Kathe Hicks Albrecht
Incoming SEI VRAF Co-Chair
Future of the Profession Panel
Bio: Kathe Hicks Albrecht is the visual resources curator at American University.  She is responsible for developing and maintaining an extensive digital image collection used for the art history classroom and other humanities disciplines.  She trains and supervises VRC staff on all aspects of digital asset management and instructs faculty on the use of the department’s image database.  During her career in the visual resources field, Ms. Albrecht has been involved in issues surrounding the use of digital image information and its impact on the educational community.  She has published broadly on the educational use of digital information, including the analog-to-digital transition, educational fair use, and copyright issues.  Ms. Albrecht holds degrees in art history from the University of California, Los Angeles, and American University. She is an active long-term member of VRA, and recently served on the Executive Board as President.  Ms. Albrecht currently serves on the Board of Directors of the VRA Foundation

Howard Brainen
Founder/CEO of TwoCat Digital, San Leandro, CA
Understanding Digital Imaging - Definitions and Best Practices
Digital Scanning - Theory & Practice/Color Management
Photoshop Basics and Tips
Bio: Howard Brainen, photographer, teacher and entrepreneur passionate about enhancing human potential through the innovative use of technology. Over thirty years building and leading teams in imaging related endeavors, including the digitization of millions of objects for libraries, museums and corporate archives around the world. Founder: Two Cat Digital (2003 - present), The Visual Group (1983 - 2003), Custom Process Photographic Lab (1972 - 2003), Visualeyes Photographic Agency (1976 - 1981), Howard Brainen Photography (1970 - present).

Sherman Clarke
Head of Original Cataloging, Bobst Library, New York University Libraries
Cataloging: The Role of the User
Cataloging: What? (Work vs. Image)
Cataloging: Tools: Authorities/Standards
Bio: Sherman Clarke is in the process of retiring from the position of Head of Original Cataloging at New York University Libraries, after earlier positions at the Amon Carter Museum, Rhode Island School of Design, Cornell University, and the University of Pittsburgh. He founded Art NACO in 1993 and still coordinates this project to create name authority records. He has been the VRA representative to the MARC Advisory Committee for a dozen years and has represented ARLIS/NA on the Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access and the Subject Analysis Committee, both committees part of the ALCTS Cataloging and Classification Section of ALA. Sherman's website -- http://artcataloging.net -- includes information about a variety of art cataloging topics, with links to many reports from ALA conferences. His interest in image cataloging started in college with pen and ink on slide labels at the State University of New York College at New Paltz.

Michelle V. Cloonan
Dean and Professor, Graduate School of Library & Information Science, Simmons College
Keynote Speaker
Bio: Dean & Professor Michele V. Cloonan specializes in the areas of preservation, publishing and book trade history. She has published widely in the areas of preservation, bibliography, and bookbinding history. She has written about preservation education, preservation management issues, mass-deacidification, and, most recently, on the preservation of digital media. In 1991 Cloonan was awarded the Robert Vosper Fellowship by the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA). More recently she received fellowships from the Newberry Library, the Bibliographic Society of America, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.

Dean Cloonan has been active in several Profession organizations including the American Library Association (ALA), the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE), and the American Printing History Association (APHA). In ALA she has served on several committees and chaired the Education Committee for the Preservation of Library Materials section. She is Past-President of ALISE, and also founded the Preservation Education Special Interest Group and has served as its convener three times. She is the immediate past-chair of the Library History Roundtable (LHRT), 2001-2002. She also served on the advisory committee of the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) in Andover, Massachusetts from 1988-1992, and 1995-1999.

Education:
Ph.D. University of Illinois, 1988
M.S. University of Illinois, 1984
A.M. University of Chicago, 1979
A.B. Bennington College, 1975

Ross Harvey
Visiting Professor, Graduate School of Library & Information Science, Simmons College
Digital Object: Storage and Archiving/Digital Repositories
Digital Object: Preservation and Longevity
Bio: Dr. Ross Harvey is Visiting Professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College. His previous positions include Inaugural Professor of Library and Information Management at the School of Information Studies, Charles Sturt University, Australia, and academic positions at Curtin University of Technology and Monash University in Australia, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and the New Zealand Library School. He has been a visiting professor at the University of California, Los Angeles; STOU (Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University) in Nonthaburi, Thailand; the University of Glasgow; and the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Dr Harvey's research and teaching interests include the preservation of library and archival material, and newspaper history. He has published widely in the fields of bibliographic organization, library education, the preservation of library and archival material, and newspaper history. His most recent book is Preserving Digital Materials (K.G. Saur, 2005).

