Happy New Year VRA!  2011 has started with registration opening for the VRA + ARLIS/NA 2nd Joint Conference in Minneapolis. The conference web site is up http://www.vra-arlis2011.org/ and loaded with information—it also continues to grow as more details fall into place, so visit frequently. The question now is how much can you fit into your schedule since there is no shortage of substantive content, opportunities to network, fun events, and sights to see. Check out the conference blog for a steady flow of information and updates at http://vraarlis2011.wordpress.com/. Thanks again to everyone who is working so hard to make this conference a success. Please note that registration is a little different since we merged two organizations traditions. There is an early registration ending on February 25th, then a price jump of $100 (in the main categories) for regular registration from February 26th through the conference. Many events are also first come, first-served, so it pays to register early. Sure hope to see you in the Twin Cities for this exciting joint effort by two like-minded organizations.

It is more work to organize a joint conference, but we believe this meeting of the minds will benefit the members of both organizations, making it well worth the effort. For each task we must think about the local conference planning committee members leading the charge on various tasks, which of our ARLIS counterparts might need to be contacted, and whether the ARLIS’ management company, Technical Enterprises Inc. (TEI), also needs to be in the loop. This makes for great complexity and many of us have wondered how such things were accomplished in the past without smart phones, wikis, blogs, etc. There have been many challenges (and there are probably more to come, for all of which I beg your indulgence), but I’m so impressed with the way that members of both organizations have rallied for the common cause and enjoying working together. There are so many smart, capable professionals in both organizations this convergence is bound to be a wonderful learning experience as well as great fun!

We are often so busy and caught up in the intensive work of our institutions and professional organizations that we sometimes neglect to consider the importance of reaching out to others who do similar work so we can exchange information and learn from each other. We can’t expect people to know what we do, why we do it, where there is important overlap, or how we would like to see our field progress, if we don’t step outside our comfort zones and cross boundaries. VRA is trying to do more on this front, as you know, by publishing the white paper “Advocating for Visual Resources Management in Educational and Cultural Institutions” http://www.vraweb.org/resources/general/vra_white_paper.pdf and we hope you are finding this document useful. Your ideas about how the organization can do more to reach like-minded communities are most welcome. As VRA President, I attended two events in the fall where I could also spread the word about VRA.

The first was the “Yours, Mine, Ours: Leadership Through Collaboration” conference organized by the RLG partnership and OCLC research and hosted at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC (see http://www.oclc.org/research/events/2010-09-20.htm where you can access detailed information including slides, video, and a blog). We were asked to read a report beforehand entitled “Collaboration Contexts: Framing Local, Group, and Global Solutions” by Günter Waibel, which is concise and well worth it (also be found on the web site). The theme of collaboration was brought home through numerous examples of creative partnerships and innovative projects as well as through much practical advice provided by dynamic speakers. The presentations were mixed with more interactive formats allowing participants to actively engage in the two days of events. Günter Waibel, Diane Zorich, and Ricky Erway, three great researchers and thinkers about information technology and collaborative environments, wrote an earlier report entitled “Beyond the Silos of the LAMs: Collaboration among Libraries, Archives and Museums” http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/ library/2008/2008-05.pdf that influenced this and other events. A session with the same name at the upcoming joint conference will be discussing several institutions that have worked across traditional boundaries to eliminate their silos in order to bring the management of cultural heritage materials together for the benefit of those who use the collections for research and teaching.  

