FROM THE OUTGOING TREASURER: A FINANCIAL OVERVIEWAuthor(s): Sherman ClarkeSource: ARLIS/NA Newsletter, Vol. 8, No. 3 (MAY 1980), pp. 85-86Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Art Libraries Society of NorthAmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27946294 .

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A RUSINA Newsletter, May 1980 85

Visual Resources Field Trips The various visits/ tours for Visual Resource Curators were

planned with management of images and/or art objects in mind. A visit to the Tulane University Latin American Photo Archive supplemented the information Tom Niehaus gave in his formal lecture. TU LAPA is an extensive archive of several collections of

photographs to support research for the Center for Latin American Studies and the Middle American Research Institute. Photos document colonial buildings, archaeological sites, works of

pre-historic and folk art, architectural drawings, rubbings of Maya relief sculpture, and Pre-Columbian and early Colonial Mexican Indian manuscripts and codices. Also on view in the library were "Colonial Architecture of Ciudad Trujillo Peru," "Our Lady of Guadalupe," "Sources for Colonial Art and Architecture," and "The South Eastern Architecture Archives - Tulane University: Selected Recent Drawings and Acquisitions."'

Also located on the Tulane University campus is Newcomb

College. Eileen Rody, Slide Curator for the Newcomb Art Dept., hosted a tour of their slide collection, which numbers approxi mately 100,000 plus slides which support the study of art and art history as well as general Latin American studies.

John Lawrence, Assistant Curator of the Historic New Orleans Collection guided us through this very interesting collection and research foundation. It is a comprehensive research facility on

regional history which contains among other items of cultural and historical subjects, prints, maps, paintings, drawings, and several thousand photographs.

The small group of curators that ventured out to the New Orleans Museum to visit their collection of photographs was treated to a valuable session with curator Tina Freeman. This extensive collection of images is comprised of prints and glass plates. It is in the process of being organized according to the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House scheme. The catalog of the collection, with illustrations, was

published in 1978. In addition to curating the collection, Tina is also responsible for about four photographic exhibitions each year in the museum.

Nancy S. Schuller

University of Texas at Austin

ADDRESS CHANGES

Starting in the summer 1980 Newsletter, we will be publishing a list of current address and position changes in each issue, in an attempt both to update the Membership Directory and to expand on the "News of Members" column content. If you are planning to move and/or change jobs, please let ARLIS/NA know as soon as possible. In this way, you will not only help to keep your colleagues up to date on current art library personnel but also to save the Society a

considerable amount of time and money. It costs $.03 to mail an A RUS/ A Newsletter to a correct address, and $1.09 to an incorrect one. Please send all address and position changes to: Pamela Jeffcott Parry, Executive Secretary, ARLIS/NA, 143 Bowling Green Place, Iowa City, IA 52240.

ARLIS/NA NEWS SECTION FROM THE EDITOR (& EXECUTIVE SECRETARY)

As of this writing, I have not yet assumed the position of Executive Secretary, although a subtle juggling act between roles has already started to take place. At this point, I wish only to say that my major goal over the next year will be to coordinate the two activities in such a way as to improve service on all levels. I also

hope, that by there now being only one address and an ongoing person to contact with questions, criticisms, suggestions, etc.,

regarding ARLIS/NA, the membership as a whole will be

encouraged to participate more actively and vocally in Society affairs, especially during the long months between conferences. 1

aim to please, but I can only do that effectively if I hear from you about your wants and needs.

In answer to some long-felt desires, a few new features will be

added to the Newsletter. Starting in this issue, the Treasurer will be

making periodic reports on the financial state of the Society,

including a complete statement of figures at the end of each fiscal year. In an attempt to update the information in the Membership

Directory, we will also publish a list of the address changes received

between issues. Ferris Olin (Rutgers University) will be surveying current literature pertaining to the professional interests of art

librarians and visual resources curators in a regular new column. It

will debut in the summer Newsletter, as will a column for the

exchange of news and information among chapters (apart from the traditional meeting reports). We will also be including news and articles on a continuing basis from our "unofficial" TOL and SIG, the art school librarians' subgroup of the Academic TOL and the

provisional Collection Development SIG. Finally, in recognition of our new Mexican members and (overdue) recognition of our

French-speaking Canadian members, we are now actively

soliciting articles, news, and book reviews written in Spanish and

French. AR LIS may not yet be truly international but ARLIS/NA can at least be truly representative of all North America.

In yet another of my roles, that of Advisory Board member for the Art Libraries Journal 1 would like to put in a pitch for increased contributions from our members to its pages. As North

American representative on the ALJ Board and editor of the

ARLIS/NA Newsletter, I will be acting as a clearing house for material for both publications, sorting out that which has international importance and that which better serves local

interests. In the past, only a few of our members have written for the A LJ,

which has not, unfortunately, been as widely read in this

hemisphere as it should be. We have had many good feature

articles in the ARLIS/NA Newsletter written by ARLIS/NA members, but most of these have been offshoots of conference

presentations or commissions for SIG and TOL columns. While

having no desire to stem that tide, I would like to encourage more

of our members to think about writing, and publishing in ARL1S publications, articles that are the result of their own independent research. If this year's general conference session on "The Art

Librarian in Context" pointed up anything, it was that librarians too must publish or we will, if not perish, at least remain second

class citizens within the larger intellectual community.

