Thursday, December 1, 1:15 - 1:45 pm

Guest speaker: Lia Dewey Morgan

Art is Antidisciplinary

Abstract: In this presentation, I intend to do my best to chase a rather slippery question: What is art? Is art really a discipline? Do disciplines even exist? Art is defined by its capacity to shirk tradition, and inspire masses to proclaim, “That’s not art!” It is because of this I believe art is inherently antidisciplinary, and currently offers a tentative opportunity for disciplines to travel away from their more rigid frameworks, toward something more intuitive. From this generative space, we see new proto-disciplines in formation. How then do we go about defining what art is? What are the effects of how we define art, and who might benefit or lose out from these definitions? The somewhat recent academisation of art raises critical questions about how knowledge is transformed when entering the university. How do we resist the university’s more conservative impulses, while still embracing the potential available? Gathering from my years of experience in the field, I’ve collated a few works and examples to try and pry open these questions a little.

Bio: Lia Dewey Morgan is a poet and writer living on stolen land in Narrm. She grapples with the continuity and chaos present in contemporary living, using poetry as an intermediary to engage with our information environment. She graduated with first-class honours from VCA in 2020, currently works as a freelance arts writer and copywriter, and volunteers as a library technician at ACER. Her first book, ‘Bath Songs’, was published earlier this year with local press nomorepoetry.

Thursday, December 1, 2:00-2:25 pm

Presentation 1: Elizabeth Little and Lea Simpson

Counts Count: looking at gender diversity within Fine Arts library collections

Abstract: This paper examines gender diversity, equity and representation in the collections of art institution libraries, focussing on the case study of the National Gallery of Australia’s Research Library. It will discuss both the project methodology and the results of its application, while situating the project within the Gallery’s commitment to gender equity. In 2020/2021, the NGA Research Library undertook a large-scale audit to assess the gender ratio of artists represented in their individual artist monograph collections. This project was informed by a larger assessment of the Gallery’s art collection and its development of a Gender Equity Action Plan that addressed gender diversity and representation. The Library’s artist monograph collections were analysed to provide an understanding of the gender of represented artists. The methodology involved the identification of sample collection areas, and the extractions and analysis of large bibliographic datasets using gender inference software and human-based identification. The resulting data framed both historical and contemporary collecting practices of the library against institutional norms, and provides the groundwork for future collection development practices. The analysis revealed that the collection reflected the gender balance within the Gallery’s art collection, which in turn reflected the Western historical focus on male artists. The analysis revealed that in areas of Contemporary art, disparity between male and non-male artists remained significant. These collection realities have now driven the redevelopment of the Collection Development Policy, leading to a greater emphasis on gender equity while highlighting broader inadequacies in publishing. The project embodied the formal guiding principles for gender equity developed by the Gallery, which has made a commitment to gender equity across institutional activities. Key principles include advancing the diversity of the Gallery’s collections including the representation of women, and prioritising projects that add new perspectives to art, particularly in relation to First Nations peoples, women, LGBTQI+ people and other marginalised groups. Alongside this analysis the Library collaborated with WikiMedia hosting two onsite edit-a-thons adding authoritative information to Wikipedia. Wikipedia had been previously identified as lacking in diversity in its representation of women artists. Reference material on Australian women artists for the edit-a-thons, and ongoing Wiki Club, was supplied by the Research Library, resulting in 128 articles edited and over 700 references added to Wikipedia. The project at large identified a gap in equity and diversity in research library collections, and the audit methodology demonstrates a pragmatic approach to library collection analysis. Substantive work is required for cultural institutions to create representative collections, and libraries have an opportunity to lead though their own collection development practices. This paper outlines one approach to equity and diversity analysis in a research library setting, thus providing a pathway for others to emulate and develop in their own collections work. Diversity is an important concept for Library collections. We need to accurately reflect the societies within which we live and operate, thereby maintaining our relevance and importance. Analysis and understanding of our collections will allow us to do this with greater ease.

