Art Libraries Society of North America
Encyclopedia
The Art Libraries Society of North America (also known as ARLIS/NA) was founded in 1972. It is an organization made up of approximately 1,000 art librarians, library
students and visual resource professionals.
ARLIS/NA's vision is to be the leading organization in the arts information field. We will serve as a catalyst in the development of services and resources, while harnessing the values and traditions in the field that are relevant to the changes that emerge in the field over time. The Society will address the needs of art library and information professionals and support the advancement of the profession, pursuing partnerships with other professional organizations, higher education organizations, and international forums. ARLIS/NA will continue to foster an inclusive Society, with a collaborative infrastructure, that is welcoming to all members of society and promotes a multiplicity of viewpoints and perspectives.
Round Table. However, ALA support was limited. Meetings were only held biannually, attendance was minimal, and professional progress slow. This was an age of intellectual advancement and curiosity, the post-War years. The world had opened up, and through the influence of popular magazines like Time (magazine)
and Life (magazine)
, Americans were exposed to a range of cultures. According to William Freitag, “Hundreds of new museums and libraries were built every year…there was an explosion of publications in the traditional formats on all subjects.” All of these developments led to the very real need for art librarians to organize.
By the late 1960s, against ALA's wishes, a separate, short-lived art libraries group was created in conjunction with an existing museum sub-section of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of ALA. This proved to be temporary, too, as support was again limited. According to William J. Dane, "We didn't like being called a sub-section. We didn't need to depend on ALA or ACRL. There were enough of us who said, 'The hell with you.' Once the idea of independence got going, it was irreversible." ARLIS/NA was founded by art librarians attending the American Library Association
annual conference in Chicago and was the brainchild of Judith Hoffberg
, who had been inspired by attending meetings of ARLIS/UK in London. The informal annual meetings of art librarians with College Art Association
furthered the initiative to organize. According to Wolfgang Freitag, “The Association of College and Research Libraries was but one of several library organizations in which art librarians were enrolled at that time.”
These early art librarians recognized a need to develop a community specifically for architecture and art librarians, visual resources professionals, artists, curators, educators, publishers, and others interested in visual arts. This organization would provide a forum for colleagues to collaborate, exchange ideas, network, support professional growth in the field, create and uphold partnerships with other professional and higher education organizations and develop programs to propagate domestic and international standards in art information and art librarianship.
By 1982, however, a major section of ARLIS/NA had broken off to form its own group, Visual Resources Association
(VRA). Wolfgang Freitag goes as far as to suggest that this split may have occurred "due to a semantic hang-up on words." Nonetheless, he adds, "The growth of the two organizations has strengthened the profession as a whole so that it is stronger today than we could have imagined thirty and twenty years ago. It is a consolation that this happened even though, or perhaps because, the two main branches of what to my mind is still an indivisible profession gained their strength by following different paths and by marching to different drummers."
The Board is currently rethinking their organizational structure and is instituting a new focus around four general areas: education, publications, technology and communications.
Past Winners
Past Winners
which functions as a forum for sharing information and discussing current issues facing art librarians, library students and visual resource professionals. Discussions often include topics relevant to art professionals, such as reference and cataloging questions as well as questions about art resources and materials. The listserv is also a resource for job listings. ARLIS-L is a place for Society members to widely distribute information about the ARLIS/NA's activities at conferences, workshops and meetings, announcements of awards and honors, news regarding Society members and information on new print and electronic publications. ARLIS-L is an open discussion list and anyone may subscribe. It is also a good place to announce changes made to this wikipedia
page.
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
students and visual resource professionals.
Mission
The mission of ARLIS/NA is to foster excellence in art and design librarianship and image management. We achieve this mission through our many activities, such as:
- Meeting, networking, and sharing ideas in person at our Annual Conferences.
- Publishing substantive articles of a practical as well as scholarly nature through our many publications, such as Art Documentation, Occasional Papers, and Online Publications.
- Providing a forum for professional communication, via our listserv and web site.
- Reaching out to future art librarians through numerous scholarship awards.
- Recognizing excellence in the field through awards for research, service, and publication.
