ARLIS/NA 53rd Annual Conference

Join us for our annual meeting to discuss and hear plans/ideas!

Join the Teaching SIG for our annual business meeting where we will discuss new initiatives and directions for the SIG!    

Meet the moderators and see how the Division can support members.

The Midstates Chapter business meeting.

Annual business meeting for the Advocacy and Public Policy Committee. We are seeking new members, please join us if you have questions about our work

Annual meeting of the ARLIS/NA Canada Chapter,

Join fellow Architecture and Urban Planning Section members to discuss the past year, upcoming events, and plans for the coming year. An agenda for the meeting will be shared in our ARLIS/NA Commons space.

More details coming soon. 

Invitation Only.

The Leadership Institute is open to all incoming, standing, and outgoing leaders of ARLIS/NA constituent groups.

DH SIG annual meeting will be an informal gathering of those interested in digital humanities and the arts.

Join us on Zoom for our SoCal Spring Business Meeting! We will share updates from the past few months, introduce new members of our Executive Board to our community, and share plans for an in-person gathering soon.

Since their inception, ARLIS/NA Conferences have offered more than just professional development—they provide a unique opportunity to connect with colleagues one might not typically meet. Serendipitous encounters and connections at workshops, social gatherings, or lectures and the professional and personal relationships that develop are part of the magic of these conferences. While the 53rd annual ARLIS/NA Conference increases its accessibility and audience through the virtual setting, this modality risks losing the benefits and joy of face-to-face socializing and networking.

In the interest of the conference retaining opportunities for serendipitous meetings, ArLiSNAP is pleased to organize a pre-conference Mail Art chain. Attendees have the chance to find unexpected connection, while expressing their creativity. Mail art, with its roots in conceptual art and Fluxus, is anything sent through the mail that is deemed to be art by its creator. Mail art has the potential to facilitate long-term, long-distance connections through remote but haptic first meetings. Since its inception, mail art remains one of the most accessible forms of art. It can be created using found materials and can be sent for the price of a stamp.

Prior to the conference, ArLiSNAP will match participants with a partner from a different institution. Participants will then receive the contact information of their partner as well as guidelines to create their mail art. Attendees will create and send their correspondence according to size restraints and a deadline before the conference. During the conference session , participants will have the opportunity to meet and mingle with other colleagues, present the art they received, reflect on the experience, and participate in zoom breakout rooms. For perpetuity, participants will document any mail art they receive. Documentation will be compiled into an interactive ArcGIS StoryMap showcasing participant art and illustrating the wide-reaching networks of ARLIS/NA. The results will also be posted to the ArLiSNAP website and Instagram. The ArLiSNAP Mail Art Network adds a creative and tactile element to the virtual conference setting and restores the chance encounters that make ARLIS/NA conferences memorable.

Neurodiversity is a framework that recognizes people have neurobiological and developmental differences which impact how they experience and interact with the world; thus, there is no “right” way to think or behave. Although this term encompasses the neurodiversity of all people, it is usually used to describe people who have conditions such as autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, mental illnesses/madness, and learning disabilities such as dyslexia or dyspraxia. Many conditions can impact one’s physical health and lead to other disabilities. These conditions often create stressors and barriers for success in the workplace, especially those designed for neurotypical individuals who are often in a position of power or authority. Fortunately, small adjustments such as sensory-friendly spaces, flexibility in where and how work is done, clear expectations, and establishing communication preferences can make a big impact and create a healthier working environment for everyone.

This workshop is open to anyone who is interested in fostering a more inclusive working environment for neurodiverse individuals, and is open to information professionals at any workplace type and within any role, whether that be managerial or non-managerial. Workshop content will include a brief presentation to provide context about working experiences for neurodiverse individuals, but will mainly focus on active work amongst the participants, who will help shape the direction that the workshop will take. Workshop attendees will work both independently and collaboratively with other participants to ideate and brainstorm concrete strategies aimed at making the workplace more accessible and accommodating for neurodiverse individuals, coming away with a toolbox of tips and ideas to exercise in their own individual workplaces.

This workshop is sponsored by the Neurodiversity + Invisible Disabilities Special Interest Group and serves as a continuation of the “Please Don’t Pop! Near Me: Neurodiversity and Library Work” session presented at the ARLIS/NA 2024 conference in Pittsburgh. In that session, panelists who identified as neurodivergent or neurodiverse shared how their careers in art librarianship were impacted by their neurological and development conditions. In this workshop, participants will learn best practices for building inclusive work environments that allow all employees to thrive and develop a toolkit for making their workplaces more accessible for neurodiverse employees. The workshop will be led by librarians from multiple library types, including academic libraries and museum libraries, sharing perspectives from both types of work environments, and is open to all ARLIS/NA conference attendees.

During the Middle Ages, the long stitch technique was employed for hand binding blank books and stationery bindings. By the 1480s, this binding method made its way into the production of printed books in Italy, offering an affordable and practical means to safeguard and secure printed pages as they transitioned through the book trade to their initial owners. This binding method has rows of decorative sewing on the spine that connect the pages to the cover.

In this workshop we will construct a modern variation using the long stitch method with multiple folded paper sections and a stiff paper cover to make a blank long stitch book that participants can use as journals, notebooks, sketchbooks or gifts. Participants will complete a book during the workshop. Necessary materials will be easily gathered by participants from items they have at home, or supplies that can be found at local art or craft stores.

