Agenda & Minutes 2018 VRA NY Fall Meeting Friday, October 19, 12:00 - 4:00 pm (12:00-2:00 pm: business meeting and lunch; tour: 2:00-4:00 pm) Campus, 30 Campus Rd, Annandale-On-Hudson, NY 12504 ​

Attendees: Kerri Pfister, Barbara Elam, Billy Kwan, Erin McCall, Amy Herman, Zoe Waldron, Lisa Gavell, Johanna Bauman. Guest: Tiffany Saulter

1. Treasurer and Membership Report - Samantha Levin [Erin McCall to present in Samantha’s absence] a. We have 33 paid members as of the end of the third quarter, September, 2018. 3 members dropped off since our last meeting and 2 new members joined. New members have received a welcome email and have been added to our Google Group listserv: i. Marianne DeAngelis, student ii. Simon Ingalls, Cornell University As some concern was expressed at our last meeting over who had dropped out, a list of recent unpaid members is available upon request. Each person has received an email from Samantha encouraging them to return. iii. Account balance is $1450.72 - an overall decrease of $5.74.

2. Vote to Approve Spring meeting notes [doc] ​ ​ a. Approved

3. Elections for two expiring officer positions: a. Vice-Chair. Samantha Levin, not present, offered to serve as Vice Chair. i. Approved b. Secretary/Treasurer i. Lisa will contact the group via email to request a volunteer. ii. Zoe expressed interest as a backup option.

4. Welcome Erin McCall as Chair.

5. Memberships a. new membership form will be updated by Nov. 1 (regional membership was erroneously set at $20 on the form, not $25). b. Other chapters have lower-cost fees available for students: $10 i. Approved ii. We will need to follow-up with Lise Hawkos to add this to our registration form. iii. Required to update the bylaws to indicate the new fee option.

6. Mentorship: Year-round Mentor to provide networking/professional guidance ​ opportunities to a VRA member in the Greater Chapter area recently requested. a. Mentor application form ​ i. Lisa will gather more information from Dawn Feavyour about the role, and post again with a blurb on the field of interest coming from the specific individual.

7. Outreach to expand membership: thoughts on how to attract new members? Some ideas from the spring meeting: Team up with other local groups for professional workshops; Piggyback off of other events, post on listservs; volunteer to support a workshop (eg NYC Digital Humanities, Intro to IIIF); reach out to museum staff (would need volunteers to cull lists together); post on listserv if you’re attending a related event; align with organizations that have bigger membership; joint program with ARLIS? Panel on digital archiving at FIT and a business meeting? a. Johanna and Erin will bring the opportunity up at the next JSTOR Forum regional user meeting; Barb knows of a new hire at Patterson; perhaps reach out to FIT librarians (such as Molly Shoen) to generate interest. b. Discussion around the jurisdiction of the upstate group and this group; ability to join more than one; generate interest based on proximity. c. If we’re to reach out to museum staff, we would need structured language about the organization and send an email out to potential folks; remind them that they don’t have to be a member of VRA national to join (but borrow the language to get started); extend the reach to archivists. i. Need to have someone in our group also a member of MCN that can help cull a list. ii. Develop a free program/tour/event that could entice potentials to come out and meet, learn more, dine; send the invite to MCN. iii. Billy has volunteered to coordinate an outreach strategy; whether a program or general outreach TBD - next meeting potentially scheduled for FIT may draw interest (should require RSVP and be after hours). 1. Form a small group, develop a proposal to bring to the larger group 2. Possible members: Billy, Barb, Lisa, Erin

8. VRA 2019 conference dates coinciding with ARLIS conference dates. VRA conf. held in LA; ARLIS in Salt Lake City. Which conference will members attend? a. VRA starts on Tuesday, ARLIS starts on Wednesday. b. Johanna will not be attending either; Barb will be attending VRA partially; Zoe will not attend; Amy is going to VRA; Billy is going to VRA; Kerry may not attend c. VRA may be in NYC in 2021; may also introduce a new conference model of every 2 years, particularly if the location is not decided for 2020 d. CaVRAcon is the California chapter’s local VRA conference that has proven successful

9. NYC as 2021 National Conference site: a. Use this form to submit a proposal ​ ​ i. May require at least 4 or 5 people to develop programming, if approved ii. LA 2019 will set the precedence for how the programming unfolds between chapters and the programming board

10. 2019 Spring meeting a. Possibly hosted at FIT, coordinate with Samantha b. NYSID could host as a backup (East 70th)

11. Additional agenda items a. Travel award to 2019 conference ($500 sent to recipient for 2018) i. Approved ii. Zoe volunteered to send messaging; Johanna volunteered to read applications b. Heather Topocik, , is working to set up a fundraiser to help victims of the hurricane in Puerto Rico - Spanish-language webinar for librarians i. Barb will gain a statement from Heather with more information ii. Approval and donation amount TBD

Presentation Amy Herman, Director, Visual Resources Center at Bard College, presented on current Bard projects. ● Supporting Omeka projects, working with students in the classroom ○ Most, if not all, are cataloged in Forum and published to Omeka ● Students use historic sites in the surrounding area to help build up the pedagogy of using archives and project outputs ● Uses Neatline to create maps in Omeka ● Taking on the exhibit work for archives, , art, etc., more and more in the VRC ● Captured all the photography, scanning, and cataloging in conjunction with the archivist ● Using JSTOR Forum for a special faculty collection on Kanga textiles (Swahili art), cataloged by a student and published as their first Public Collection on Artstor ○ VRC student is capturing the textiles digitally in the photo studio ● Collaborating with the Hudson Valley Heritage on a collection of mushrooms around the area; documented and drawn by Violetta Delacorte, available as their second Public Collection on Artstor ● Supports Montgomery Place’s inventory and database management ○ Traditionally has been volunteer-based

Location Bard College Campus 30 Campus Rd, Annandale-On-Hudson, NY 12504 Map

Itinerary

10:20 Members taking Amtrak depart Penn Station

11:58 Members taking Amtrak arrive at Rhinecliff Station

12:00-12:20 Board shuttle and travel to Kline South Shuttle stop, Bard campus

12:25-1:25 Lunch and business meeting at the New Annandale House (directly across from shuttle stop)

1:25-1:45 Amy Herman will present on current Bard Projects

1:45-1:55 Break

2:00-2:20 Board shuttle and travel to Montgomery Place. Short stop on the way to view the Fisher Performing Arts Center (designed by ) and the Parliament of Reality installation (Olafur Eliasson)

2:20-2:30 Meet docent at MP Visitor Center parking lot, leisurely walk to the Mansion

2:30-3:30 Tour of the Mansion

3:30-4:00 Coffee break in the historic kitchen, explore the grounds and gardens, weather permitting 4:00-4:10 Walk back to Visitor Center for shuttle pick up

4:15 Board shuttle to Rhinecliff Station

4:52 Board train to Penn station

6:45 Arrive at Penn Station