About the VRA Foundation

The VRA Foundation strives to strengthen the visual resources field by increasing public and professional awareness of visual information management, while advocating for the value of images in the teaching and learning environment. The Foundation will support a range of educational activities in multiple formats and venues, for example, instructional tools, regional workshops, online learning, and advocacy materials that will build bridges across the information management and educational communities. The Foundation’s research interests will advance scholarship in the field, improve outreach to the larger community on significant issues, such as intellectual property rights and the development of best practices protocols for the dissemination of digital images, and further public access to visual resources information. Significant areas of focus will include image collections, technology, metadata, cataloging, visual literacy, and copyright. The Foundation’s educational and research agenda will advance scholarship in the field and improve outreach to the larger community.

Founding Organization

The VRA Foundation was founded by The Visual Resources Association (VRA),  a multi-disciplinary trade association dedicated to furthering research and education in the field of image management within the educational, cultural heritage, and commercial environments. VRA plays a significant role in serving the public and contributing research to the broader field of library and information science and educational technology.  VRA’s international membership includes information specialists, digital image specialists; art, architecture, film and video librarians, museum curators; slide, photograph, microfilm and digital archivists, architectural firms, galleries, publishers, image system vendors, rights and reproductions officials, photographers, art historians, artists, and scientists.

The VRA, like many trade organizations, universities and museums, established the VRA Foundation  to oversee and develop grants, administer educational activities, and support community outreach projects. The VRA Foundation will  develop and expand educational and research opportunities in the public interest; establish standards for emerging electronic media; manage grants and develop programs to improve the visual resources field; conduct and/or sponsor research in the information sciences and educational technology; publish informative articles, guidelines, and on-line resources; and complement the work of VRA by providing educational, literary, and scientific outreach to the larger community and general public.

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