Taking Space & Making Space for BIPOC Book Arts, Cultures, Histories, and Futures - Tia Blassingame 

Proprietor of Primrose Press, Tia Blassingame is a book artist, printmaker, curator, educator exploring the intersection of race, history, and perception. Utilizing printmaking and book arts techniques, she renders racially-charged images and histories for a nuanced discussion on issues of race and racism. Blassingame holds a B.A. in Architecture from Princeton University, M.A. in Book Arts from Corcoran College of Art + Design, and M.F.A. in Printmaking from Rhode Island School of Design. She has been an artist-in-residence at Yaddo, Santa Fe Art Institute (SFAI), the Andy Warhol Preserve, the International Print Center New York (IPCNY), and MacDowell Colony. Her artist's books and prints can be found in library and museum collections around the world including British Library, Library of Congress, Rijksmuseum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tate Britain, National Museum of Women in the Arts, and State Library of Queensland. In 2019, Blassingame founded the Book/Print Artist/Scholar of Color collective, which has over 40 members, to bring Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) book artists, papermakers, paper engineers, letterpress printers, printmakers, children’s book illustrators into conversation and collaboration with scholars of their cultures’ Book History and Print Culture, to build community and support systems.

Blassingame co-curated the NEA and Center for Craft grants-awarded Paper Is People: Decolonizing Global Paper Cultures, a travelling exhibit, at Minnesota Center for Book Arts (2023), San Francisco Center for the Book (2023), and
at Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking this spring with writer/publisher Stephanie Sauer. In 2022 she co-curated the Troubling: artists’ books that enlighten and disrupt old ways of being and seeing exhibit at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art with book artist/educator Ellen Sheffield.

Blassingame is an Associate Professor of Art at Scripps College, where she teaches Book Arts and Letterpress Printing, and serves as the Director of Scripps College Press.

Comics, graphic novels, and zines challenge several library conventions such as classification, material format, and bias towards textual presentation of knowledge. In their own disruptive manner, these materials can "queer" the library, complicating established paradigms and carving out their own unique spaces and user groups. Not coincidentally, many of these materials are created by LGBTQ2S+ artists and authors and queer and trans themes are often central to their content. The collection, preservation, and promotion of these materials are essential to supporting LGBTQ2S+ activism.

In order to explore these concepts more fully, the Graphic Novels, Comics, and Zines SIG and the LGBTQ+ SIG collaborated to propose a round table discussion at the 2025 ARLIS/NA Conference. With help from the co-editors of the ARLIS/NA Notable Graphic Novels Review, we plan to anchor discussion around a recently reviewed queer and trans fantasy-romance graphic novel. We have invited the author/illustrator, a representative from the publisher of the title (a radical indie publisher of comics and graphic novels), and an ARLIS/NA member reviewer from NGNR. This session also celebrates the nine years of Notable Graphic Novels Review by highlighting the collaboration between authors, publishers, and library and information workers needed to support this art form.

Guiding questions: What kinds of queer and trans possibilities are afforded by the medium of comics/graphic novels? What are ways that libraries, publishers, and artists can collaborate to support queer and trans comics? How are efforts to censor LGBTQ2S+ books in libraries affecting your work?

Craft in the Filing Cabinet: Documenting the History of Craft Workers, Objects, and Spaces in Institutional Records Tough - Jenna Stout
A 2024 review of artist files in this small art museum library revealed an overall lack of staff artist representation. More specifically, the artist files did not reflect the numerous craft workers employed by the institution since its founding. This collecting gap can be partially traced to the historic separation of fine arts and applied arts.

With roots in the late nineteenth century, this museum offered night classes in bookbinding, drafting, and other technical arts for day laborers. Craft workers, in the form of carpenters, plasterers, and house painters, help build the institution from the ground-up. From WPA technical drawings to artist file drawers by the Crafts Division, hand-built slide carrying cases, and the award-winning period room restoration project of the 1980s, the institutional records reveal a rich history of on-site craft labor that is embedded in the galleries and other spaces. On a more localized scale, the museum library's design itself is the work of a prominent architect; however, the library's interior has been reconfigured to fit new spaces under the skilled supervision of the museum's cabinetry department. While reports of craft workers and objects pop up in the archives, a delineation between work product and art object is reverberated in institutional records.

The presenter will discuss a collection audit and subsequent reparative description project of administrative files to illuminate craft history in the museum archives. Legacy filing systems, retention schedules, and cataloging practices can pose barriers to the discoverability of craft stories. In reviewing and redescribing administrative files, there is an opportunity to shed light on the labor of staff and contractors that might not be visible in top-level staff directories and archived record container lists. A range of source materials can be utilized for tours, exhibitions, and other programming events. The presenter will also touch on research approaches to sift out historic documentation and tangible objects related to hidden labor and marginalized voices in repositories.

A Tough Row to Hoe: Weeding an Art & Design Collection - Amy Lazet
Many libraries are increasingly under pressure to reduce the footprint of their physical collections. This is an impetus for many to aggressively deaccession titles from their existing print collections, a necessary but potentially fraught task. Weeding a library's collections requires a robust set of criteria against which the books can be evaluated.

Many of the seminal texts on weeding focus on public libraries while the literature for academic libraries tends to emphasize quantitative criteria as well as encouraging a reliance on interlibrary loans and ebooks. Art and design publications, however, are more print preferred than other disciplines. Furthermore, these specialized collections often contain books that are difficult to replace (i.e. exhibition catalogs from a limited print run that cannot be repurchased at a reasonable price a few years later). Some authors have recognized that the humanities require more qualitative criteria, but there is a dearth of literature around weeding art and design collections specifically. The relevant publications that do exist, meanwhile, often focus on a very narrow portion of art and design collections (e.g., reference books).

In 2021, the author's institution integrated its branch library into the main library's space. The author was tasked with single-handedly evaluating the entire print book collection, a task that had not happened for at least 20 years. Based on information drawn from existing literature, consultations with librarians at other art and design institutions, and a process of trial and error, the author developed a comprehensive set of guidelines for weeding all subject areas in an art and design collection.

This paper makes available that set of criteria for weeding and art design books and particularly photography books including qualitative criteria and a sliding scale for quantitative criteria. This information will also be contextualized with findings from a survey of deaccessioning practices from other art and design collections.

Criticizing Art Criticism - Emilee Mathews
This paper investigates how racism and sexism interoperate in the reflection of contemporary art through gallery shows and exhibition reviews. In order to do so, I gathered a set of 97 exhibition reviews covering the 2016/2017 season from well known publications such as Artforum, New York Times, Brooklyn Rail and more.

