Solo Visual Resources Professionals

Solo VR Professionals
March 23, 2021
Presenters: Meghan Rubenstein, Lael Ensor-Bennett,
Malia Van Heukelem, and Cindy Frank
Session Organizers: Lael Ensor-Bennett & Meghan Rubenstein

What is a Solo VR Professional?
Solo visual information professionals generally have no professional peers
within their immediate department. They often serve as the head of the
library or visual collection and may have temporary or part-time support
staff such as assistants, interns, student workers or volunteers. They are
found in all types of GLAM related organizations including special
libraries, art and architecture school libraries, museum libraries, branch
libraries, academic departments and independent art agencies.

Solo VR Professionals
VRA Annual Conference, March 23, 2021
The Results Are in: What the Solo SIG Community Is Today
Meghan Rubenstein, Colorado College
Delegation & Compassion during a Solo Covid-19: Recalibrating the Duties of
Student Employees
Lael Ensor-Bennett, Johns Hopkins University
Leveraging Collections Management and Student Learning in an Academic
Archive
Malia Van Heukelem, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Architects of Color: The challenges of finding images to document their work
Cindy Frank, University of Maryland

Land Acknowledgement
I am presenting this work from Colorado Springs, at the foot of Tava Mountain, on the
unceded territory of the Ute Peoples. The earliest documented peoples in the area also
include the Apache, Arapaho, Comanche, and Cheyenne.
An extended list of tribes with a legacy of occupation in Colorado is included here: Colorado
Tribal Acknowledgement List.
Indigenous people continue to live on this land and work in this area.

The Results Are in: What the Solo SIG
Community Is Today
Meghan Rubenstein
Visual Resources Curator, Colorado College
mrubenstein@coloradocollege.edu

● Range of employers: private company/freelance, academic institution (community college,
university, liberal arts college, art school), museum
● Sampling of position/titles: archivist, visual resources for documentary project, librarian,
manager of library, visual resources curator, digital curator, visual resources technology
specialist, digital asset manager, manager of learning and visual services, art history instructor
● Types of responsibilities: collect archival footage and photographs, clear for copyright,
collect oral histories, meet with donors; manage library and VR collection; imaging, cataloging,
instructional support for special collections; processing archives and serials; managing digital
lab, Adobe assistance, documenting exhibits, archiving student work, provide assistance in
teaching students to create promotional materials; responsible for all institutional images, new
and legacy; perform collection inventories, clean metadata; support art history faculty with
visual resources related needs, manage and curate permanent collection in the university
galleries.*
*more than one person first year or so of being solo; many hold positions that used to be part of larger departments or
that shared current responsibilities with colleagues.
Please describe your employer and job situation.

● cataloguing, curating, and other VR/"regular" work
deprioritized
● more time to work on cataloguing, curating, and other
VR/"regular" work
● more work because of hiring freeze
● more online learning duties continuously
● more online learning duties at first only
● unable to work with physical collections / in physical space
● no longer doing AV classroom support
● managing unrelated staff and building space
● time spent on learning new software for remote work
● more focus on video tutorials, LibGuides and other
documentation
● less student interaction
● fewer service requests
While some noted that not
much has changed, there also
seems to be a divide between
those who have been given
completely different
responsibilities, foregoing their
normal duties, while others
have had more time to work on
their normal duties/collection
development with remote work.
Have your job duties changed with the shift to online
learning in light of Covid-19? How so? Has Covid-19
changed your workflows?

Does your institution allow for professional
development opportunities? Do you feel that you have
the time to pursue such opportunities during work
hours?
The range:
● “We’re allowed to attend virtual conferences or seminars when our schedule allows and can
expense one travel conference per year (pre-COVID). I’ve always taken advantage of this
opportunity however now my boss is restricting this option because she feels they’re
redundant.”
● “This is the one place my office really excels. I have $10,000 in professional development, and
am highly encouraged to take any education I see fit. I've been able to take book repair courses
and learn more hands-on skills than I learned in school, as well as brushing up on what I
learned in school.”
Overall theme: limited time and funds prevent more extensive professional development

What are the main challenges you face as solo staff?
Summary:
● Not having reliable back up/someone else who knows how to do my job.
● Not having enough time to complete work.
● Hesitant to embark on lengthy or time consuming projects.
● Difficult to advocate for a unit of one. End up working across units and worried about
being merged with another.
● Justifying the job to co-workers who don’t understand nature of work.
● Concerned about budget cuts. Fear that position will be eliminated.
● No one to consult with on data standardization, nor time to focus.
● Left out of important conversations (IT, for example).
● Need to communicate what has been occupying work time.
● Isolation. Miss being part of a team. Lack of mentor. Only temporary employees/staff.
Common themes:
● No time, and not enough help, for long term projects.
● Co-workers/administration have no idea what I do. (Can lead to fear of elimination)
● No team, professional support, mentorship. Isolation.

