This document summarizes the evolution of the author's role as Visual Resources Coordinator at Lewis & Clark College over several years. It describes how the position and department underwent changes due to retirements, staffing changes, budget cuts, and a growing student population. This required the author to take on new responsibilities such as instruction, outreach, and collaboration. The author notes the importance of flexibility and a willingness to take on diverse new roles and duties to adapt to ongoing transformation in libraries and higher education.

1. Emerging New Roles for
VR Professionals
Or How My Job Has Evolved
& Strategies for Survival
Stephanie Beene
Visual Resources Coordinator
Lewis & Clark College
Portland, OR

2. "If we can recognize that change and
uncertainty are basic principles, we can greet
the future and the transformation we are
undergoing with the understanding that we do
not know enough to be pessimistic."
- Hazel Henderson

4. How did I get here?
Margo Ballantyne
organized a Visual
Resources @ Lewis &
Clark. Her tenure lasted
for 19 years.
The VRC moved
administratively over to
Watzek Library in 2005.
Aubrey R. Watzek Library, circa 1968

5. How did I get here?
Upon my hire, the position was
rewritten and the VRC
physically relocated to
Watzek Library
In 2010, the VRC moved to a
new space, which coincided
with a larger Library space
reconfiguration (the slides
The new VRC, late 2010
came over from the Art Dept.)

6. How did I get here?
● I joined the ACRL IRIG VL AG in 2010 (oh, how we love
acronyms!) Visual Literacy outreach & education, May
2011-current
● I became the Project Director of accessCeramics as
Mark Dahl became Interim and then Acting Director of
Watzek Library
● We began to plan for the migration away from MDID2 to
ARTstor and a new home to showcase the Senior
Studio Art Images Archive (1993-present)

7. See what LC Senior
art students have created
library.lclark.edu/seniorprojects
Jarré Lyman, Beneath the Waking Life, 2011

8. How did I get here?
● My core "Librarian roles" expanded as we filled in for a
Librarian on leave in Spring of 2011 & 2 Librarians were
hired in interim
● We sought funding and kicked up collaborative efforts
for accessCeramics, summer of 2011
● Shared Shelf migration began in Fall of 2011
● We lost a Librarian position in Fall 2011 while
simultaneously adapting to a larger incoming class size

9. Visual Resources Center
watzek library room 343
Not just for art majors
Images and digital resources online
and in person at the Visual Resources Center
library.lclark.edu/vrc

10. How did I get here?
Events which forced evolution:
○ Retirements, Library Director Jim Kopp's passing (2010),
one Librarian on leave for a semester (spring 2011), new
hires
○ Losing a Librarian position (fall 2011)
○ Restructuring, Liaison roles shifted
○ Budget cuts
○ New leadership @ College (2010-2011), Library Director
Search (2012)
○ New faculty, many more adjuncts (+ retirements,
sabbaticals...)
○ Largest incoming class since the 1960s

11. E.J. Darren
Welcome Watzek's two new Research and
Instruction Librarians, E.J. & Darren

12. Promotion! Outreach!
● Faculty Technology Institute
● Screensavers
● Through the faculty!
● Through the students!
● Through my colleagues
● The Reference Desk
● Guest talks
● Word spreads
● Attending events
● Searching for ways to collaborate (constant)

13. Elizabeth Strong, 2014 Laura Nash, 2013
Monroe Isenberg, 2013
Interested in exhibiting your artwork in the Library?
Fill out an application online or drop it by the VRC
library.lclark.edu/lib/ArtExhibitPolicy

14. You may find yourself...
● In many roles... you never dreamed of!
○ "Let me help you" - the increased need to collaborate
○ "The snowball effect" of outreach
○ "I'm stretched so thin!" & prioritization
○ Budgets, consolidation, & juggling
○ Diversifying: duties/liaison roles