In this paper I build on previous quantitative research tracing proportionality by qualitatively analyzing not only which artists were covered, but also how. I analyze demographic biases (are artists of color more favorably reviewed than white artists?) as well as art historical trends (are painters better received than sculptors? Which galleries tend to have the most favorable coverage?). I uncover author affiliations and compare articles they've written against others in the dataset. I then contextualize these reviews and the dispositions they reflect in art criticism literature from the stalwart Sylvan Barnett to the intrepid Aruna D'Souza and meta publications like "the Bad Review List" from 4Columns. I look additionally at the role criticism and reviews play more broadly in contemporary society. From food to film, books to bed and breakfasts, whose judgments we seek and taste we emulate has changed significantly due to sites like Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon and Yelp. By analyzing this article dataset, we can explore dynamics of how the publications we collect in the library reflect broader cultural ecologies.

Increasing Access: Using Universal Design to Bridge Gaps in Library Instruction
Activating Community in the Studio: Teaching the Art of Concept Mapping
The Art of Collaboration: Special Collections and Liaison Librarian teamwork

Details coming soon.

Empowering Visual Artists through Digital and Data Literacy: A Community-Based Collaborative Approach to Developing Open Educational Resources for Visual Arts Centers - Kate Thornhill

Reconciliation Address Book - a mail art project - Fong Ku

The Importance and Cultural Value of Increased Visibility and Access to Community Archives - Faythe Levine

Expanding Access to Inuit Art: One Museum's Contribution to a Major Digital Resource - Lisa Gavell & Nicole Fletcher

Collective Description of the Emily Carr University Print Collection - Ana Diab

Lightning talk descriptions will be available soon.

Building on the ARLIS/NA Best Practices for Library Exhibitions guide published by the Exhibitions SIG in 2021, this roundtable will consider the role and importance of exhibitions in libraries and archives for engagement, outreach, and pedagogy. By drawing on the insights of a diverse group of librarians, emerging curators, artists, and practitioners, the session will explore opportunities and challenges of curating and presenting exhibitions in libraries. As libraries strive to connect to diverse communities equitably, how can library exhibitions engage viewers with different disciplines, experiences, and backgrounds? While the academic library is often viewed as separate from visual art, what are the alternate and potentially collaborative curatorial strategies when introducing new audiences to the spaces? The roundtable will include a discussion of the following questions:  
- How do the physical spaces of libraries and archives shape the viewing experience or expectations of the audience?
- How can programming, outreach, and other inclusion initiatives bridge gaps between the audiences, the intentions of the curators, and artists or content creators?
- What collaborative strategies can be used in exhibitions design between artists or content creators, gallery or library and archive administrators, students, curators?
- How can exhibit curation, design, and engagement prioritize supporting equity, diversity, and inclusion?
- Are library and archive exhibits experiencing censorship, self-censorship, or challenges of their content?

The facilitators include librarians and a graduate student with a range of experiences in academic libraries and archives, including art and architecture collections. The facilitators also have experience in exhibitions and contributing to conversations about exhibitions in libraries.

DIY DEI: How Small Steps Can Lead to Big Changes - Pamela Caussy

Ways of Seeing (And Finding) - Annie Sollinger

Navigating the Complexity of Cross-Cultural Dance Resources: Challenges and Opportunities - Shan Chuah

Descriptions will be available soon. 

Join us for the ARLIS/NA Annual Membership Meeting, where we come together as a community to reflect on our collective accomplishments and discuss future initiatives. The annual meeting is an opportunity for our leadership to report on our collective efforts and acknowledge the progress we are making to shape the path forward. A full agenda will be shared as we approach the conference.

Following the meeting, we will honor outstanding contributions to our field at the Distinguished Service Award Ceremony. This award recognizes an individual whose exemplary service has made an exceptional contribution to the field of art information.

Bridging Cultural Disciplines: Data Literacy Education in NFDI4Culture and HERMES - Alexandra Büttner and Aline Deicke

The Sensorium of Images: The Case of the Wayfarer Triptych by Hieronymus Bosch - Hedren Sum

Connecting Communities by Connecting Data: The Frank Lloyd Wright Digital Archive at the Avery Library - Katherine Prater and Margaret Smithglass

Smithsonian American Art and Portrait Gallery Library data for artists and artwork unleashed in Share-VDE BIBFRAME - Jackie Shieh and Anne Evenhaugen

Descriptions will be available soon.

The Art in the Library program at Florida State University is interested and invested in bringing the visual and performing arts into the library environment. This program is devoted to the artistic skills present in our large and diverse student body, and participation is not limited to those majoring in fine arts disciplines. Over the last two years, Art in the Library has welcomed a growing number of both art exhibitions and pop-up concerts into our multiple library buildings and has further fostered FSU's artistic community through multiple hands-on maker events each semester. Besides offering engaging and even entertaining library programming, these outreach activities highlight the rich talent present across campus, at once growing our local creative community and showcasing the arts as creative product. In this work, Art in the Library has been especially focused both on its student-centered agenda and on demonstrating impact within and beyond the campus libraries by increasing the scholarly recognition of the fine arts, providing professional development opportunities and visibility for our student artists, and creating community across Florida State through collaborations with campus partners. These strategies have all led Art in the Library to grow exponentially and to maintain that trajectory looking forward.

In this session, speakers will share about the planning and execution of this programming, including its successes and hurdles along the way. They will further address the central themes of creating community and demonstrating impact in the academic library setting. Some of the topics considered in this session include: advocacy for the arts in nontraditional settings, marketing fine arts programming to a broad and diverse audience, courting both arts majors and non-arts majors to participate in the same exhibition program, creating value through unexpected library services, the potential for hosting art in the library to create a culture of inclusivity, and using the arts to foster a widespread social network of campus partners. Attendees of this session will leave with takeaways and advice for implementing similar arts outreach programming within academic libraries for the benefit of their own campus communities, artistic or not.