The other event I participated in was Common Ground’s 1st International Conference on the Image at University California in Los Angeles http://ontheimage.com/conference-2010/. This was a fascinating experience because Common Ground is working to create knowledge communities through conferences like this around various themes, where everyone has an opportunity to present formally (for the price of registration) and participate in peer-reviewed academic publishing (registration includes one year of access to the resulting publications) as well as to hold informal conversations at the conference and through blogs, monthly e-mail newsletters, and Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr feeds. They too mixed up the conference presentation and discussion formats to encourage every participant to share their knowledge and perspectives. Although it was evident that changing the traditional conference model is still a transitional exercise, it provided me with much food for thought about how we might consider adjusting our own. What was most astounding to me was the wide variety of disciplines currently needing and using images, to name a few represented there were people in education, medicine, political science, social science, history, psychology, journalism, rhetoric, critical theory, and of course, architecture, design, photography, visual arts, dance, drama, music, and film. As we know, it’s not all about still images anymore either, but multimedia! The attendees truly came from all over the world. I sat with a group of Australians during one of the “garden conversations” and there were people from a range of countries in Africa, Asia, and Europe and from all over Canada and the United States. It was also a diverse group in terms of gender and age with an impressive range of undergraduate and graduate students, junior and senior faculty, and sadly, only a few information professionals from archives, libraries, museums, and visual resources collections. It was a great opportunity to promote the VRA and make a different sort of connection with people who are really excited about images. 

I hope you will take advantage of the great opportunity the upcoming Minneapolis conference provides to network with VRA members and colleagues you may have never met before to reach beyond yourself to seek collaboration.  

The Art Libraries Society/North America (ARLIS/NA) and the Visual Resources Association Foundation (VRAF) are pleased to announce that the 2011 Summer Educational Institute for Visual Resources and Image Management website is available at http://www.vrafoundation.org/sei2011/.

SEI 2011 will be held at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, NM, from June 7-10, 2011. The intensive 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, the application of social and new media in visual resources, the product environment, strategic planning, professional development, and future directions for the profession.  

Contacts (Summer Educational Institute Implementation Team Co-Chairs):
Kathe Hicks Albrecht, American University, kalbrec@american.edu
Elizabeth Schaub, The University of Texas at Austin, eschaub@austin.utexas.edu

It’s a new year and I’d like to share some exciting news from the VRA Foundation. First, thank you to those of you who are contributing to the VRA Foundation and the VRA via your membership renewals. Your support for the important work of our organizations makes a difference. Of course, you can donate any time of year by visiting our website too. Today, I am delighted to announce a major gift from some very special people, Cathie and Gene Lemon of Phoenix, Arizona. Many of you know Cathie as a fellow VRA member and SEI advocate. Their generous donation will help support several new VRAF education and research activities that I’d like to tell you about.

First, the Foundation is initiating a Project Grant program. The purpose of the VRA Foundation’s Project Grant is to provide support for projects in the field of visual resources and image management that are consonant with the VRA Foundation mission. Up to $1,500 will be awarded per grant. The funds may be used for small, stand-alone projects, pilots or start-up financing for larger projects, or for a component of a larger project. Collaborative projects and those proposed by groups, whether or not affiliated with an organization or institution, are favored. Categories to be considered for funding would include, but not necessarily be limited to, the following: Image Metadata and Cataloguing, Data Standards, Digital Archives, Digitization Projects (Educational Institutions, Libraries, and Museums), Visual Literacy, Pedagogy and Technology, and Intellectual Property Rights.

Project proposals may be submitted at any time during the year. The Foundation reviews and selects projects for funding twice a year, in April and November. The deadline for April review is March 31. The deadline for November review is October 31. Guidelines and Application forms for the VRAF Project Grant program are now available at http://www.vrafoundation.org/project-grant.htm Please contact grant program officer, David Green davidgreen@knowledgeculture.com with questions or comments about the VRA Foundation project grants

Next, I know you’ll agree that there’s so much to look forward to at the upcoming VRA + ARLIS/NA annual conference in Minneapolis. This year the Foundation is proud to co-sponsor the March 25th plenary session, “Works and Fair Use: Can Bridges Be Built between Educational Users and Copyright Owners?” featuring Jule Sigall, who has served as the Associate Register for Policy and International Affairs at the U.S. Copyright Office and is now serving as Associate General Counsel to Microsoft. This session is an important component of our mission to educate communities in the area of Intellectual Property. Following the plenary, the Foundation will hold a special luncheon for VRAF Gold, Silver, and Bronze Circle contributors.

