Save the Date! VRA NoCal Spring Meeting

Please save the date of Friday, April 27, 2012 for our Spring meeting. I am happy to announce that this will be a joint meeting with the Art Libraries Society (ARLIS) Northern California Chapter at Mills College Library in Oakland, California.

More details and a full agenda will follow soon, but for now please note that we will be meeting in Room 115, the Elinor Raas Heller Rare Book Room. Janice Braun, special collections librarian, has generously agreed to give a tour and share highlights from the Mills Special Collections.

The ARLIS and VRA Northern California officers are very excited about this event, and we hope you can join us!

Application Deadline Approaching for SEI 2012 Scholarships!

Hi all,

Just a reminder that the March 6th deadline for submitting your application for one of the five SEI 2012 scholarships is fast approaching! For full details, please see the SEI 2012 website's Scholarship Information page here.

SEI 2012 Scholarships Now Available

Five scholarships sponsored by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation are now available to support attendance at the upcoming ARLIS/NA-VRAF Summer Educational Institute (SEI), which will be held at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor from June 19th-22nd, 2012.

Each scholarship recipient will receive $770 to cover tuition, three nights of dormitory housing, and minor incidentals. Applications will be accepted from February 7th-March 6th, 2012.

SEI provides a valuable professional development opportunity by addressing several relevant topics in our field, including digital imaging, intellectual property rights, metadata, and strategic planning.

For full details about the application process and the SEI program, please visit the SEI 2012 website.

Congratulations to Our First Chapter Sponsored VRA Membership Recipient

I am pleased to announce that Kris Branscomb is the recipient of the first chapter-sponsored membership for 2012. Congratulations to Kris and thanks for your participation.

Abby Dansiger will take over as Chapter Chair in January.

Happy Holidays to All.

SEI Website Now Live and Chair-Elect Nomination Update

The deadline has now passed for nominations for our Chair Elect for 2012, and Emily Vigor is our sole candidate. Members will soon be receiving an online ballot to confirm Emily's nomination. Thanks, Emily, for volunteering your service.

The Website for the annual Art Libraries Society (ARLIS) and VRA sponsored Summer Educational Institute (SEI) is now live. If you are a grad student in information and library science or art history, are new to the profession of image curating, or need to update your technology and/or management skills, this is a valuable opportunity. Registration will open on January 18, 2012.

SEI 2012 will be held from June 19th to 22nd at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The intensive three and a half-day workshop will feature a curriculum that specifically addresses the requirements of today’s professional, and will include hands-on and lecture modules. Expert instructors will cover intellectual property rights, digital imaging, metadata and cataloguing, and strategic planning. There are usually a few grants offered to help with funding the trip to Michigan if you want to go but do not have the resources. Dorm rooms will be available for around $50 per night. It is held in a different location each year.

Deadline Reminders: Chair-Elect and Chapter Sponsored VRA Membership

Today, December 14, 2011 at 5 pm is the deadline to throw your name in the ring to volunteer to be Chair-elect of our Chapter for the next year and to succeed Abby Dansiger in 2013 as Chair. To apply, you need to be a renewed member for 2012 of the VRA and the Chapter. Simply submit a short statement of candidacy stating why you want the office and what you would hope to accomplish along with a brief biographical statement to current Chair-elect Abby Dansiger (ADansiger@academyart.edu) or Chairperson Karen Kessel (karen.kessel@sonoma.edu). To date, we have one candidate, Emily Vigor, cataloging assistant at the Academy of Art.

Tuesday, December 20, is the deadline to apply for our new Chapter-sponsored membership in the chapter and the national organization. You can access a form with the full application guidelines under the Chapter Information column on the right, or click here. You must demonstrate financial need and a willingness to actively participate in the chapter to further the goals of the VRA. We are in the planning stages to have a second joint mini-conference with our southern California sister chapter next June, and this will entail dedicated efforts and coordination to make it as successful as last year's event in Santa Barbara. So if you would have been wanting to join the VRA and the Chapter but your institution just cannot provide the budget for it, this might be for you.

Location Change for November 4th Meeting!

Due to a larger than expected turnout, we will be holding our meeting tomorrow in Room 200C, Earl Warren Hall, at 2195 Hearst Avenue (NW corner of Oxford and Hearst):

Please note that UCB security requires all attendees to be confirmed in advance, and everyone must sign in upon arrival. If you have not sent your RSVP yet, please do so no later than 4 o’clock today to Karen Kessel (karen.kessel@sonoma.edu) or Abby Dansiger (adansiger@academyart.edu).

Attendees are strongly encouraged to use public transportation if possible, as there is a large construction project underway in the area. If you are driving, some public parking options include the Center Street Parking Garage, 2025 Center Street between Milvia and Shattuck Avenues, and the Berkeley Way Parking Lot, Berkeley Way at Henry between Shattuck Avenue and Milvia Street. For a full list of public garages and lots with details about locations and rates, please see:

http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=8260

If you have any questions, please contact Karen or Abby. We look forward to seeing you tomorrow!