Bio: Elizabeth Little has been the Manager, Research Library & Archives at the National Gallery of Australia since May 2020. She has an extensive background in fine arts and research libraries, having worked at both the National Art School (Sydney) and the State Library of New South Wales. Elizabeth has worked in a range of roles in the GLAM sector, including as a museum guide for the Historic Houses Trust (NSW). She has been an associate member of ALIA since 2009, and holds degrees in Information Science, Art History and Theory and Arts Administration.

Bio: Lea holds a Bachelor of Art Theory from the University of New South Wales and a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she was the Kenneth Karmiole Fellow 2019-2020. She has a background in special collections and academic libraries in the visual arts and has been recently appointed Head Librarian at the National Art School.

Thursday, December 1, 2:25 - 2:50 pm

Presentation 2: Leen Rieth

Developing an Object Based Learning service in an academic library

Abstract: Leen will speak about their experience establishing the new role of Object Based Learning Coordinator at University of Sydney Library. The role was created to build connections between undergraduate students and Rare Books and Special Collections, and raise the profile of the collections across all disciplines. Leen has discovered that the aims of the role have caused friction with standard academic support and service delivery. While the library is moving more of its support online and implementing a service model that offers more generalised Information and Digital Literacy (IDL) learning experiences, the Object Based Learning Coordinator role it focused on materiality, physical engagement, and often face to face learning. Additionally, in the wake of reduced mobility across Australia and the world, online services are increasingly important, whilst at the same time many of us have grown to appreciate and cherish the experience of being physically present with one another and sharing space. Leen will explore how these issues have manifested throughout their academic life, and ultimately led them into the role of Object Based Learning Coordinator, where they are learning to tackle these philosophical concerns in a pragmatic and professional environment.

Bio: Leen Rieth is Object Based Learning Coordinator at University of Sydney Library, working with items from the Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections. They’ve also worked as an Academic Liaison Librarian at University of Sydney and University of Melbourne, supporting the humanities and the visual and performing arts, respectively. Leen is completing a practice-led PhD at UNSW Art, Design and Architecture, which is about transgender experience, institutional narratives and arts organising, by drawing parallels between autonomy and self-determination, perception and shared realities, and affirmation and futurity.

Thursday, December 1, 3:00 - 3:25 pm

Presentation 3: Michelle De Aizpurua

On becoming an Art Librarian: Context, challenges and ‘winging it’

Abstract: What do we do when we jump in the deep end and ‘wing it’ in new and unfamiliar territory? Michelle seeks to collaboratively discuss this question, asking attendees to share their backgrounds and experiences, while exploring her recent foray into Art Librarianship. We will consider the context and unique challenges in this field, as well as handy techniques to rely on should you find yourself ‘winging it’ one day.

Bio: Michelle De Aizpurua is an accredited Librarian with eight years industry experience in the tertiary and secondary education sectors. Michelle’s professional work has ranged from Law Librarianship, to coordinating a secondary school library, to her current role as the Liaison Librarian for Art, Design and Architecture at Monash University. She is passionate about research skills development, and utilising innovative pedagogies and new technologies to improve learning and engagement.

Thursday, December 1, 3:25 - 3:50 pm

Presentation 4: Emilia Bell

User experiences in a regional university library makerspace

Abstract: This paper presents the research design, process, and findings for an ongoing qualitative case study on users’ engagement in the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) Library Makerspace. The UniSQ Makerspace is a community space which provides equipment and expertise for hands-on projects and learning, fostering creativity and knowledge sharing. In this presentation I focus on how a visual research method has been incorporated into semi-structured interviews. This helped to further a participant-driven dialogue and contributed to how themes were developed through thematic analysis. The case study explores how Makerspace users are engaging with the space and its services via three different usage modes: for course curriculum, extra-curricular, or research benefit. The visual and tactile nature of the Makerspace provided an opportunity to expand the scope of photo-voice research techniques to include other forms of visual media and add depth to interview responses. Interview participants were invited to share visual media (such as photos or the physical output of a Makerspace project) as part of the interview process. This presentation explores how this research approach helped to elicit rich perspectives and engagement from participants.