Cultivating Community in CARTA: Growing and Sustaining an Art Library Collaborative - Sarah Beth Seymore and Sumitra Duncan
As a consortium, CARTA embodies a collaborative spirit among art libraries dedicated to preserving and providing access to essential web-based content for art historical scholarship. This program unifies participating organizations through shared infrastructure, pooled expertise, and coordinated collecting activities, significantly expanding the range of web-published, born-digital materials available for art research and study. To date, 41 members have preserved and made accessible over 1,000 web-based art resources, totaling over 16 TB of data, with continued growth.

In the past year, this community of art librarians has undergone a transformation, adopting a sustainable membership model of self-governance that has expanded the direction and reach of its activities and impact. With a recent Digital Art History grant from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the collaborative has continued its "collections as data" instruction opportunities for digital art historians through a series of workshops, or "datathons" focused on research use cases of web archive data. These datathons showcase innovative methods for building custom research collections relevant to digital art history, generating, accessing, and analyzing research-ready datasets from CARTA collections, and publishing and preserving these datasets in ways that promote computational engagement, scholarship, and research.

Additionally, engagement with the CARTA community and the broader art librarian community in collaborative collection-building will commence in fall 2024 and continue into early 2025. With the launch of a communal collection-building process, both the membership and collections will expand to support a greater diversity of involvement and input, strategically guiding collection growth in directions determined by the membership. Currently, the membership is exploring ways to enrich the collections with web resources representing a broad spectrum of geographies and underrepresented communities.

During this presentation, members of CARTA will share ongoing efforts to deepen the sense of community among members, facilitate contributions to the growing collection, and encourage collaborative research initiatives that will impact current and future understandings of digital art history.

Living the Library: Case Studies of Black Artists as Community Builders - Siobhan McKissic and April Sheridan
Black artists have long engaged in the practice of wearing many hats: maker, designer, teacher, community builder, activist and more. This paper explores how Black artists' specific roles as community builders can inform the also multi-faceted profession of art librarianship. To understand Black modes of being, contextualize visual history, and connect past, present, and future, the writers focus on three artists, Lois Mailou Jones, Robert Earl Paige, and Krista Franklin, all of whom employ pan-Africanist and feminist theory in their practices.

Looking at the artists' works, publishing methods, and community engagement strategies, common themes unfold: the significance of everyday materiality, preservation of collective histories, and the shift from individual to community-based storytelling.

The authors analyze how these artists create entry points for research that facilitate discussions on new cultural topics and suggest innovative approaches for collection development, instructional praxis, and outreach. The findings have implications for enhancing the role of art libraries in advocating for diverse perspectives, connecting communities, and fostering a thriving cultural ecosystem.

Make to Learn, Learn to Make: Establishing a Book Art Residency for Students in a Special Collections Library - Katharine Buckley
This presentation will review the development of an artist residency for students at a special collections library within an academic library. After receiving a donation of funds to offer an opportunity for a student to create work to promote the establishment of a future book arts lab, a student artist in residency program was established. With an emphasis on creating a highly valuable learning experience for students, it was decided that the special collections library would offer a book art-focused residency for a student during the summer wherein the student artist would receive access to the collections, mentorship from faculty, funding to create an edition of work, and freedom to conceptualize work of their own.

This presentation will focus on the challenges and parameters of establishing a student artist residency, particularly at an academic library without a designated book arts lab or artists' space. However, the core focus will be on the factors that led to the success of the program in its first year, particularly the emphasis on designing a student-centered learning experience. Inspired by numerous existing artists' residency programs in the US, the goal of the program was to offer a professional-level experience for students with the support needed to be successful. The presentation will cover the student's outcomes including publishing an edition of an artists' book and a solo exhibit.

People over Preservation: Expanding Access to Special Collections through Pedagogical Practice - Ruth Thomas, Heidi Bechler, and Maddie Hayko
It is established that the professional experience gained during a Masters in Library and Information Studies (MLIS) program is essential to securing a job after graduation. Yet many of the professional experiences available to students are surface level and task-oriented. In special collections, it is especially difficult to find project-oriented, hands-on experience when librarians prioritize preservation over access. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, three MLIS students sought meaningful student jobs while the Kohler Art Library was understaffed. This branch art library boasts an extensive artists' book collection and is staffed by one librarian, two library assistants, and undergraduate and graduate student workers. A mutually beneficial relationship formed between the library director and the MLIS students interested in art librarianship and special collections.

Over the course of the two-year degree program, these students completed projects in processing, preservation, and instruction related to artists' books. These projects were based on a combination of library needs and student interests. Under the guidance of the head librarian, students conducted in-depth research to inform and implement best practices in their areas of interest. Through their projects, students created preservation standards, increased catalog access, and facilitated special collections instruction.
These experiences inspired the students' professional interests and the jobs they applied to, developed students' project management and leadership skills, and were essential to securing full-time positions. The Kohler Art Library balanced preservation and access while utilizing student labor to complete essential collections projects. This case study demonstrates how an art library can enhance a minimal art librarianship curriculum through mentorship and experience.

The Architecture and Urban Planning Section proposes a panel or roundtable discussion devoted to archival research in the built environment. With today's increased interest in primary source material and the concurrent increase of archival materials available online, this is an opportune moment to discuss where we are now and what we need to advance. We propose inviting three to five panelists, who are creators and users of built environment archives. After introducing their roles and involvement in architecture archives, participants will discuss topics related to current archival research particularly focusing on online archival resources and tools. While we expect discussion of traditional issues of acquisition, assessment, description, and accessibility of archival materials, we will also seek out those who can speak to the creation and availability of diverse collections, particularly of under-represented architects and planners. Looking to the future, we want to begin answering the question of what is missing, yet crucial to a complete understanding of our built environment.

Hear from new voices in the field. Speakers forthcoming.