ARLIS/NA's vision is to be the leading organization in the arts information field. We will serve as a catalyst in the development of services and resources, while harnessing the values and traditions in the field that are relevant to the changes that emerge in the field over time. The Society will address the needs of art library and information professionals and support the advancement of the profession, pursuing partnerships with other professional organizations, higher education organizations, and international forums. ARLIS/NA will continue to foster an inclusive Society, with a collaborative infrastructure, that is welcoming to all members of society and promotes a multiplicity of viewpoints and perspectives.
History
Before ARLIS/NA, art librarians organized under an American Library AssociationAmerican Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
Round Table. However, ALA support was limited. Meetings were only held biannually, attendance was minimal, and professional progress slow. This was an age of intellectual advancement and curiosity, the post-War years. The world had opened up, and through the influence of popular magazines like Time (magazine)
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
and Life (magazine)
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
, Americans were exposed to a range of cultures. According to William Freitag, “Hundreds of new museums and libraries were built every year…there was an explosion of publications in the traditional formats on all subjects.” All of these developments led to the very real need for art librarians to organize.
By the late 1960s, against ALA's wishes, a separate, short-lived art libraries group was created in conjunction with an existing museum sub-section of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of ALA. This proved to be temporary, too, as support was again limited. According to William J. Dane, "We didn't like being called a sub-section. We didn't need to depend on ALA or ACRL. There were enough of us who said, 'The hell with you.' Once the idea of independence got going, it was irreversible." ARLIS/NA was founded by art librarians attending the American Library Association
American Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
annual conference in Chicago and was the brainchild of Judith Hoffberg
Judith Hoffberg
Judith Hoffberg was a librarian, archivist, lecturer, a curator and art writer, and editor and publisher of Umbrella, a newsletter on artists' books, mail art, and Fluxus art. She received a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA in 1956. She went on to get an M.A. in Italian Language and Literature...
, who had been inspired by attending meetings of ARLIS/UK in London. The informal annual meetings of art librarians with College Art Association
College Art Association
The College Art Association of America is the principal professional association in the United States for practitioners and scholars of art, art history, and art criticism...
furthered the initiative to organize. According to Wolfgang Freitag, “The Association of College and Research Libraries was but one of several library organizations in which art librarians were enrolled at that time.”
These early art librarians recognized a need to develop a community specifically for architecture and art librarians, visual resources professionals, artists, curators, educators, publishers, and others interested in visual arts. This organization would provide a forum for colleagues to collaborate, exchange ideas, network, support professional growth in the field, create and uphold partnerships with other professional and higher education organizations and develop programs to propagate domestic and international standards in art information and art librarianship.
By 1982, however, a major section of ARLIS/NA had broken off to form its own group, Visual Resources Association
Visual Resources Association
The Visual Resources Association is an international organization for image media professionals,VRA was founded in 1982 by slide librarians who were members of the College Art Association , the South Eastern Art Conference , the Art Libraries Society of North America , and the Mid-America College...
(VRA). Wolfgang Freitag goes as far as to suggest that this split may have occurred "due to a semantic hang-up on words." Nonetheless, he adds, "The growth of the two organizations has strengthened the profession as a whole so that it is stronger today than we could have imagined thirty and twenty years ago. It is a consolation that this happened even though, or perhaps because, the two main branches of what to my mind is still an indivisible profession gained their strength by following different paths and by marching to different drummers."
Chapters
ARLIS/NA is a national organization with the following regional affiliates chapters.Canada
Midwest Region
Northeast Region
South Region
West Region
Organizational structure
The ARLIS/NA Executive Board is composed of a president (formerly chair), vice-president/president-elect and past president, part of a continuous three-year term; and a secretary, treasurer, four regional representatives and a Canadian representative, all of whom serve two-year terms.The Board is currently rethinking their organizational structure and is instituting a new focus around four general areas: education, publications, technology and communications.
- Education – Education will focus on the development of educational programs for all levels of art information professionals, from library students to senior-level personnel
- Publications – ARLIS/NA will continue to focus on the producing print and electronic resources like Art Documentation, ARLIS-L, ARLIS/NA Reviews, and Occasional Papers that provide current and authoritative information on art librarianship and visual resource management
- Technology - The Society moves forward, growing from a completely analog organization into the digital world, through ventures such as the ARLIS/NA website, ARLIS-L, and blogs
- Communications – Communication within Society entities, chapters, and affiliated organizations will continue to grow and bridge with other art information organizations
1973-1979
- 1973: Judith HoffbergJudith HoffbergJudith Hoffberg was a librarian, archivist, lecturer, a curator and art writer, and editor and publisher of Umbrella, a newsletter on artists' books, mail art, and Fluxus art. She received a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA in 1956. She went on to get an M.A. in Italian Language and Literature...