Bio: Emilia Bell is the Coordinator (Evidence-Based Practice) at the University of Southern Queensland Library. They contribute to developing an evidence-based culture in the Library, including through practice-based research, to support service improvement, professional practice, decision-making, and value and impact. Emilia has worked in academic and school libraries and is also a PhD student at Curtin University.

Friday, December 2, 9:15 - 9:45 am

Guest speaker: Jessie Scott

Jessie Scott - Artist talk

Abstract: In this artist talk, Jessie will give an overview of her art practice, which has included collaborations and collectives, artist publications and solo video installation. She will also discuss several recent projects associated with her PhD research project: Forgotten But Not Gone: A video art project examining video library culture as a creative tool, focusing on the artistic community of Melbourne. This is a video art project which synthesises social/participatory and video art methods to explore and reflect upon the significance of VHS and video lending libraries in relation to artistic communities in Melbourne. It centres on a handful of significant independent and institutional libraries, and artists, as a focus to this inquiry. The works range from video art works and installations, to participatory live works and an artist publication, and in this talk, Scott suggests that the video shop potentially has lessons to offer about access and engagement with relation to art.

Bio: Jessie Scott is an independent video artist, writer and programmer working in Narrm (Melbourne) on the stolen lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. She is a founding member of audiovisual art collective Tape Projects, and co-directed and founded the inaugural Channels Video Art Festival in 2013. She is currently completing a PhD in art at RMIT University and raising two children.

Friday, December 2, 10:00 - 10:40 am

Presentation 5: Naomi Mullumby and Sarah Charing

Using photogrammetry to 3D scan heritage building materials

Abstract: The Architecture, Building and Planning Library, University of Melbourne, has undertaken an ambitious project, using photogrammetry to 3D scan a collection of heritage building materials. The first 50 objects became publicly accessible in 2022.

To represent such a complex project fully, we have three platforms where different aspects of the collection can be discovered. A selection of the objects have been 3D scanned and are hosted on Pedestal; the metadata and working photos of the entire collection is available via Omeka; and a website has been created, hosted by the Australian Centre for Australian Cultural and Urban Heritage, which is a hub for the whole project.

This presentation will provide background and context for the collection, allow the attendees to explore and interact with the 3D scans, and then offer the opportunity to consider how they might engage with and/or use the collection.

Bio: Sarah Charing is a liaison librarian, research support in the Architecture, Building and Planning Library at the University of Melbourne. She really loves historical research and reference management, and recently completed an MPhil to combine the two.

Bio: Naomi Mullumby is a Faculty and School librarian at the University of Melbourne with over 15 years’ experience in Higher Education. Naomi specialises in building unique collection projects aligning them to teaching, research, exhibitions and other engagement opportunities.

Friday, December 2, 10:40 - 11:05 am

Presentation 6: Nell Fraser

Melbourne Art Library

Abstract: Established in 2020, Melbourne Art Library (MAL) is a not-for-profit lending library that collects specialised art and design texts. Access is core to MAL’s mission - both ensuring that readers and makers can access specialised texts without needing to be affiliated with universities and other institutions, and ensuring that local artist-made texts and ephemera are collected and shared. MAL models an experimental approach to art librarianship, developing out of a mind-set of artist-run-initiatives and coupling DIY strategies with professional librarianship practice. Nell Fraser will speak to the importance of permeability and flexibility in the library’s development.

Bio: Nell Fraser is the founder of Melbourne Art Library, where she is a Library Coordinator. Nell is passionate about community engagement with local histories. She has worked across cultural collections in Canberra and Melbourne, most recently as the General Manager at the Castlemaine Art Museum. Nell is a librarian, with a background in Art History and Theory.

Friday, December 2, 11:05 - 11:30 am

Presentation 7: Stephen V. Graham

Art Online: transformations in digitisation and discoverability of University Art Museum collections

Abstract: Many Australian universities have significant art collections located in museums on campus. Although these cultural institutions may be showcased on the university website, online access to the artworks themselves is quite often limited. My research investigates this assumption, identifying how much content is digitised and examining different ways one cohort of universities – the twenty-one member universities of University Art Museums Australia (UAMA) – enables the online visibility and discoverability of objects within their art collections.