In her intro to the first section of Queers Online: LGBT digital practices in Libraries, Archives, and Museums, Racheal Wexelbaum reveals that "women and LGBTIQ people were pioneers in exploring and developing online communities, social media, and folksonomy. They redefine intended uses of online space, recognize the information gaps in online resources, and desire equal communication and collaboration over hierarchical structures." (Wexelbaum et al., 2015,16)  Online spaces and materials can expand a community's understanding of themselves and those who came before them. How do we as cultural heritage professionals steward, collect, and utilize these things for our users and communities?

This lightning talk, sponsored by the LGBTQ+ SIG, aims to explore different resources that are hosted online, work with online materials or resources, and/or have been worked on by a digital community that spans different countries. The overall talk will also showcase how the digital sphere has been a place for documenting Queer and Trans lives and experiences. Participants come from a variety of initiatives that span different size institutions/projects from North and South America. Presentations cover a variety of mediums and resources including databases, oral histories, Wikipedia, digital humanities, and metadata standards. While projects may not be centered on arts focused topics specifically, they can be of service and interest to ARLIS members for their work or to share with their patrons. With ARLIS starting its new schedule of virtual conferences and the theme of activating community, this session wants to fully explore the online space as a place for community, and how it can act as a way to connect community members not only to these projects, but with other like-minded professionals.

Ensuring that our work is accessible and inclusive is central to all types of libraries. Without a focus on accessibility, many patrons can be excluded from equitable participation in the community, whether in a classroom, a library, an archive, or a museum. Our conference theme this year is Together: Activating Community, and any focus on activating community must have at its core a commitment to addressing the needs of all members of that community, including disabled individuals.  

But, at the same time, because accessibility is such a broad topic, it can be difficult to know where to start and how to keep up with the latest developments, particularly with limited resources. The challenges around accessibility can be particularly difficult for art libraries as they work with visual materials and nontraditional library collections. It is easy to feel overwhelmed and unsure how to maximize impact and create meaningful inclusion for patrons with a range of types of disabilities.

This panel will highlight accessibility projects being undertaken at a range of institutions with a focus on how we can all maximize the impact of our work in this area. Panelists will discuss how this work is integrated into library workflows and offer tips on bringing these ideas to other libraries. They will also discuss the ways that library workers can come together in community with one another to collaborate on improving accessibility in libraries. Attendees will have an opportunity to ask questions and will leave with ideas that can be applied at their own institutions.

The panel brings an art librarian, a media-arts professor, a graphic designer and an artist into shared dialog around the chain of contemporary digital publishing as it relates to art pedagogy: from artists experimenting with new formats, to the complexities of collecting and archiving those formats, to their circulation in the library system, and their ultimate inclusion into curricula and course work. Common to all these speakers is an engagement with a particular library-oriented digital humanities tool, functioning as access platform, commissioning publisher, research database and file archive. This digital humanities toolkit uses the library as a grounding point for experimental publication, by combining unruly digital resources from the open internet alongside its own content initiatives, all of which are distributed through the WorldCat and other commercial databases to both public and academic audiences. Speaker 1 leads the art library at a large university, and will speak about digital collections development for advanced programs in computer science, digital arts, and media theory. Speaker 2 is a university professor in a Media Arts and Design program, and will speak about using library-centric digital humanities tools for both undergraduate and graduate courses, chiefly on visual intelligence and data visualization. Speaker 3 is a design professor with a commercial graphic design practice. They will speak about two recent digital books: one on using AI in typography, and the other an exhibition catalog from a major Asian art museum on artistic responses to personhood and identity against a background of AI. Speaker 4 is a queer performance artist and type designer. They will speak about archival research in queer subcultural histories, and publishing across multiple (frequently open-access) formats.

Since its founding in 1972, the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) has strived to serve art information professionals across North America. However, for much of its history, this "North American" designation primarily referred to the United States and Canada, with little involvement from or strategic approach to building connections with art information professionals in Mexico until the early 1990s.

The 1991 ARLIS regional meeting in conjunction with the Guadalajara International Book Fair and the geographic expansion of the ARLIS/NA Texas-Mexico Chapter in 1997 marked key milestones toward ensuring better geographic representation across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. These efforts culminated in the 2023 ARLIS/NA Annual Conference in Mexico City, a landmark event that symbolized the fruition of more than three decades of engagement between ARLIS/NA members and Mexican art information professionals. ARLIS/NA now stands at a critical moment in society history to determine how engagement with and representation by Mexican art libraries and librarians can and should occur in the future.

This panel and roundtable discussion will explore the long history of ARLIS/NA's initiatives to foster greater collaboration with Mexican colleagues by examining the persistent challenges while exploring possible pathways forward. The panelists are professionals from the U.S. and Mexico who have been engaged in these efforts for decades and were organizers of these key events; their perspectives and experiences will inform the future of engagement for ARLIS/NA in Mexico. The discussion will emphasize how sustained, meaningful interaction across borders serves ARLIS/NA's core values of diversity, equity, and inclusion. By understanding the society's history, panelists will offer insights into the roadblocks faced and recommend strategies for overcoming them, ensuring that ARLIS/NA continues to expand its reach and invite greater collaboration and build community across the entirety of North America well into the future.

Details coming soon.

Masters in Library and Information Studies (MLIS) programs teach students technical skills related to the field like the Library of Congress classification system, cataloging, and how to contest book bans. Unfortunately, not all programs prepare students for the job application and interview process. The interview process can be especially intimidating, with its full-day schedule, situational questions that can be hard to prepare for, and the tacit social element with its unspoken rules. Despite best intentions in preparing students for the roles they seek to fill, this gap in education can disproportionately impact first-generation students, students of color, and other marginalized groups entering art librarianship. Professional organizations like ARLIS/NA play a crucial role in fostering diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility within the field by offering targeted professional development opportunities to address this gap.

This panel will address these challenges by featuring a group of speakers of diverse voices and experiences, including newly hired early career librarians and experienced leaders involved in recruitment. Panelists will represent a wide array of art librarianship contexts, including an academic fine arts library, a museum library, an art and design school library, and public library special collections. They will share their insights into the interview process and offer valuable advice on preparation and self-advocacy. Particular emphasis will be placed on response strategies, including the STAR method, as well as balancing behavioral and skill-based questions. This discussion will be followed by a Q&A session where attendees have the opportunity to seek personalized advice. Participants will then engage in breakout sessions where they will be given mock interview questions and receive constructive feedback from peers and panelists. These interactive sessions will help early career professionals refine their interview skills, gain confidence, and demystify the interview process.