And finally, we will be welcoming three new members to the VRA Foundation Board at our annual meeting on March 23. Rebecca Moss, Alix Reiskind, and Tina Updike will be bringing their time and talents to the Foundation’s mission. With this turnover we’ll also be saying goodbye to our hard-working and long-term board members, Jeanne Keefe, Ann Thomas, and Loy Zimmerman. Please join me in welcoming our new board and giving a hearty thanks to the outgoing members.

I look forward to seeing many of you in Minneapolis. Please don’t hesitate to contact me or other VRAF directors with questions or comments about the VRA Foundation.

Software developer and internet activist Seth Finkelstein has suggested that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA) is the “most hated Internet law since the Communications Decency Act censorship legislation”.1 In discussions with peers and through readings on the subject, I have found that to be a fairly accurate statement about the general sentiment toward the law. And it makes sense, many people believe it impedes progress in creativity and technology development, interpret it as a sort of censorship, and find it a curious addition to a law that focuses on protections of use of copyrighted works, not avenues of access to copyrighted works.

When the “Rulemaking on Exemptions from Prohibition on Circumvention of Technological Measures that Control Access to Copyrighted Works” was announced last July, I was not surprised that it was circulated as extremely important news. Recently I revisited the subject because I had some unanswered questions.

When I first read about this announcement by the Librarian of Congress, my first thought was, “I didn’t know the Librarian of Congress had any bearing over United States law. Am I missing something?” I was also interested in the kind of money or pressure at work to explain the particular exemptions, like the two (more) frequently mentioned: that faculty and film and media students could break anti-circumvention laws in order to access materials for the purpose of education and creating student projects; and that jail breaking phones was now legal. In addition to my curiosity about the role of the Librarian, why these two things in particular were emphasized, and who or what would be behind such an influence on policy, I wondered why I heard so much complaining about the DMCA, but never did anyone mention the triennial rulemaking on exemptions and how it worked? Never would I have guessed that ordinary people could have a large influence, as I’ll discuss later.

This month’s column is the result of the research that ensued in pursuit of the answers to my questions as I revisited Bill Number H.R.2281. The more I researched the longer my list of questions grew, but I hope to provide a taste of the intricacies of the law, and a summary of the most recent rulemaking. To expand on what I already knew about the DMCA, I read articles about the release of the 2010 rulemaking. I read the law itself, the summary of the law, and the pages from the government copyright website site for the 2003, 2006, and 2009/10 provisions statements, including excerpts from the submitted public comments and the agenda for hearings.

Within Title I, Section 103 of the DMCA it is stated that, “Title 17, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new chapter: Chapter 12 entitled Copyright Protection and Management Systems.”2 Section 1201 of this chapter contains the contents which are loosely referred to in most public discussion as the DMCA. It should be mentioned however that the law actually consists of five titles, and that within the title and section with the oft cited parts of the DMCA, the law contains quite a bit more including amendments to the existing law due to international treaties, anti-trafficking measures for technology related to circumvention, criminalization of false copyright management information distribution, and other technical specifications.

The July announcement springs from a procedure “mandated by the DMCA, which provides that the Librarian of Congress (Librarian) may exempt certain classes of works from the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works.”3 The final announcement is made after receiving recommendations from the Register of Copyrights (Register). However, the rulemaking only affects one part of the DMCA--the circumvention aspect. “The Librarian has no authority to limit either of the anti-trafficking provisions.”4 In other words, what he can have authority over, as may be argued is often the case for many a librarian, is access. Specifically, which restrictions to access are important to protecting copyrighted works, and which prevent citizens from making use of material in ways that are non-infringing. The Librarian acts as a protector against censorship, but in this new digital context.