What would you like to know about what other solo staff
are doing? What might you want to collaborate on? How
could this SIG help support you?
What do you want to know about other solo staff activities?
● How are other solo staff adapting services to meet changing needs of their institutions?
● If services are less, how do you continue to advocate?
● How do you stay relevant?
● Can you really freelance successfully?
● What VS services are still in moderate or high demand?
● What is everyone doing? Cataloging images? How are images being made available? Is
anyone else in charge of department communication?
● What projects are other VR Librarians doing?
● What do you wish you knew when you were first starting out?
● How are you using student staff?
● What is the balance between working by need versus long term projects?
● How are others trying to promote a sense of community remotely with students and
faculty?

What do you want to know about other solo staff activities? (continued)
● How are you advocating for yourself and prioritizing collections work? Promoting your unit?
● How are other solo staff dealing with the shift to digital images and technology?
What might you want to collaborate on?
● A cross-institutional online resource for Art students.
● Collection building.
How could this SIG support you?
● Brainstorming and problem solving.
● One-on-one meeting to discuss one of the main projects.
● A place to talk about how to increase visibility without overwhelming myself.
● Would love a network of people to reach out to when I have questions or don’t know where to
begin or whom to consult.
● Learning from others to be a better supervisor to students.
What would you like to know about what other solo staff
are doing? What might you want to collaborate on? How
could this SIG help support you?

Goals for the Solo SIG moving forward:
● Continue to build community among our members via bi-monthly meetings and
Basecamp conversations
● Maintain a list of our network highlighting areas of strength so we know whom to
contact when we need assistance or want to talk through an aspect of our work.
Share resources.
● Discuss ways we can advocate for our positions at various levels within our
institutions
Invitation to Solo SIG on Basecamp
https://3.basecamp.com/3499433/join/YSKECdcJat4g

Because we will gather virtually from all over the country, it is also important to acknowledge the physical
land on which we are all individually located. We invite you to take a moment to reflect on the land upon
which you sit—geographically and digitally—and express gratitude for your ability to live, work, and enjoy
the land. (from the VRA 2021 Land Acknowledgment)
As a Baltimore City resident, Lael Ensor-Bennett would like to acknowledge that she is living and working on
the unceded land of the Piscataway, Lumbee, and Cherokee peoples. Please see the VRA 2020 Land
Acknowledgement and check out these links:
● A Native American Community in Baltimore Reclaims Its History
● “An Absence That Marks A Presence”: Mapping Baltimore's Historic Lumbee Community
● Repatriating the archives: Lumbee scholars find their people and bring them home
● Donate to the Baltimore American Indian Center here
● The History of Native Americans in Maryland

Some Brief Background...
● The JHU Visual Resources Collection has a
long tradition of both undergraduate and
graduate student employees.
● In June 2019, Curator Ann Woodward retired
from the VRC. Her position was eliminated,
leaving only one staff member in the VRC
(me!). Officially, services were reduced in
certain areas.
● Summer 2019 began another phase of the
deaccessioning of the remaining 35mm slide
collection in preparation for possible
renovations.
● As of March 1st 2020, the VRC had 10 active
student employees, 4 graduate students and
6 undergraduates.
● When the pandemic hit in Baltimore,
Maryland, I was still on the VRA Executive
Board and struggling to manage my time as
a newly (and unexpected) solo staffer.

The Campus Shutdown…
● As many others likely experienced, the JHU campus
shutdown was abrupt and initially believed to only be for a
few weeks. It was completely unclear whether students
would be paid and whether they could work remotely.
● After several days, the university decided that work-study
undergraduates would be paid through the Spring semester
whether they worked or not. Non-work study undergraduates
would have to work remotely or not get paid.
● A week later university decided that graduate students could
work remotely, but would only be paid if they did work
remotely.
● IT maintained that they could not give students any kind of
remote access to computers or servers.
● A month and a half after shutdown, IT revised their previous
statement and assisted the VRC setup remote access for
student employees.