As hierarchical systems are being challenged across institutions, including academia and librarianship, many professionals are evaluating what it means to be a leader. Although management may be the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks about leadership in their library, true leadership is not intrinsically bound to formal structures of power and authority. Thus, leading can be found at any level of one's organization, but it is often the mid-career librarian who is best poised to think deeply about what it means to lead and how they want to leverage their early career successes into future opportunities for personal and professional growth. This panel will bring together mid-career arts librarians offering insight and reflection on their leadership journeys. Panelists will specifically engage with the concept of leading from where you are, which emphasizes looking inward to identify skills, knowledge, and abilities that foster innate leadership qualities that some librarians may not have considered they possess. Speakers will also discuss ways to hone leadership skills formally and informally at the institutional, local, and national level.

This session focuses on sustainable leadership within academic arts librarianship, with the intention to de-center traditionally administrative or formalized positions of power as the status quo of library leadership. Attendees of this session will hear from leaders across the visual and performing arts working in academic libraries who represent a wide range of leadership roles and opportunities. Each speaker will offer individual strategies for successful, sustainable leadership while collectively fostering a discussion with attendees about the opportunities and challenges of leading from where you are. Speakers for this session will come from university libraries of varying size and ranking, from different regions and backgrounds, and will speak to issues of leadership regarding gender, race, and other identifiers.

Some questions panelists may address include:
-How can one be a leader who does not reinforce or affirm institutional or hierarchical structures?
-What are different ways of getting involved in formal leadership roles within service groups and professional organizations?
-Why is it important to function as a thought leader in your institution or at a national level?
-How does someone identify opportunities to serve as a thought leader?
-Why is it important to pay it forward and lead as a mentor to early career librarians?
-When did you realize you had become a leader and not just an employee or manager?
-How can arts librarians hone their leadership skills and approaches?
-How can informal leadership approaches foster EDI in the workplace or profession?

Panelists will present their thoughts and recommendations on these topics and allow time for questions from the audience to engage in a discussion. Although focused on academic libraries, the advice given by the panelists is anticipated to be broad enough to be applied to several types of libraries.

This panel is co-organized by members of the ARLIS/NA Academic Libraries Division and the ACRL Arts Section.
 
Panelists 

• Sarah Ward, Hunter College - City University of New York
• Maggie Murphy, UNC Greensboro
• Courtney Stine, University of Louisville
• Jamie Vander Broek, University of Michigan

Touching the Past: The Power of Medieval Manuscript Facsimiles - Giovanni Scorcioni
Facsimile editions of medieval illuminated manuscripts provide students and enthusiasts with access to works of art in a close approximation of the experience of their original viewers. For non-specialists in North America, facsimiles open a window into a world otherwise inaccessible, the originals often being of restricted access in European collections. This paper explores the transformative experience of engaging with facsimile reproductions and discovering the value of physical objects in an era of digitalization. Through presentations at North American universities, I have observed the power of facsimile editions to ignite curiosity and develop an appreciation for art in diverse audiences.

My presentations to students have focused on the pivotal role of quality reproductions in the preservation of original material, the reproduction technologies employed, and the market for facsimiles. I have demonstrated that the production of convincing replicas by printing technicians parallels, in terms of creativity and skill, the work of the artists and craftspeople who produced the original objects.

During my presentations, I have noticed the spark in the eyes of students and librarians when confronted with high-quality reproductions of invaluable manuscripts. The initial reverential awe often transforms into joy and wonder once I explain that facsimiles can and must be handled to be fully appreciated. This tactile interaction allows users to connect with the experiences of those who commissioned and owned the original objects centuries ago, a vital component for a deeper understanding of the history and culture of the book.

The power of facsimile editions to inspire and instruct is becoming ever more valuable as the public is increasingly bombarded with images from medieval books presented in digital form, often without any indication of their manuscript context. The proliferation of easy access to digital surrogates of entire manuscript codices is a valuable aid to research, but the ability to intelligently analyze those images comes only from experience away from the computer screen.

The meanings of all images are contextually derived, and the physical and textual contexts of manuscript images are driving forces in their comprehension. The preservation of facsimile editions and the use of facsimiles in library instruction offer a unique haptic experience that transcends digital consultation.

Bookwork in Art as Contemplation of Information Literacy Concepts - Kendall Faulkner
Artists of various mediums have long had a strong relationship with the book: artists' books, books about art, and books as the vehicle for research and inspiration. However, in recent years, the book has emerged as a raw material from which art is created, encompassing all of the complicated symbolism inherent in the book as an information technology. Books and libraries are at once the distributors and gatekeepers of knowledge and culture. Removing or retiring books from the library is a controversial subject at best, from the standard practice of periodic deselection by librarians or the banning of certain books deemed "unfit" by individuals. Using books in their work allows artists to comment on these structures of knowledge and acceptability. Furthermore, the act of taking published books and painting, cutting, ripping, and even pulping them elicits a visceral response, be it a sense of blasphemy or nostalgia. This presentation will discuss artists such as Jodi Harvey-Brown, Thomas Allen, Brian Dettmer, and others who have used published books in their artworks, with a particular emphasis on Samuel Levi Jones. Jones uses old reference books (encyclopedias, textbooks, legal books, etc.) to focus the viewer's attention on what is left out. Two works, 48 Portraits (underexposed) and 736 Portraits, highlight the staggering lack of Black representation in the Encyclopedia that makes up their source material. While the encyclopedia may be from the 1970’s Jones invites viewers to consider what is still missing in how we currently consume information.