The really exciting part about this rulemaking, however, is the influence that ordinary people can have on the recommendations and ultimate decisions made by the Register and Librarian. Anyone can submit comments for review in this process that requires identification of classes of works, and specific uses that have been harmfully affected by the anti-circumvention aspect of the DMCA, which must be illustrated with evidence. “The rulemaking proceeding is conducted by the Register of Copyrights, who is to provide notice of the rulemaking, seek comments from the public, consult with the Assistant Secretary for Communication and Information, of the Department of Commerce, and recommend final regulations to the Librarian of Congress”.5 In the most recent case, after the initial notice of inquiry, a total of nineteen written submissions proposing twenty-five classes of works were received. The comment period (which allows for response to the first round of classes proposed by the librarian based on the initial submissions) had fifty-six responses. Then, four days in May, thirty-seven witnesses testified on twenty-one classes.6 Post hearing questions were then sent to witnesses. Parties are allowed to provide additional responses and evidence as needed.

Contrary to some of the articles and press releases about the most recent rulemaking, six classes of works were identified in the final statement, though they weren’t all new.7 Each third year, everything must be reconsidered, as there is no guarantee a particular type of work, use, or technology will continue to function in the same way or encounter the same problems over the following three years. However, since the first issuance in 2000, each time there have been classes of works that appear again, some in identical form. For example, in the recent update from 2006 to what should have been 2009, but was delayed until 2010, one class of works was dropped, two retained their exact wording, two were significantly reworded, and one was enhanced and expanded. Only one class was truly a new addition.

Briefly, the six classes of works with exemptions for 2010 are, computer programs protected by dongles, computer programs that enable cell phones to connect to a network that they have been authorized to connect to, computer and video games for the purpose of correcting flaws and vulnerability issues, and literary works in e-book format for purpose of specialized formats, all as repeated classes of works from 2006. DVD encryption circumvention was previously allowed for film and media professors, but in the newest provisions it is expanded to all faculty and to film and media students, as well as documentary filmmakers, and video artists (as long as the video is noncommercial). Finally, a new class of computer programs related to cell phones was identified, but this one applicable to the execution of applications for purposes of interoperability, rather than connecting to wireless networks.

I think the most important discovery in revisiting this subject was that one individual has power to influence law, even if in a very specific context. One can make a difference without money, political clout, or institutional support (though many of the people submitting comments did have advising lawyers). A well-reasoned argument has a fair chance at affecting the next round of provisions as much as the pockets of a large corporation.

In closing, though, not just because I feel like I have still left out so much information, I want to encourage visual resources professionals to explore some of these laws as I have. There is so much out there, and a lot of it is truly interesting. I recommend especially the Official Copyright Office summary of the DMCA8, and a blog post by American University, Professor of Law and copyright advocate Peter Jaszi.9 I would also suggest taking a look at the notice of inquiry and submission documents, and perhaps most interesting to librarians and visual resources professionals, those comments provided by the Library Copyright Alliance. All of these public submissions, comments and replies, are accessible through the government site.10

1 Finkelstein, Seth. How to Win (DMCA) Exemptions and Influence Policy. Accessed January 10, 2011. http://w2.eff.org/IP/DMCA/finkelstein_on_dmca.html

2 United States. Cong. Senate. Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. 105th Cong., 2nd sess. H.R.2281. Washington: GPO, 1998. Accessed January 10, 2011. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-105hr2281enr/pdf/BILLS-105hr2281enr.pdf

3United States. Copyright Office. Rulemaking on Anticircumvention. 2010. Accessed January 10, 2011. http://www.copyright.gov/1201/

4 Finkelstein.

5 United States. Cong. Senate. Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.

6 Peters, Marybeth. Recommendation of the Register of Copyrights;Rulemaking on Exemptions from Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies. June 11, 2010. Accessed January 10, 2011. http://www.copyright.gov/1201/2010/initialed-registers-recommendation-june-11-2010.pdf

7 See, for examples of different coverage, the July 26, 2010 article in PC World by Emily Price, “What new DMCA Copyright Loopholes Mean to You”, the July 27, 2010 article for the Chronicle of Higher Education online ProfHacker column by Kathleen Fitzpatrick, “Information of the New DMCA Exemptions”, and a July 26,2010 press release from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, “EFF Wins New Legal Protections for Video Artists, Cell Phone Jailbreakers, and Unlockers”.

