los Angeles. A good time was had by all! Afterwards, everyone moved to the Museum of Neon Art in downtown LA for a brief introduction to the museum and then self-guided wanderings of installations large and small. Be sure to visit this small gem sometime.

Ì  Mark your calendar  — June 7      immediate response required!

You should have received a mailing and an email about the tour of Our Lady of the City of the Angels Cathedral and MoCA on Monday, June 7, beginning at the cathedral at 9:45 AM. Please contact Nancy Norris (nnorris@ucla.edu) or Trish Rose (trose@ucsd.edu) if you would like to attend. The deadline for signing up is May 27, but if you really, really, really want to go, please contact Trish or Nancy!

Ì  Mark your calendar — june 17

Books That Haunt and Comfort Me – Join Bill and Vicki Stewart, owners of Vamp and Tramp Booksellers and Califia Books, in Birmingham, AL, for a “hands on” look at their collection of artists’ books. Thursday, 7:00 PM, Beverly Hills Public Library, 444 N. Rexford Drive, Beverly Hills. There is no charge to attend this lecture.

Ì  Mark your calendar — july 21-23

Summer Summit Meeting on Digital Images – University of California at San Diego.

The University of California Visual Resources Curators (Sliders) summer meeting in San Diego is being opened up to other interested image, librarian, media, instructional, and museum professionals. Stakeholders and specialists in digital image development and classroom delivery will come together to discuss past, current, and future directions.

Activities of most interest to ARLIS/SC attendees will occur on Thursday (22^nd) and Friday (23rde). There will be an ARLIS/SC business meeting during lunch on Thursday from 11:30-12:45. ARLIS/SC attendees are welcome to sit in on any of the UC-specific meetings on Thursday morning from 8:30-11:30; alternatively, there will be tours of the Salk Institute (Louis Kahn’s architectural gem of the 1960s) and the Seuss exhibit at the Geisel Library (where the meetings are being held). Friday evening (5:30-6:30) there is a tour of the outdoor campus sculpture collection, known as the Stuart Collection.

To attend any of the tours, RSVP to Trish Rose (trose@ucsd.edu).

For more information about the conference and locale, please see the website

http:// orpheus.ucsd.edu/slide/summersummit.html

Ì  attention catalogers!

The Southern California Art and Special Collections Catalogers (SCASCC) is a mix of senior and junior catalogers, specialists and generalists, academics and museum professionals, several with distinguished national reputations. Representative institutions include The Autry National Center, the Beverly Hills Public Library Division of Art, the Getty Research Insitute, The Huntington, the Japanese American National Museum, LACMA, MoCA, Otis College of Art and Design, and UCLA.

The group exists as a forum for dissecting cataloging problems and questions as well as offering insight into the inner workings of other institutions handling the same materials but for different constituencies. We discuss new directives from LC, MARBI, and CC:DA and attempt to integrate them into our respective workflows. We share technical, aesthetic, and historical information among ourselves in the attempt to stay current and create reasonably conforming local practices .

This interest group is an expanded version of the Southern California Catalogers' Group founded on June 5, 1977 by Bethany Mendenhall and is loosely affiliated with the Art Libraries Society of Southern California, a chapter of ARLIS/NA. Meetings occur approximately every eight weeks and are hosted by a participating institution. New members are always welcome.

The next scheduled meetings are: July 9, September 17, and December 10, 2004.

Please contact current group chair:
Heather Cleary, Visual Resources Librarian
Library/VRC
Otis College of Art & Design
hcleary@otis.edu

Ì  EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY ▬ SERIALS/REFERENCE LIBRARIAN

This is a full-time position in the Margaret Herrick Library, Beverly Hills, California.

Position available May 31, 2004.

DUTIES:  Motion picture reference library is seeking a highly organized, self-motivated, service-oriented individual to handle serials and reference work.  As this is a one-person department within the library, the serials librarian is responsible for all aspects relating to serials: acquisitions, cataloging, indexing, and bindery preparation.  A large percentage of the work involves dealing with historical materials that require special handling.  Library materials are cataloged in the Endeavor Voyager system, and the serials librarian will be responsible for inputting and maintaining data in this system.  Other library responsibilities include marking and clipping material for inclusion in the library’s specialized clipping files.

QUALIFICATIONS:  ALA-accredited MLS or equivalent combination of education and work experience. Knowledge of AACR2 and MARC for cataloging serials. Experience with Endeavor Voyager system highly desirable.  Knowledge of film history and film literature helpful.