Student Overview (for later reference/interest)
Pre-Pandemic VRC Students The Pandemic Strikes! Current VRC Students
6 undergraduates 1 undergraduate never replied to any of my emails; 1
undergraduate replied, but never worked again; 4
undergraduates elected to work remotely (1 graduated in May)
3 undergraduates
4 graduate students (History of Art,
Classics, Modern Languages and
Literatures)
All 4 graduate students continued to work with 1 additional
summer student. 1 graduate student was overburdened with
hybrid teaching and chose to stop working in Spring 2021
3 graduate students
Students scheduled from 9-5 M-F to
coordinate the use of 4 workstations
Initially, students could work at any time, but this changed with
gaining remote computer access. However, this was not set up
for all students until Fall 2020
Students may work any time, but each
student shares a remote computer with 1
other student and coordinates with that
student
~3 working on 35mm slide
deaccessioning project (evaluating,
cataloguing, scanning, editing images)
~6 working on VRC outreach/documentation projects and
collection development projects
~3 working on collection development
projects
~6 working on other VRC projects and
active requests
~2 working on active VRC requests, this gradually increased
as the summer continued
~3 working on VRC active requests
~5 students able to scan and edit images after remote access was restored, ~4 students able to partially
edit images
~4 students able to partially edit images

● Flatbed scanner is my living room!
● Students report their hours working on
an Excel sheet in OneDrive. I remind
students about payroll and check in
weekly via email.
● Students meet with me once a semester
via Zoom as a group; I meet with other
students as needed one-on-one on
Zoom.
● Students used Teamviewer to remotely
access VRC workstation. Each student
shares with one other student.
● I use a combination of Microsoft Teams
and email to manage assignments.
Current Remote Measures

Student Project Management: Teams

Project Management Solo Aside
At the start of the pandemic, we were still using an old binder for current
projects. I created a new project management database!

What are the students doing?
● Initially, before they had remote access, I gave all
of the students outreach/documentation projects
or collection development projects that could be
accomplished with the internet and OneDrive
alone:
○ Ex. writing a VRC FAQ guide for our
Libguide, writing blog posts about VRC
services
○ Ex. selecting an area of interest for
collection development--spreadsheet
template for locating images and image
sources (Islamic Decorative Arts, Women in
Ancient Greece, Coptic Textiles, Animals
and Color in Classical World, Russian
avant-garde)
● Summer: Several students had their internships
canceled, so I worked with them to give them
assignments that would allow them to add similar
skills to their CVs.

● With remote access:
○ Students were able to make next
steps on their collection
development projects, including
cataloguing.
○ Students have begun a collection
development project to grow the
African, African Diaspora, and
African American art history
teaching collection, allowing them
to complete more
curation/research than with
traditional VRC tasks.

● With remote access:
○ In the past students would scan images and
complete all editing, since only I have been
able to scan, I assign portions of the image
editing to the students and scan additional
sections to allow for remote cataloguing
○ Traditionally, I would delegate subjects of
particular interest to graduate students
whenever possible and non-art historian
undergrads would not catalogue, but using this
time to train all undergrads with additional
skills.
○ The students having broader and more
academic skills assists me in delegating and
completing assignments on time. Attempting to
meet in the middle of what is most helpful to
them for their future careers and for
completing VRC work!

Note: We saw an unexpected INCREASE in scanning
because of reduced access to physical materials and
equipment. Some student projects have felt like passion
projects, while other work has been completely relevant to
successful online semesters. The push to get more images
online also led to a collaboration between the VRC and the
university library Special Collections. Delegating other
projects to students, allows me to work on getting the Special
Collections materials online.
Note: What has the VRC not been doing? Scanning
and deaccessioning 35mm slides!

Compassion during the Pandemic
● Understanding when students do not
have the bandwidth to work
● Checking in regularly via email,
calling if necessary
● Expecting communication, but not a
set amount of work to be completed;
recalibrating my own expectations,
attempting to delegate, but always
having a back up plan
● Reminding/prodding students to
complete timesheets
● Always checking in during meetings
before jumping into the agenda;
making sure not to keep students on
the call longer than needed
● Allowing students to do reading
assignments and take notes at town
halls and webinars as low stress
assignments

Pros & Cons a Year into Remote Work!
● Pro: Remotely, students can work their own hours, reducing time spent
on managing the schedule and creating assignments to fit available
times and workstations. Students now self-manage their time.
● Con: Not seeing the students at set times can make communication
more difficult and sometimes email response times are poor.
● Pro: When an urgent project arises, I can poll the students to see who
can work on it the soonest.
● Con: I cannot always anticipate how much work will get done and when
or if students will remember to upload their work to the server.
● Pro: Using Teams has led to more effective delegation, for the students
to have greater ownership of their work and to always know what they
should be working on, and to a more streamlined tracking system.
● Con: Am I fairly delegating work? Are some students receiving easier or
more interesting assignments or more difficult and tedious assignments
based on their work styles, skills, and pandemic track record?