8 United States. Copyright Office. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, U.S. Copyright Office Summary. 1998. http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf

9Jaszi, Peter. July 30, 2010, “Worth the Wait – installment #1,” ãollectanea.  http://chaucer.umuc.edu/blogcip/collectanea/2010/07/worth_the_wait_-_installment_1.html

10United States. Copyright Office. Rulemaking Proceedings. http://www.copyright.gov/laws/rulemaking.html

http://vraiprnews.wordpress.com/2010/12/31/ipr-in-the-news-december-2010/

One of the essential tools that VR professionals consistently use for digitization projects is Adobe Photoshop.  While Photoshop is an extremely powerful program for editing and retouches it can be clunky, time-consuming, and has a steep learning curve.  What we need for our digital toolbox is a tool that can work with our workflow and make it easy to make the normal corrections that we do for every image. 

Enter Adobe Lightroom. An application similar to Photoshop and Bridge, Lightroom is designed with workflow and efficiency in mind, and saves time through auto-importing, batch corrections, metadata organization, and basic editing such as exposure, cropping, and spot removal. When a group of images are complete a batch export to various locations are just a few clicks away.  While it was designed to work on a local computer level, through catalog exports you are able to quickly move images from scanning workstations, editing stations, to the final archive through the server.  What happens if you come across an image that needs some very advanced edits? Lightroom perfectly integrates with Photoshop and will open any image in Photoshop and automatically save the edits when done.

Adobe Lightroom will not completely replace the need for Photoshop in your workflow. However, with its focus on workflow efficiency it is the perfect program to streamline any digitization project while maintaining or even improving the quality of the final product.

Other useful tools that I recommend to Faculty and Students:

• Xnviewhttp://www.xnview.com/
  This award winning software works on a Mac or Windows. It supports 400 file formats and offers image editing. It can be used to create web sites, contact sheets and used to capture screen shots.

• Photoscapehttp://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/index.php
  PCWorld calls Photoscape remarkable. It is easy to use; however it works only with Windows.  It also offers a full array of image editing features. It converts RAW files, creates photo collages, screen captures, and combines multiple photos in a single frame.
  

• Photo! Editor http://pho.to/editor/
  Photo! Editor is very easy to use and will perform basic editing functions. It is a great tool for the user who is not so computer savvy. Unfortunately, this software only works on Windows as well.

Wright State University’s LibraryThing is an online cataloging and social media tool for those who love books.  Members can load up to 200 books for free or you can pay a small $25 fee for life-time membership and the ability to add as many books as you want.  For VRAers this site is a great way to let people know what print materials you have in your collection for a very low cost.  Items can be added in several ways.  The easiest method is to search by ISBN or Library of Congress number.  If the book is available in Amazon.com, Library of Congress or LibraryThing, the information can be pulled into your catalog.  Catalog entries also often include an image of the cover added from Amazon or from another user.   If you have a book unique to LibraryThing, you can create your own catalog entry by manually adding information like author, title, publication date, cover photograph, etc.

LibraryThing also has social media tools.  Each book in your catalog can be tagged and/or placed in user-defined collections that serve as broad categories.  LibraryThing also provides customizable widgets that can be added to websites to provided access and random examples of items in your collection.  For more information, visit the LibraryThing website at www.librarything.com.

The Membership Committee has been focusing on outreach to first attract new members to the VRA, and then welcome them and encourage their participation within the organization once they are part of our community. To raise the profile of the VRA and expand our membership base we are updating our contacts among library and information science schools, museums and museum organizations, and professional organizations with related missions. The Committee will distribute new outreach materials targeting these various new audiences. We hope to establish a greater presence internationally, with new members and new ties to related organizations around the world.