Pam Parry

FROM THE OUTGOING TREASURER: A FINANCIAL OVERVIEW

The finances of ARLIS/NA have to date rested on a cash flow system. Most of our income is derived from memberships and

conference registrations, which are received primarily between

November and January, while our expenses are more evenly distributed through the year. During the first few years of ARLIS/NA's existence, there were seldom cash problems as the

membership was growing rapidly and this income was received

throughout the year. As our membership stabilized around 1,000,

however, the cash flow problems became at times severe. In late

spring 1977, the Executive Board voted to change the fiscal year from January-December to October-September in order to match

more closely income and expenses. This was partly due to our

healthy "profit" of almost $15,000 at the close of fiscal 1976 (end ing 31 December 1976) and a rapidly dwindling account after the expenses of the 1977 conference and printing. Each summer since

1977, the society has experienced a lean period financially.

Starting in fiscal 1977, the Board approved a budget for the Society. Our income has always been inadequate to do all the

things we would like to do. By late summer 1977, the coffers were very low, and Judy Hoffberg, the Executive Secretary, told the Board that bankruptcy was imminent. Nancy John as Chairman

initiated a fundraising drive, which helped fill the coffers. At about

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86 A RUSI NA Newsletter, May 1980

the same time, Judy Hoffberg resigned, after which the financial picture was eased by a heavy use of volunteer labor between October 1977 and February 1978, when the Society started using the services of a management firm in Washington, D.C. Delays in

printing Newsletter issues also aided the financial situation as the bills were also delayed, sometimes for months. The cost in

membership morale, however, was great. We were still attempting to catch up with our bills through 1978, and the delay meant in

general that our new income paid for old expenses. As we had

mostly caught up with past expenses by spring 1979, the cash flow problems of summer 1979 were particularly severe as there was no new income expected until fall 1979 to meet the expenses of late

spring and summer 1979.

The possible "bankruptcy" of 1979 was largely averted due to J.D. Ferry Associatesi postponement of management fees. Our

May 1979 fee was not paid until mid-September after sufficient income from 1980 institutional memberships had been received.

Our later 1979 fees were paid through the fall of 1979. At one point in the summer of 1979, our indebtedness totalled about $9,000. As

of mid-January 1980, however, all but one legal bill had been paid. This, of course, has meant that again we are paying our bills for one

year with income from the next. The outgoing Executive Secretary (Charles M?ndt, of J.D. Ferry Associates) has predicted a

respectably large income from the 1980 New Orleans conference

(about $6-7,000) which should ease the cash flow through the summer of 1980. The Society's new management arrangement will, it is hoped, make for somewhat lower headquarters expenses.

It is perennially difficult to think of the summer crunch during our flush period (January-February), and I hope the increased

membership dues and conference registration fees will preclude a severe crunch this summer. But as long as we budget on a cash flow

basis, the potential for problems is there. However, if the Society does catch up with itself because of increased income this year and more non-seasonal income is found, it may be possible to break out of the recurring cycle of boom and bust.

Sherman Clarke

FROM THE TREASURER: REVIEW OF OPERATIONS FOR FISCAL 1979

Although the overall income was approximately the same this

past year as in fiscal 1978, it was almost $8,000 under budget. One area of shortfall was membership, which not only failed to meet

budget expectations (based on the proposed new dues structure), but was down from the previous year. The virtual lack of publica tions to sell created the other most dramatic income shortfall. Rev enue from sales of the mailing list was greatly improved from the previous year, and advertising income was up dramatically, al

though we failed to make our budgeted goal in both areas.

Our expenses substantially outran our revenues. The most dra

matic cost overrun occurred in expenses for printing and the News

letter. These figures reflected not only current expenses but also

those for a backlog of Newsletter issues from 1978 (see Sherman's

report) and printing costs for a relatively expensive membership directory. So, although we made progress during the year against our past debts, we nevertheless entered fiscal 1980 with a sizeable

backlog of bills to be paid from future income.

With the success of the New Orleans conference we will be able to continue to peck away at our accumulated debt. Our income from the conference was $19,613.38 and our expenses so far total

$10,108.98, but we have not yet received the hotel bill. It is clear,

however, that this "boom-bust" cycle will continue unless we can

better control expenses (which we have already moved to do

through management change), and unless we can bring our income

up to the budgeted level through increased membership (especial ly on the institutional level), far more advertising, an active

publications program, and efforts to tap outside sources of

funding.

Tess Cederholm

STATEMENT OF REVENUES AND EXPENSES FOR

REVENUES Operations:

Membership dues Conference (Toronto) Advertising income

Other: Publications

Mailing List sales Other

Total Revenues

EXPENSES Management Fee

Telephone Stationery

Travel

Printing & Newsletter Postage Conference (Toronto) Dues

Legal Board of Directors

Wittenborn Committee

Nominating Committee

Special Projects Chapter Projects Contingency

Total Expenses

Excess of Revenues Over Expenses

Sept. 30, 1979

$24,428.63 13,693.34 1,410.00

165.70 2,328.02 1,689.64

$43,715.33

$18,000.00 464.37

22.71

133.92 20,313.97 2,630.59 8,645.00 400.00

1,221.72 97.40 - - -

.84 222.00 150.00 356.31

$52,729.83

(9,014.50)

FISCAL 1979 (ended Sept. 30, 1979)

1979 Budget Sept. 30, 1978

$30,000.00 12,000.00 6,000.00

1,000.00 2,500.00

500.00 $52,000.00

$24,683.21 14,156.40

? -

,329.49 1,308.84 1,522.05

$42,999.99

$18,000.00 750.00 500.00

750.00 12,000.00 2,000.00 8,000.00

400.00

1,000.00 500.00

50.00 50.00

1,500.00 1,500.00

4,200.00

$10,574.95 535.42

?Combined w/printing & newsletter below

?0?

6,600.93 1,477.87 8,929.39

307.00 2,509.84

216.76 50.00

1,295.23 400.00 762.17

$52,000.00 $36,474.87

6,525.12

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