Let’s Get Physical: Course Reserves and a Communal Space for Creative Practice Research - K. Sarah Ostrach and Martha Hernandez Galvan
This case study explores the development of an alternative course reserve system for senior art students at a small, private research university in the southern United States. The library's standard reserves practice is e-preferred, offering digital access to required texts through Canvas. Physical books on reserve are on the first floor, near the main circulation desk, and are restricted to two-hour, in-library use only. The Fine Arts Library is located on the third floor and no longer has a service desk, removed in a 2019 renovation. The physical distance between the fine arts collection and the physical reserves shelf, and the e-preferred reserve policy are impractical in meeting the needs of faculty and students hoping to engage with fine arts materials in a dedicated space. Furthermore, students in art-related disciplines have provided feedback that the Fine Arts Library does not feel like "their" space, as it is often full of students from other disciplines studying. The current floor maps also designate a large portion of the Fine Arts Library as a quiet study zone, which is antithetical to the faculty's and Art Librarian's hope to encourage social and communicative engagement with the collection.

In Fall 2024, four Art faculty approached the Art Librarian to create a physical reserves display in the Fine Arts Library. Their goal was to provide students with hands-on access to contemporary art texts in a social space that encourages creative exploration. To address logistical challenges such as managing book circulation without a service desk and preventing the items from being reshelved the Art Librarian collaborated with the Access Services Associate to identify creative solutions. The project included modifying item policies, creating custom wrappers for the books, and designing a visually prominent, accessible display area using underutilized space where the former service desk once stood.

This presentation will outline the unique spatial and logistical considerations involved in establishing a decentralized reserve system, strategies for maintaining collection integrity, and the role of space in supporting research for creative disciplines. By the conference date, the project will have been fully evaluated, allowing for discussion of its successes, challenges, and potential for adaptation in other settings. Attendees will leave with a deeper understanding of how to support creative research through flexible reserves/display policies and purposeful use of library spaces.

Library as Site: Experiential Learning Within the Physical and Conceptual Space of the Library - Ann Holderfield
Inspired by discussions of site within the landscape architecture discipline, and thinking of site as grounding place of research, an art & architecture librarian and first-year branch library director shares how the library can be metaphorically considered as a pedagogical site that centers experiential learning for art and architecture students. She will share projects in which she has collaborated with faculty and students that take place within the library, such as a design build project for library furniture and an art book and zine fair in which graphic design students created marketing material, or through a book artist exhibit, as well as projects that she was not a part of, but discovered that faculty were teaching that related to the idea of library and/or books. These projects reinforce interest in the concept of the library, whether it relates to the physical space, books, experience of and community aspects of the library.

Diversity Forum Sponsored by the Diversity & Inclusion Committee. Speakers forthcoming.

The Value of Their Voice: Curating Student Art Exhibits with Student Employees - Jacob Lackner

Promoting Browsing and Serendipitous Discovery in Increasingly Digital Collections - Laurin Davis

Building Community Through Art Research Workshop Series - Carrie Salazar

What's New at the Library? Re-examining Our Stakeholders to Better Resonate with the Community - Isamar Abreu Gómez

AGAINST AI: Questioning the role of generative artificial intelligence in arts information - Annie Sollinger

Lightning talk descriptions will be available soon.

This roundtable discussion will provide a collaborative space for librarians and archivists to exchange strategies for incorporating DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility) into teaching and learning with special collections and archives. Participants will be invited to share personal experiences and approaches in the classroom that address topics such as Universal Design for Learning (UDL), multi-sensorial and neurodivergent learning styles, accessibility for students with disabilities, and strategies to support English-language learners, to name a few examples. The discussion will also invite examples of Feminist and Critical Information Literacy pedagogical approaches to foster inclusive and equitable engagement in special collections and archives instruction. To guide the conversation, the following main questions will be posed:

- Share an example of using a DEIA-approach in your special collections or archives teaching? What worked well and what would you have done differently?
- What are some helpful strategies or tools that you have used to make special collections and archives instruction more accessible and engaging?
- How have you applied Feminist pedagogy or Critical Information Literacy in your special collections and archives instruction?
- What excites you most about using DEIA-informed teaching in special collections and archives? Inversely, what challenges have you encountered when implementing DEIA strategies in special collections instruction, and how have you addressed them?
- Are there any other ideas or approaches to DEIA-informed teaching in special collections and archives instruction that you would like to try but haven't had the opportunity yet?

Additional Questions:
- How do collaboration and community partnerships contribute to advancing DEIA initiatives in teaching with special collections and archives?
- How can we elevate traditionally underrepresented voices within special collections to make them more central in our teaching practices?

In 2016, ARLIS/NA published the State of Art Museum Libraries 2016 White Paper, which detailed the roles, issues, and challenges faced by art museum libraries in the United States. The report highlighted how art museum libraries serve as vital partners in their institutions' educational missions by providing authoritative, relevant, and timely research services to both museum constituents and the general public. Despite their critical role, these libraries were facing increasing pressures and needed to justify their value. The report examined the constraints faced by these libraries and offered strategies for overcoming them.

Now, five years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, an event that has profoundly reshaped practices across the library field, this panel will present new research and case studies that assess the current state of museum libraries in the United States and Canada. In addition to the 2016 report, research was informed by more recent ARLIS/NA reports, including the 2019 Census of Art Information Professionals and the 2022 Report of the ARLIS/NA Presidential Task Force on Art Libraries and COVID-19.

Focusing on the theme of "activating community together," the report's authors will present findings from the field level survey completed by 61 museum libraries and will discuss key findings, including the evolving role of libraries within art museums, institutional support for museum libraries, staffing and hiring practices, work-life balance and workplace culture, the state of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, collection development and management, and emerging trends in user experience. They will also detail their research methodology to guide attendees interested in conducting similar studies or expanding on this work.

Additional panelists will present case studies highlighting changes within their own institutions over the past decade, linking the survey data to illustrations of the broader state of the field at the individual institution level. This panel will equip attendees with a deeper understanding of how the field of art museum librarianship has evolved over the past ten years, fostering effective inter-institutional collaborations and strengthening the network of support within our community of practice.