The research investigates strategies deployed by universities to reveal the richness and diversity of their collections:

• How do university art museums harness the digital environment to display their collections and increase their discoverability?

• How do these cultural institutions extend and explore the creative and interpretive potential of their art collections online?

It is no less important to assess the reasons why university art museums have not been able to (or chosen not to) digitise their collections:

• What are the most significant challenges today to digitising artworks in the collections?

The research has unearthed a number of findings. In terms of the digitisation of collections, the research shows that only one third of University Art Museums (UAMs) have comprehensive and searchable online collections. In terms of enhancing discoverability, thematic structuring of online collections has been adopted by the majority of universities. UAMs also look to value-add to these collections by deploying contextual or interpretive information, expanding metadata to increase search capability, and integrating object-based learning as a model for increasing educational value of the collection. Finally, the research has also shown that Covid 19, copyright, staffing and financial considerations have been the major challenges for digitisation projects.      

Bio: Stephen Valambras Graham is a reference librarian at the University of South Australia (UniSA), supporting the teaching, learning and research activities of the University. Stephen was recipient of the 2021 ALIA Prize for Master of Information Management at UniSA. Stephen is also a trained art historian, a writer and independent scholar, and was awarded the History Council of South Australia’s 2022 Wakefield Press Essay Prize.

Friday, December 2, 11:30 - 11:55 am

Presentation 8: Nicole Gaston

Developing a Decolonised Performance Practice Research Degree for Aotearoa

Abstract: The development of a new postgraduate qualification at Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School is used to illustrate challenges and opportunities for a decolonised, practice-based performing arts context. Theories of the decolonisation of knowledge and embodied research are explored to support the finding that the library and librarian play pivotal roles in supporting faculty & students to create innovative, authentic, impactful work.

Bio: Originally from Chicago, USA, Nicole has lived and worked in libraries around the world including France, Laos, Benin (West Africa), Canada, St. Lucia (Eastern Caribbean) and Aotearoa since 2010 when she was awarded a PhD scholarship to study at Victoria University of Wellington.

She holds a BA in French Language & Literature (University of Illinois at Chicago), and a Master of Library and Information Science (McGill University, Montreal). Her PhD explored how people from non-Western cultures engage with information.  

Since completing her PhD in 2013 she has worked as a lecturer in Library & Information Studies at the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand and Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa | The National Library of New Zealand.

Nicole is also a practising visual artist in ceramics and the intersection of culture, information, and equity continues to be of interest throughout her art practice and professional work.

2022 Conference Committee:

Romany Manuell: Romany Manuell is the 2021/2022 National Chair for the Arlis/ANZ Executive Committee. She works as the Research Librarian at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) Cunningham Library. She has a background in art librarianship, and has worked in secondary and tertiary education in Australia and overseas. She is currently completing her PhD at Charles Sturt University in the School of Information and Communication Studies and has recently been elected as a General Member to the Board of the Melbourne Art Library.

Ruth McConchie: Ruth McConchie is the 2021/2022 National Treasurer for the Arlis/ANZ Executive Committee. Before joining the Kaiela Institute, a First Nations think tank, Ruth worked as a Liaison Librarian (Learning and Teaching) at the University of Melbourne in the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. Ruth has completed a Master of Information Science (Library and Information Studies), Master of Arts (by Research)– Visual Art and Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) – Visual Art, all at Queensland University of Technology. Ruth is a practicing artist and her artwork has featured in Primavera 2016 at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art and Fresh Cut 2013: Part II at Brisbane’s Institute of Modern Art.

Ellen O’Hehir: Ellen O’Hehir is the the 2021/2022 National Secretary for the Arlis/ANZ Executive Committee. Ellen is currently the Liaison Librarian for Science at the University of Melbourne, having held librarian positions aligned to Art, Design and Architecture, Business, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research Data at Monash University Library. Over the past decade, she has been an active committee volunteer and event planner for both Arlis/ANZ and the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) Students and New Graduates Group. Ellen holds a Master of Information Management from RMIT University.