Evalyn Stone (Watson Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art) welcomed members to the meeting and outlined the four sessions being sponsored by the Division at the 1997 conference.
As there was no previous business to complete, the chair proceeded to new business:
1. Nomination of the Museum Division chair for 1997-1998. It was announced that Barbara Mathe (Goldwater Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art) had kindly volunteered to fill the position.
2. Appointment of an editor for the Museum Division column in Update. It was announced that Emily Roth (Uris Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art) had agreed to continue to fill this post.
3. Program for 1998. It was mentioned that there had been considerable discussion on the Listserve of various topics, including The Librarian as Curator, IMLS (Institute for Museum and Library Services) programs, and Non-Institutional Archival Holdings. A proposal by Elizabeth O'Keefe (Pierpont Morgan Library), Lee Robinson (New York Public Library, Art & Architecture) and Stephen Van Dyk (Cooper-Hewitt Museum Library), for a session concerning auction catalogues, had been submitted via Elizabeth O'Keefe and was being reworked and resubmitted.
There was some discussion regarding The Librarian as Curator, with a number of persons expressing interest in participating in a session. It was agreed that those interested could contact Rosemary Haddad (Canadian Centre for Architecture) at the end of the meeting, and she in turn would contact Deirdre Lawrence (Brooklyn Museum of Art Libraries), who had already posted a message on ARLIS-L concerning this topic.
Discussion then turned to IMLS and the possibility of a session about funding and grant proposals, possibly to include an overview of the history of federal funding and of funding in Canada. It was suggested that this would be a good topic for an Ask ARLIS session, and agreed that Marianne Cavanaugh (St. Louis Art Museum) would work on it with Pat Lynagh (National Portrait Gallery Library) and Barbara Mathe. The North American Relations Committee would probably co-sponsor.
The next discussion was on Non-Institutional Archival Holdings, with special reference to a report on artists' papers prepared for the meeting by Karen McKenzie (Art Gallery of Ontario). Elizabeth O'Keefe expressed an interest in working on this and in including Vertical Files as a Reference Source. Jeannette Dixon (Hirsch Library, Museum of Fine Arts Houston) opened discussion on The Museum as Resource and ways of acquiring feedback on how researchers can know what resources museums have and how to gain access to them. After further discussion, Jeannette agreed to talk to people with a view to developing the topic.
In other business, Barbara Mathe referred to the ARLIS web site and the idea of our Division having a presence on the site, with links to those who have their databases on the Web. This raised concerns about excluding libraries that do not have their own web site. After discussion of other aspects of this topic, it was suggested that people contact Floyd Sweeting (Frick Art Reference Library) to explore ways of adding information to the ARLIS web site.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:15 a.m.
Rosemary Haddad
Canadian Centre for Architecture
rosemary@cca.qc.ca