The ARLIS Twin Cities chapter held its fall meeting on Tuesday, September 20 at the newly redesigned Walker Art Center's (WAC) Library and Archives spaces. Walker Library Director, Rosemary Furtak, Archivist, Jill Vetter, and slide librarian, Stephanie Kays, hosted the meeting. The WAC reopened in April 2005 after a year long expansion project by the Swiss architectural firm Herzog and de Meuron. The result is a new wing integrated into the existing Edward Larrabee Barnes structure. The library/archives is located in what had previously been gallery space in the older building.

Following refreshments Rosemary gave an overview of the library’s redesign project discussing shelving design, lighting & signage issues, special housing for the artists’ books collection, and the maintenance of the extensive artist files. Rosemary also discussed the newly published book on the WAC collections: Bits & Pieces Put Together to Present a Semblance of a Whole. Next the group proceeded to the slide library for a presentation by Stephanie Kays. Stephanie explained current visual documentation practices at WAC and the ongoing transition from slide to digital documentation as well as their use of Filemaker software for data management, storage, and retrieval for digital images. This was followed by a presentation by Jill Vetter on the management of the vast WAC archives including issues surrounding their storage and preservation. The last portion of our tour took the group into some of the redesigned gallery spaces and to view some of the unique interactive didactic installations designed for museum visitors.

Afterward the group returned to the library for a business meeting. During the meeting new chapter members (Jeff Radford - Minneapolis Public Library, Laurie Shimer - University of St. Thomas, and Kristen Meyer - Brown College) were introduced. Kay Streng (Mpls College of Art and Design) reported the chapter's bank balance and asked the group to consider the possibility of awarding a travel stipend to a member to attend the national meeting.

Kathy Heuer of the College of Visual Arts ( St. Paul) was voted Arlis/TC chair to succeed Jodie Walz ( U. of Minnesota).

Deborah Ultan Boudewyns (U of Minnesota) raised the issue of the chapter's volunteering the Twin Cities as the site for a future national meeting. A discussion of what the chapter’s role and member's responsibilities in this ensued.

Jodie Walz reported that she had been contacted by ARLIS Midwest representative Leigh Gates about attending a future chapter meeting. It was decided that Leigh would be invited to come to our spring meeting at which time we could further discuss the feasibility of hosting a national meeting with her and ask questions.

The next chapter meeting is to be held in early spring at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts Library.

Respectfully submitted,

Kay Kroeff Streng
Technical Services Librarian
Minneapolis College of Art and Design