Jeanne M. Keefe
SEI VRAF Co-Chair
Media and Digital Assets Librarian, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Welcome Session
Future of the Profession Panel
Bio: Jeanne M. Keefe received her BFA in Art History and Museum Studies from Russell Sage College, Troy, NY, an MS in Science and Technology Studies from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and a MLIS in Archives and Preservation from the University at Albany, NY (SUNYA). She began her professional career at Rensselaer as an Assistant Archivist for the Armenian Architectural Archives Project, which subsequently published a seven volume set on microfiche of over 70,000 photographs of Armenian art and architecture. In 1984 she became the Visual Resources Curator in the Architecture Library and later the Visual Resources Librarian. In 2007 she was appointed Project Manager of Rensselaer Libraries’ Digital Projects Group and in 2008 she was promoted to the position of Media and Digital Assets Librarian. Jeanne was elected to two consecutive terms as Vice President of the Visual Resources Association from 2002-2006 and was appointed the Co-chair of the ARLIS/NA-VRAF Summer Educational Institute (SEI) in 2007. Recently, she was appointed a Director of the Visual Resources Association Foundation and elected President of the Upstate New York Chapter of the VRA for 2008-2010.

Elisa Lanzi
Director, Imaging Center, Smith College
Collection Access and Outreach: What Tools Are Out There?
Licensing Images
The Future of the Profession Panel
Bio:Elisa Lanzi is a visual arts information specialist working with image collections, museums and libraries. Her focus is shared metadata, digital imaging, and teaching with technology.  Elisa is Director of the Imaging Center at Smith College, where she is involved in building digital collections and tools for teaching and learning. Her experience includes working with museums on developing best practices for cultural heritage documentation, building controlled vocabularies, and developing metadata standards. Elisa has presented at numerous venues and published articles and books. Currently she is chair of the Cataloging Cultural Objects: A Guide to Describing Works and their Images (CCO) project. The project includes an American Library Association print publication, a web-site, and training activities.  Her most recent publication is an article on the "Work of Art" for the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science (forthcoming fall 2009). Elisa is the chair of the executive board of the Visual Resources Foundation and is a Past-President of the Visual Resources Association. She also is a consultant, specializing in workshops and strategic planning for digital imaging. Elisa holds a degree in English/Art History and has a Masters in Library and Information Science.

Martha Mahard
Local Co-Chair of SEI
Lecturer, Graduate School of Library & Information Science, Simmons College
Digital Object: Storage and Archiving/Digital Repositories
Preservation/Longevity
Bio: Martha R. Mahard is currently on the faculty of Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science where she teaches courses in management of photographic archives, moving image collections, art documentation, and digital preservation. She holds a Doctor of Arts degree in Library Administration from Simmons.

Martha recently retired from Harvard after a 35-year career there, starting as a library assistant in the Harvard Theatre Collection in 1970. She became Assistant Curator and Manuscript/Special Collections cataloger in 1981, the Visual Resources Librarian at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1989, Curator of Visual Collections in the Fine Arts Library in 1995, and Curator of Historic Photographs in the Fine Arts Library in 2000. At Harvard she served for four years as Chair of the VIA steering committee and chaired the working group that initially recommended the development and oversaw the implementation of a union catalog for visual materials at Harvard.  Mahard has lectured and published on a variety of topics including education for visual resources librarianship, and the collaborative experiences involved in the successful implementation of VIA. Martha has been active in the ARLIS/NA, VRA, and the Visual Materials Section of SAA and recently completed a term as editor of the VM Section Newsletter Views.

Nathan Mealey
Information Technology & Systems Librarian, Simmons College
Intro to Databases: Digital Project Management
Choosing a Database
Databases
Nathan has been a part of the Simmons College Library staff for the past three years, during which time he has led the implementation of several new technologies aimed at enhancing services and bolstering the Library’s technology infrastructure. This has included new  
interlibrary loan software, webguides using open-source software, and implementation of both Archivist’s Toolkit and DSpace. During the Spring 2009 semester, Nathan taught a course on database management for the Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information  
Science. Nathan received his MLS from Simmons College in Spring 2004. In addition, he received his MA in Comparative Literature from Dartmouth College in 2001.