Thank You!
The VRC’s Temporary Director of
Snacks & Naps borrows my
chair...

Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge that I am giving this presentation in Kāneʻohe, on the island of
Oʻahu, on the ancestral lands of Native Hawaiians. I am honored to call Hawaiʻi my home and the place
where I was born, raised and nourished. I am not Indigenous to this place nor do I identify as Hawaiian. I
recognize and support the efforts of Native Hawaiians to restore and continue practicing their Indigenous
lifeways as well as their ongoing efforts to raise critical awareness around the illegal overthrow of the
Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893.

Collections Management
Fall 2019: Ellen Chapman, Rachel Greiner, Chase Benbow, Margaret Joyce

Volunteers Sanit Khewhok and Hiroko Sakurai training students Chase Benbow and
Miriam Sappington on making custom Mylar book jackets

Library exhibit curated by Rachel Greiner, Student Assistant

Students Seiji Miyasaki and Miriam Sappington flattening architectural drawings

Students - Fall 2020
VRAF Intern:
Miriam Sappington
Museum Studies:
Kristi Cardoso
Student Assistant:
Josann Jenks

Architects of Color:
The challenges of finding images of their
work, especially during a pandemic.
Cindy Frank, she|her
Librarian and Director of Visual Resources
School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
University of Maryland
March 23, 2021
cfrank@umd.edu

Land Acknowledgement for the University of Maryland:
At the UMD Libraries, we believe it is important to
create dialogue to honor those that have been historically and
systemically disenfranchised. We acknowledge the truth that is
often buried: We are on the ancestral lands of the Piscataway
People, who were among the first in the Western Hemisphere.
We are on indigenous land that was stolen from the Piscataway
People by European colonists. We pay respects to Piscataway
elders and ancestors. Please take a moment to consider the
many legacies of violence, displacement, migration, and
settlement that bring us together here today.

What is my role as
Librarian and Director
of Visual Resources
in the 2020-2021
academic year?

Build book and image collections to
more accurately reflect the students
who attend the University of Maryland.
•University of Maryland undergraduate student profile:
•45% white,
•12% Black or African American,
•19% Asian,
•10% Hispanic
•.2% Native American, Native Hawaiian, Alaska, Pacific
Islander,
•4% unknown,
•10% international students.

How many Black Architects are there?
“Of the 116,242 licensed architects in the United States and its
territories, just two percent are Black. Only 2,325 Black
architects are building the cities and suburbs, shaping the
skylines and creating the museums, housing, schools,
government buildings, places of worship and any other variety
of structures we live in or with every day. In a nation with a
population of nearly 330,064,000 people, solely 2,325 Black
citizens have the power and access to physically design our
built environment.”
https://www.culturedmag.com/15-architects-on-being-black-in-architecture/
Accessed January 20, 2021.

How many Black Women Architects are
there?
On Monday March 8, 2021, the American Institute of
Architects|DC hosted a webinar titled: Celebrating the
first 500 Black Women Architects.
Tiara Hughes, RA, NOMA, REALTOR, Senior Urban Planner at
SOM, Founder of First 500 Initiative

Finding documentation via books and
journals while working from home.
•Myself and my 2 Graduate students, working from home, use
the following sources:
•Reading lists shared by students and fellow curators
•ArchDaily, Dezeen, Architizer
•Social media: @bipoc_in_architecture on Instagram
•Pascale Sablan’s Great Diverse Designers LIbrary
•NOMA National Organization of Minority Architects
•Search the library databases for articles.

Finding the actual images
•Search Library databases
•Articles may not have plans,
sections, Elevations
•That journal is missing
•The citation takes me to something
different than what I am looking for.

Helpful Links and Sources
• 15 Architects on being black in architecture.
• 16 Architects of Color Speak about the industry’s race problem
• AIA|DC Celebrating First 500 Black Women Architects
• Anti-racist resources for architectural education
• Anti-Racism Resources for Architects from AIA New York
• Be B.R.A.V.E. Dear White architects, be BRAVE not sad. Love NOMA
• SPACE/RACE
• Pascale Sablan’s Great Diverse Designers LIbrary
• UMD demographics by race and gender, UMD undergraduate student profile
• BIPOC Studios From Dezeen

Solo VR Professionals-Questions?
VRA Annual Conference, March 23, 2021
And for discussion:
● What are the main challenges you face as solo staff?
● How has COVID-19 changed your workflows?
● Do you have other staff at your institution that you are able to collaborate with
to lessen your workload?
● What could this SIG do to help support you?

Solo Visual Resources Professionals

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