- 1974: Jean Finch
- 1975: William B. Walker
- 1976: John Murchie
- 1977: Nancy John
- 1978: Katharine Martinez Ratzenberger
- 1979: Joyce Pellerano Ludmer
1980-1989
- 1980: Wolfgang M. Freitag
- 1981: Karen Muller
- 1982: Caroline Backlund
- 1983: Nancy Allen
- 1984: Mary Ashe
- 1985: Toni Petersen
- 1986: Susan Craig
- 1987: Jeffrey Horrell
- 1988: Ann Abid
- 1989: Clive Phillpot
1990-1999
- 1990: Lynette Korenic
- 1991: Merrill Wadsworth Smith
- 1992: Betty Jo Irvine
- 1993: Deidre Stam
- 1994: Janis Ekdahl
- 1995: Edward Teague
- 1996: Jack Robertson
- 1997: Roger Lawson
- 1998: Mary Graham
- 1999: Kathryn Wayne
2000-2009
- 2000: Karen McKenzie
- 2001: Ted Goodman
- 2002: Daniel Starr
- 2003: Allen Townsend
- 2004: Jeanne Brown
- 2005: Margaret Webster
- 2006: Ann Whiteside
- 2007: Deborah Ultan-Boudewyns
- 2008: Ken Soehner
- 2009: Amy Lucker
Annual Conferences
In alignment with the organization’s mission to foster excellence in art and design librarianship and image management, ARLIS/NA hosts a yearly conference for members to meet in person, share ideas and network.- 2011- 39th Annual. Minneapolis, Minnesota
- 2010- 38th Annual. Boston, Massachusetts
- 2009- 37th Annual. Indianapolis, Indiana
- 2008- 36th Annual. Denver, Colorado
- 2007- 35th Annual. Atlanta, Georgia
- 2006- 34th Annual. Banff, Alberta, Canada
- 2005- 33rd Annual. Houston, TX
- 2004- 32nd Annual. New York City, NY
- 2003- 31st Annual. Baltimore, MD
- 2002- 30th Annual. St. Louis, MO
- 2001- 29th Annual. Los Angeles, CA
- 2000- 28th Annual. Pittsburgh, PA
- 1999- 27th Annual. Vancouver, British Columbia
- 1998- 26th Annual. Philadelphia, PA
- 1997- 25th Annual. San Antonio, TX
- 1996- 24th Annual. Miami Beach, FL
- 1995- 23rd Annual. Montreal, Quebec
- 1994- 22nd Annual. Providence, RI
- 1993- 21st Annual. San Francisco, CA
- 1992- 20th Annual. Chicago, IL
- 1991- 19th Annual. Kansas City, KS
- 1990- 18th Annual. New York City, NY
- 1989- 17th Annual. Phoenix, AZ
- 1988- 16th Annual. Dallas, TX
- 1987- 15th Annual. Washington, DC
- 1986- 14th Annual. New York City, NY
- 1985- 13th Annual. Los Angeles, CA
- 1984- 12th Annual. Cleveland, OH
- 1983- 11th Annual. Philadelphia, PA
- 1982- 10th Annual. Boston, MA
- 1981- 9th Annual. San Francisco, CA
- 1980- 8th Annual. New Orleans, LA
- 1979- 7th Annual. Toronto, Ontario
- 1978- 6th Annual. New York City, NY
- 1977- 5th Annual. Los Angeles, CA
- 1976- 4th Annual. Chicago, IL
- 1975- 3rd Annual. Washington, DC
- 1974- 2nd Annual. Detroit, MI
- 1973- 1st Annual. New York City, NY
Awards and honors
ARLIS/NA offers travel awards to students and industry professionals (members and non-members) to their annual conferences.Distinguished Service Award
One of the most esteemed honors is the Distinguished Service Award which is given to an individual of any country whose exemplary service in art librarianship, visual resources curatorship, or a related field, has made an outstanding national or international contribution to art information.Past Winners
The George Wittenborn Memorial Board Award
Since its foundation in 1974, ARLIS/NA has bestowed The George Wittenborn Memorial Board Award annually. This honor recognizes excellence of content and production in North American art publications. Initially called the Art Publishing Award, it was renamed in 1980 to honor George Wittenborn (1905–1974), the influential New York art book dealer and publisher. The award is presented annually for outstanding publications in the visual arts and architecture which combine the highest standards of scholarship, design, and production.Past Winners
Outreach/Communications
ARLIS-L is the Society's listservLISTSERV
LISTSERV was the first electronic mailing list software application, consisting of a set of email addresses for a group in which the sender can send one email and it will reach a variety of people...