VRA newcomers will soon benefit from the New Member's Guide that the Committee is preparing for the VRA web site. It will encourage new members to become involved in the VRA and point them to information about our organizational structure, the Mentor Program, the listserv, regional chapters, publications, continuing education opportunities, and more. New members also benefit from a mentor’s advice and assistance with establishing contacts within the VRA, and the Committee continues to operate the successful Mentor Program with two forms of mentoring available: the Year-round Mentor Program and the Annual Conference Mentor Program. This helps newcomers feel welcome within the organization, and also helps establish lasting associations among members. Anyone with a VRA membership of three years or more who is reasonably well acquainted with the Association is encouraged to participate in this program; please see http://www.vraweb.org/members/mentorship.html for more information.

At the upcoming 2nd Joint VRA + ARLIS/NA Conference the Committee will co-host the VRA + ArLiSNAP Student and New Professionals Meeting, where we hope to hear from both student and emerging professional members about the programs and services that will best meet their needs, and also discuss the possibilities for the creation of a special group within VRA to address these needs on an ongoing basis. The Committee will focus on promoting student membership in the coming months and years.

The Committee is creating an updated Chapter Guide to enable smooth chapter operations and encourage the formation of regional chapters where none exists. We are also working on encouraging outreach at the local chapter level and facilitating improved communications among chapters and the broader VRA membership.

The Membership Committee welcomes input and feedback from all VRA members about any of the projects described above. Please contact committee chair Elaine Paul with questions or comments at Elaine.Paul@colorado.edu.

IS&T Archiving Conference
May 16-19, 2011
Salt Lake City, UT
http://www.imaging.org/ist/conferences/archiving/index.cfm

EDUCAUSE Southeast Regional Conference
June 1-3, 2011
Charlotte, NC
http://net.educause.edu/serc11

Summer Educational Institute for Visual Resources & Image Management
June 7-10, 2011
Albuquerque, NM
http://www.vrafoundation.org/sei2011/

NMC Summer Conference
June 15-18, 2011
University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
http://www.nmc.org/2011-summer-conference

Canada Chapter
Submitted by Adam Lauder (York University)

Chapter Chair Adam Lauder is currently working with University of Toronto's Gordon Belray to establish an online Forum for Chapter discussion leading up to a planned symposium-style Chapter meeting in the fall of 2011.  Adam Lauder has been Chair of VRA-Canada since Sept. 2010.  He is W.P. Scott Chair for Research in e-Librarianship at York University in Toronto, where he is currently developing an electronic catalogue raisonne of the work of Canadian conceptual artist IAIN BAXTER&: http://archives.library.yorku.ca/iain_baxterand_raisonne/

Greater New York
Ching-Jung Chen (CUNY)

The Greater New York Chapter had a business meeting at ARTstor on 15 October, 2010.  Natalie Milbrodt, Queen’s College graduate student and first recipient of the VRA Foundation Professional Development Award, gave a fascinating presentation after the meeting.  Claire Dienes of the Metropolitan Museum of Art was elected as the Vice Chair of the Chapter.  Lorraine Gerrety is leading a membership committee.  Dustin Wees volunteers to work with the Chapter officers, Ching-Jung Chen, Claire Dienes, and Barbara Treitel, on revising the by-laws.  Johanna Bauman will chair the CAA/VRA affiliated society session, “Beyond the Slideshow: Teaching the History of Art and Material Culture in the Age of New Media,” to be held at the Hilton in New York on Thursday, February 10, 2011.

Mid-Atlantic Chapter
Submitted by Virginia (Macie) Hall (Johns Hopkins University)

The Mid-Atlantic Chapter would like to announce the election of Jacqueline Protka, Digital Assets and Media Librarian at the Corcoran Library, as Chapter Chair.  Jacqueline will be serving a two year term.

VRA-TX chapter
Submitted by Katherine Moloney (Amon Carter Museum of American Art)

Katherine Moloney has been elected for a second term as chapter president.  Her tenure will continue through the fall of 2012. VRA-TX and ARLIS/NA Texas-New Mexico are planning a joint social event during the March conference.  Details will be announced soon.  Many thanks to Amanda Montgomery, a new student member, for getting our website up and running!  Although still a work in progress, the important information has been updated and is ready for use.