Flipping through Assembling: a presentation about a one of a kind art and literature magazine and its added value in library collections - Anaîs Grateau

Discourse as Activation: The Publishing of Library Exhibitions Review - Ashley Huot and Emily Eckstrand

Managing Overcapacity: A Case Study on Off-Site Storage Solutions - Joshua Sulser

Preparing Together, Responding Together: Resources for Disaster Planning and Response - Megan Dirickson

Color Film Emergency Project, Phase 2: Advancing an Image Preservation Consortium - Maureen Burns and Sonja Sekely-Rowland

Lightning talk descriptions will be available soon. 

This roundtable discussion seeks to explore the future of art and design schools, with a specific focus on the vital role that libraries play in demonstrating the value of an art education. Participants will engage in conversations around several key themes: showcasing the intrinsic value of art and design programs, strategies for leading library teams during challenging times, and how to support and maintain staff morale and engagement. In addition, the focus will include building strong connections between library services and efforts in admissions and retention.  Additionally, we will examine the evolving landscape of art and design education and its implications for job security within the field. Through collaborative dialogue, attendees will develop narratives that articulate the library's contributions to student success and institutional value, ultimately reinforcing the significance of library services in the broader context of art and design education. Moderators hope to establish an environment where community and support are emphasized and attendees can openly and effectively share struggles and successes.

The Expanding the Study of Performance in Women Artists' Archives project interrogates the historiography of feminist performance art in the collections of our large research institution. Our project team, composed of members from various departments, brings diverse perspectives and expertise to the initiative, currently working toward the organization of an exhibition highlighting the work by a feminist activist art collective, whose archive resides in our institution.

The exhibition is structured around the art collective's aesthetic and conceptual strategies: the use of anonymity in institutional critique; data collection and research; the rhetoric and participatory utility of letter writing; mass media distribution; and performative actions. By focusing on these thematic throughlines in the collectives' work, the exhibition showcases their collaboration, sheds light on the research embedded in their activism and artmaking, and examines their ongoing commitment to public participation. The art collective central to our current investigative activities acted as an institutional entity, with strategies that reflect our own professional practices within a large cultural framework.

Our research team's collaborative model echoes the ethics of the collective we are studying. This proposed roundtable seeks to cultivate a generative dialogue around collective activities within participants' institutions, and to explore how research material and subjects can inform ethical approaches to institutional engagement.

We aspire to foster a conversation where shared collaborative practices lead to creative endeavors and common goals, particularly within feminist methodologies. The discussion will engage participants by addressing the following overarching question: How can the content of feminist collections material or radical artistic practices more broadly be allowed to impact upon our institutional working practices?

Themes that have guided our team's research and exhibition strategies may also be explored in the context of professional practice among discussion participants:
To what extent do feminist methodologies inform your own projects?
How does your personal identity shape your approach to institutional initiatives?
Are there collections in your institution that reflect your own or aspirational collaborative practices?
How do you measure the impact of feminist methodologies on your work?
How can you address and critique inequities within your institution's collection models?

"Decolonizing and Indigenizing Mentorship: Activating Community to Support Northern Indigenous Futures"
Dr. Heather Igloliorte, Canada Excellence Research Chair in Decolonial and Transformational Indigenous Art Practices
Department of Visual Arts, University of Victoria

Dr. Heather Igloliorte, an Inuk-Newfoundlander and Nunatsiavut Beneficiary, is the Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Decolonial and Transformational Indigenous Art Practices at the University of Victoria, BC, where she is a Professor in the Visual Arts Department (2023-). Heather has been a curator since 2005, and was awarded The Hnatyshyn Foundation's Award for Curatorial Excellence in Contemporary Art in 2021. In addition to her curatorial practice, Igloliorte teaches curatorial studies, critical museology, global Indigenous art history and research-creation at the University of Victoria. Since 2018 Heather has directed the nation-wide Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership: The Pilimmaksarniq / Pijariuqsarniq Project, a SSHRC-funded partnership grant which supports Inuit postsecondary students to explore professional career paths in all aspects of the arts, including curatorial practice, film and television, editing, collections management, arts administration and other areas of the visual and performing arts, in order to address the longstanding absence of Inuit in agential positions within the Canadian arts milieu. Heather publishes frequently on Indigenous art and curatorial practice; currently serves as the President of the Board of the Inuit Art Foundation and on the Faculty Council of the Otsego Institute for Native American Art History at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York; has served on the Board of Directors for North America's largest Indigenous art historical association, the Native North American Art Studies Association, and in 2021 she was awarded a Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Medal for her service to Indigenous art and artists.

Join the Intersectional Feminism & Art SIG for our annual business meeting. Find out more about this Special Interest Group and our activities on our Knowledge Commons page.

Join the ARLIS/NA ND&ID SIG for our annual meeting! This meeting is open to any interested individuals -- you do NOT have to identify as neurodivergent and/or disabled to attend. We will spend time recapping our 2024-2025 year, as well as goal setting for the upcoming year. There should also be time for member concerns and/or discussions. We look forward to seeing you there!

Agenda:
Welcome
Division updates
Leadership
Annual Report highlights
Discussion of strategies for member engagement
Leadership transition

Join the Documentation Committee to learn about their charge, recent accomplishments, and plans for the upcoming governance year.  For additional information, please review the committee's website: https://doccommittee.arlisna.hcommons.org.

Business meeting for the International Relations Committee.

The Spring 2025 business meeting of the Mountain West Chapter. Agenda will be posted on the Humanities Commons ARLIS/NA Mountain West Chapter group page by end-of-day on May 15, 2024.

Join the Cataloging Section for our annual business meeting. The purpose of the Cataloging Section is to provide a general forum for art catalogers and to develop and support programs of interest to catalogers.

Those retired, ready to retire, or interested in retirement are welcome to join our conference gathering and annual business meeting.

Join us for SIG updates and sharing through lightning rounds. Have a topic related to our SIG you want to share? Please let us know!