ArLiSNAP Annual Report 2009

Annual Report 2009

Art Library Students and New ARLIS Professionals (ArLiSNAP)

Submitted by Coordinators

The ArLiSNAP special interest group continued to provide services and opportunities for ARLIS/NA’s membership.  From member outreach to various initiatives created in response to ArLiSNAP members’ needs, ArLiSNAP continues to position itself as an indispensible resource for art library students and new professionals.

At the 2009 ArLiSNAP meeting in Indianapolis, coordinators Tracy Bergstrom and Rebecca Cooper solicited member feedback via a paper-based survey.  After analyzing the survey results, the following volunteer roles were created:

·       Discussion Coordinator

o      Promote group participation by posting discussion subjects of topical interest to ArLiSNAP members. Potential discussion topics might relate to art & design, copyright, education, etc.

·       Membership Coordinator

o      Create a directory with contact info, interests, and photos of members. Periodically post a ‘member spotlight’ feature with information about the activities of one of our members.

·       Mentorship Coordinator

o      Keep abreast of both ARLIS and outside mentorship opportunities that would be of interest to members. Post deadlines and pertinent information for potential applicants interested in matching up with a professional mentor.

·       Professional Development Coordinator

o      Post information about continuing education opportunities that might be of interest to young and new professionals, such as webinars, workshops, and non-ARLIS meetings or conferences.

·       Liaison Coordinator

o      Investigate how other student member groups within professional organizations are structured and funded. Brainstorm about how ArLiSNAP might increase its position within ARLIS/NA based on other organization’s models.

·       Site Administrator

o      Maintain and coordinate technical aspects of the ArLiSNAP blog. Keep up existing blog functionality as well as brainstorm on how to best present new content or features. Coordinate with coordinator to arrange payment for continued domain and mapping services.

The roles were created as a direct result of the needs communicated by ArLiSNAP’s constituency.  While many individuals volunteered for various roles, it was challenging to maintain momentum throughout the year.  The 2010-2011 coordinators will evaluate the 2010 ArLiSNAP survey results and submit recommendations to the group.

Touchpoints with new and renewing members dramatically increased this year.  As a result of notifications sent by TEI to Tracy Bergstrom regarding those members interested in ArLiSNAP, the group was able to significantly raise awareness of ArLiSNAP through our standardized email response.  In all, over 300 responses were sent out, prompting additional dialogue with a number of ARLIS/NA members.  In fact, the response rate to ArLiSNAP’s email has been about one to every eight messages sent.  Through the responses to ArLiSNAP’s email, coordinators have learned that for many new members it is the first personalized message regarding ARLIS/NA they receive.

The feasibility of being hosted by TEI, ARLIS/NA’s management company, was initiated in the fourth quarter of 2009.  Bryan Loar, also ArLiSNAP’s Senior Site Administrator, has been in contact with TEI’s management, and he is currently waiting to hear back TEI regarding whether or not their servers can run WordPress’ software.

ArLiSNAP again provided resources for first-time conference attendees.  Started last year by Tracy Bergstrom and Rebecca Cooper, both a printed brochure and a wiki (http://snapconference.pbworks.com) describe how to maximize one’s conference experience for first-time attendees.  This year’s brochure and wiki were updated by Bryan with new graphics and content related to the conference in Boston.  Forty-five brochures were distributed at the conference’s First Time Attendee Orientation as well as through the information desk near registration.  Additionally, Tracy and Bryan were consulted by conference organizers Hannah Bennett and Rachel Resnik regarding the conference site’s first time attendee page, and Bryan participated along with Jennifer Friedman in an ARLISN/NA online chat geared towards first-time attendees.

ArLiSNAP also organized the conference pub crawl, now in its 5th year.  Taking a slightly different approach, the crawl was more of a stop with just one destination, Boston’s Barking Crab.  Flyers were designed by Bryan and printed by Tracy.  An electronic version of the flyer may be viewed at http://abcs.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/arlisnap-pub-crawl-20101.jpg.

ArLiSNAP Site Statistics as of Sunday, April 18, 2010

Total Unique Members: 93

Average Site Hits per Day in 2009: 136

Total Site Hits for the 2009: 49,497

Total RSS Feed Subscribers: 224

Total Email Subscribers: 63