Alix Reiskind
SEI ARLIS/NA Co-Chair
Visual Resources Librarian, Harvard Graduate School of Design’s Frances Loeb Library
Welcome Session
During her almost 13 years at the Loeb Library Alix has worked to increase student and faculty use of images, transitioning from analog to digital images.  Alix works closely with colleagues across Harvard repositories on Harvard University’s union catalog of visual materials, VIA (Visual Information Access).  Alix earned her Master’s in Library Science at Simmons College and her Bachelor’s degree from Colgate University in English and Religion.

Kelcy Shepherd
Digital Interfaces Librarian, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
XML
Integrated Access/Sharable Metadata
Bio: Kelcy Shepherd is the Digital Interfaces Librarian at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries, where she works with a variety of metadata schemas including EAD, MODS, and METS. Kelcy teaches XML as an adjunct professor at the Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science and is a workshop instructor for the Society of American Archivists. She has a B.A. in Art & Design with a second major in Anthropology from Iowa State University and earned her M.S. in Library Science at Simmons College.

Jolene de Verges
Images Librarian, Rotch Library, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Core 4.0
Bio:Jolene de Verges is the Images Librarian for Rotch Library of Architecture and Planning where she also manages the Rotch Visual Collections.  Her interests and background include cataloging and access to visual resources in art, architecture and material culture, digital
repositories in libraries, metadata standards, and integrated access to visual content.  She has managed and participated in various digital imaging initiatives in museum and library environments.  Previous to her position at MIT, Jolene was coordinator of the Bridges to Art project at the Worcester Art Museum and the Digital Imaging Specialist at Smith College where she worked on the design of the Snapdragon collection management system which is modeled on VRA Core 4 and CCO.  She is outgoing secretary of the Visual Resources Association and a member of ARLIS/NA.  She holds a BA and MA in Art History and an MLS from Simmons College.

Robin Wendler
Metadata Analyst, Harvard University
Intro to Metadata
Bio: Robin Wendler is Metadata Analyst in the Harvard University Library Office for Information Systems. She is responsible for metadata design for Harvard library systems, collaborating with digital library developers, librarians and faculty to create a wide range of digital library systems and services. Current projects focus on next generation OPAC, image metadata systems, preservation metadata and digital repositories. A founding member of the METS Editorial Board  
and the MODS Editorial Committee, and a former member of PREMIS and MARBI, Robin has served on OCLC, RLG and ALA committees; spoken at ALA, SAA, the Library of Congress, the Digital Library Federation Forums, and the British Library, among others. She has published on  
topics including image catalogs, preservation metadata, and automated authority control. Earlier in life she was an art and architecture cataloger and an intern at the National Gallery of Art. Robin has an M.L.S. from Syracuse University and a B.A. in Classical Studies from the College of William and Mary.

Madelyn Wessel
Special Advisor/Liaison to the General Counsel University of Virginia
Intellectual Property Rights
Bio:Madelyn Wessel is Associate General Counsel at the University of Virginia, focusing on intellectual property, copyright, licensing, and special issues arising in the area of digital scholarship.  She has lectured on copyright, digital responsibilities, legal and policy frameworks for sustaining digital scholarship, fair use and censorship in recent years to groups as diverse as the National Association of College and University Attorneys, the Society for Scholarly Publishing, Art Libraries Society of North America, College and University Auditors, Digital Library Federation, Music Library Association, Educause, and the Visual Resources Association. Ms. Wessel teaches the seminar in Legal Issues in Higher Education at the University of Virginia’s Graduate School of Education.  She has been admitted to practice in Virginia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Oregon.  Ms. Wessel holds a BA from Swarthmore College and a J.D. from Boston University.

Ann Whiteside
Head, Rotch Library, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cataloging Tools: CCO
Putting CCO and Core together
Bio: Ann Whiteside is an architecture and visual images librarian, with particular foci on descriptive metadata and digital library collection building. Her experience includes the development of metadata element sets and guidelines, both nationally and at individual institutions; planning for production and delivery of digital images; and oversight and management of image collections.  Ms. Whiteside has participated in the development of image cataloging databases, union catalogs for image collections, and digital image repositories, and writing cataloging guidelines for local use.  She has chaired the Visual Resources Association Data Standards Committee, and as a member of that committee was involved in the development of the VRA Core Categories, a descriptive standard for cataloging images. Ann is co-editor of“Cataloging Cultural Objects: A Guide to Describing Works and their Images” (CCO), a data content standard.  She is also a consultant for digital image projects, and is an advisory committee member for projects related to digital imaging and image management. Ann is currently Head of Rotch Library at MIT and Project Director for SAHARA, a grant funded project of the Society of Architectural Historians. SAHARA is a repository of visual content for research, publication, and teaching in architectural history.