which functions as a forum for sharing information and discussing current issues facing art librarians, library students and visual resource professionals. Discussions often include topics relevant to art professionals, such as reference and cataloging questions as well as questions about art resources and materials. The listserv is also a resource for job listings. ARLIS-L is a place for Society members to widely distribute information about the ARLIS/NA's activities at conferences, workshops and meetings, announcements of awards and honors, news regarding Society members and information on new print and electronic publications. ARLIS-L is an open discussion list and anyone may subscribe. It is also a good place to announce changes made to this wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
page.
Art Documentation
Art Documentation is the official bulletin of the Art Libraries Society of North America and is now published twice yearly. In 1982 it was decided that the ARLIS/NA Newsletter had developed into more of a professional journal than just a newsletter. Art Documentation includes articles and information relevant to art librarianship and visual resources curatorship. This publication includes practical information for the ARLIS/NA community such as committee, conference, meeting, chapter and member updates. ISSN 0730-7187ARLIS/NA Reviews
Reviews of recently published titles relevant to art information professionals. See ReviewsOccasional Papers
Manuscripts for purchase on current art information issues with such topics on staffing standards and core competencies. See Occasional PapersOnline Publications
Additional resources that are available via free download on the ARLIS/NA website.Quotations
- Without Judy Hoffberg there would be no ARLIS/NA. Period. -William Walker, former Chief Librarian of Watson Library at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- There was a candle in the wilderness that we could follow, and that was ARLIS/UK. -William Dane, Newark Public LibraryNewark Public LibraryThe Newark Public Library is the public library system for the city of Newark, New Jersey.-History:In 1902 John Cotton Dana became employed at the Newark Public Library in Newark, New Jersey from until his death in 1929. He established foreign language collections for immigrants and also developed...
, Keeper of Manuscripts and Prints
Affiliated Organizations
- American Library AssociationAmerican Library AssociationThe American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
(ALA) - Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Kunst und Museumsbibliotheken
- ARLIS/Australia & New Zealand (ARLIS/ANZ)
- ARLIS/Netherlands (ARLIS/NL)
- ARLIS/Norden in English
- ARLlS/United Kingdom (UK) & Ireland
- Association of Architecture School Librarians (AASL)
- College Art AssociationCollege Art AssociationThe College Art Association of America is the principal professional association in the United States for practitioners and scholars of art, art history, and art criticism...
(CAA)
- International Federation of Library Associations and InstitutionsInternational Federation of Library Associations and InstitutionsThe International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions is the leading international association of library organisations. It is the global voice of the library and information profession, and its annual conference provides a venue for librarians to learn from one another...
(IFLA) - Japan Art Documentation Society, Tokyo (JADS)
- Museum Computer Network (MCN)
- Society of American Archivists (SAA)
- Society of Architectural HistoriansSociety of Architectural HistoriansThe Society of Architectural Historians is an international not-for-profit organization that promotes the study and preservation of the built environment worldwide....
(SAH) - Sous-section des Bibliothèques d'art, Association des bibliothécaires français (ABF)
- Visual Resources AssociationVisual Resources AssociationThe Visual Resources Association is an international organization for image media professionals,VRA was founded in 1982 by slide librarians who were members of the College Art Association , the South Eastern Art Conference , the Art Libraries Society of North America , and the Mid-America College...
(VRA)
See also
- Art historyArt historyArt history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...
- slide library
- Special Libraries AssociationSpecial Libraries AssociationSpecial Libraries Association is an international professional association for library and information professionals working in business, government, law, finance, non-profit, and academic organizations and institutions....
(SLA)