SALARY:   Dependent on experience.

Send resume and three references to Linda Harris Mehr, Director, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy Foundation, 333 S. La Cienega Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211 or by

FAX: 310-657-5193.

Ì  Helping Collections Survive: The California Preservation Program

The California Preservation Program Task Force (CPTF) is funded with LSTA grants administered by the State Library to implement the California Preservation Program Plan — http://cpc.stanford.edu/about/index.html

The goals of the California Preservation Program (CPP) are to: identify and preserve important archival and library materials held by information agencies of all types and sizes in California to ensure continuing public access; develop and provide a broad program of education and training in preservation; assist information agencies of all types and sizes to develop and implement preservation programs; and promote cooperative and coordinated preservation efforts in order to maximize the effective use of funds, personnel, materials and other resources. Current activities of the CPP include:

·California Preservation Clearinghouse (cpc.stanford.edu):  The CPC is the web site of the California Preservation Program. The focus of the site is to support the preservation needs of libraries, archives, and cultural institutions without trained preservation personnel. Hosted by Stanford University, this web site contains many useful documents on education and training of staff and the public; disaster preparedness and recovery for collections; collections management; and much more. The CaLibArc-Preserve discussion list, monitored by CPTF members, provides a forum for asking preservation questions and exchanging information.

·Disaster Plan Workshops: These 2-part workshops started in 2002 and have been very successful in working towards the CPP goal of “a disaster plan in every library.”  They focus on emergency preparedness, response and collection salvage planning for each library attending. Additional grant-funded workshops are planned for Spring 2004 at Cerritos Public Library and Salida Public Library.  They are also available upon request for regional networks and professional organizations.

·Regional Disaster Response Networks: Who better to lend you assistance, if you have an emergency that damages collections and affects services, than the libraries in your region? Now picture their staff and yours trained on how to handle packing out wet books. Last, add a nearby cargo container with enough supplies to pack out 40,000 books, and you have a Regional Disaster Network. The CPTF is encouraging the formation of such networks throughout the State.

·Emergency Toll-Free Number:  A 24/7 toll-free number for California cultural institutions whose collections have been damaged or who need information, can call 1-888-905-7737 for advice. CPP consultants are also available for on-site evaluation when necessary.

·Building Risk Assessments for Collection Protection: Several grant-funded surveys are available in 2003/04.  These surveys focus on potential building and site-related risks to collections and recommend actions for their mitigation or elimination.

·Book Repair Workshops: Basic and advanced hands-on repair workshops are conducted by experienced California library staff.  Attendees learn decision-making and repair techniques. One and two day training sessions are available on a cost recovery basis.

·Saving Family Treasures: “Hold on to the Memories,” is a program designed to train library staff to answer questions from the public on how to save their family treasures. Attendees learn not only to answer questions, but also to present programs at their own libraries using handouts, brochures and presentation tools made available at the workshop.

·   Digitization and Preservation:  Assistance is available to help libraries on how to best take advantage of grant opportunities for preservation and digitization projects.

Additional details about the CPP and its workshops, surveys and consultations, as well as requests and general information regarding activities listed above, can be obtained by contacting: cpc@ucsd.edu. Visit the California Preservation Program exhibit booth at the California Library Association and Society of California Archivists annual meetings. Consultants will be demonstrating resources and will be available to answer your questions.

Ì  Always looking for new members

If you know a good contact person or organization that we should send our mailings to, please send an email to mikel@breitenstein.com with the subject line ARLIS/SC contacts. We want to be sure we are reaching as many potential ARLIS/SC members as possible. A membership form is included with the newsletter. Use it or pass it on.

Ì  Would you like to work on the newsletter?

Working on the newsletter is a great way – especially for students or people new to the profession – to meet people and to know what is going on in the Chapter. If you would like to help with content or layout activities, please contact Micki Breitenstein at 562-594-6015, or at mikel@breitenstein.com.

Ì  The ARLIS/SC Board – please contact us . . .

Left to right:

Nancy Norris – Vice-Chair            nnorris@ucla.edu

Trish Rose – Treasurer                 trose@ucsd.edu

Micki Breitenstein – Secretary      mikel@breitenstein.com

Kelley Wolfe – Chair       kelley.wolfe@libraries.claremont.edu