In light of shrinking budgets and economizing issues, I started to think about how art libraries can raise money for their collections and obtain books for free—decidedly worthwhile goals.

The first collection development booster that came to mind is our publication exchange program. Started by ARLIS/NA many years ago, it involves both international and national institutions. Several of you are already participating, but many have ceased the exchange, citing high postage and lack of time. Postage did increase twice since our last mailing in 2008, but we felt it to be a worthwhile expenditure in the long run. We exchange with 46 international and more than 150 domestic libraries and have received more than 90 publications this year alone with an estimated value of over $4,000.00. Some of these publications we would never have the opportunity to obtain and would not be able to include in our collection; some are obscure catalogs not found in other venues. Along with the package, we include a list of exchange materials available, as do our exchange partners, overseas and nationally. This year, the Ringling Library sent three of our most recent publications along with the museum's newsletter to the international libraries. We worked hard with our shipping department to find the absolute cheapest way to ship overseas. The larger domestic exchange was simpler to ship, simply using the post office flat-rate envelopes. We are still receiving wonderful publications: books, exhibition catalogues, and newsletters from all over the world.

The Ringling Museum also began a Friends of the Library group. For a yearly membership fee, we offer a quarterly program of speakers, demonstrations, films, and an annual get together. Other benefits include a lunch meeting and a special lending library just for Friends. No fees are paid to speakers and no money is spent on food or refreshments. With well over thirty members to date, the mission "is to raise funds solely for special library acquisitions and projects and to promote community support and interest in the library." Already with these funds, the library has been able to obtain a $1,100.00 fourth volume to an already-owned three-volume set, A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, and plans to purchase another missing volume within our set of Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools XIII–XV Century, purchases that were difficult to make due to high cost. Additionally, the members feel they are a part of the library and enjoy the get-togethers with other like-minded members. We can boast a 95 percent renewal rate.

These are just two ways to develop your collection on a tight budget, plus cultivate community support. Furthermore, you are helping your institution through these tight economic times.

Hope to see many of you in Savannah this November!

The Southeast Chapter conference in Savannah will offer something for everyone: from sessions presented by ARLIS/SE members and SCAD staff and faculty to visits to the Georgia Historical Society and the Telfair Museum's new wing, the Jepson Center, to a reception in one of SCAD's art galleries. There is also the possibility of a haunted pub tour or a ghost tour in a hearse! Plans are still being made and finalized.

I would like to put out a call to anyone who is interested in presenting during the conference. We are scheduling time for presentations by ARLIS/SE members. Please send proposals to mmcdonal@scad.edu. Proposals should be no more then one page and should include an abstract, estimated length, technical needs, etc. All proposals will be reviewed and confirmed during the month of August.

A reminder that the blog for the conference is located at http://arlisse2009.wordpress.com.

On April 17, 2009, the 29th Annual George Wittenborn Memorial Book Awards were presented at the annual conference of the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA). Established in 1980 to honor the memory of premier New York City art book dealer and publisher George Wittenborn, the awards are given each year to North American art publications that represent the highest standards of content, documentation, layout, and format in art publishing. One outstanding book published in 2008 was selected to receive the 29th Annual George Wittenborn Memorial Book Award, and a second was selected for honorable mention.

Members of the 29th Annual George Wittenborn Memorial Book Award committee are Kim Collins, Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory University (chair); Kathleen L. List, Verman Kimbrough Memorial Library, Ringling College of Art & Design; Natalia J. Lonchyna, Art Reference Library, North Carolina Museum of Art; Nedda Ahmed, Georgia State University Library; and Sandra J. Still, Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory University.

The winner for 2008 is Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe, by Thomas Krens, Alexandra Munroe, and Cai Guo-Qiang (New York: Guggenheim Museum; London: Distributed by Thames & Hudson, 2008).

Chosen from more than one hundred entries, this retrospective exhibition catalogue is the most comprehensive survey to date of this truly international artist, covering art from all mediums spanning two decades of creative production. Cai is a conceptual, multimedia artist, architect, and curator, as well as a community organizer and a citizen of the world. He is best known for use of gunpowder and his explosion events, highlighted at the 2008 Beijing Olympic opening and closing ceremonies.

The awards committee was impressed with the design of this publication. The spectacular cover shows Inopportune: Stage One (2004), comprised of nine real cars pierced with blinking light tubes that simulate the trajectory of a car-bomb explosion tumbling upwards through the atrium.

The page layout showed expert use of white space and ingenious use of images to convey ephemeral works. We also noted the meticulous scholarship and the collaborative nature of this effort to coordinate international scholars to create a critical framework. After the lengthy acknowledgment page, there is a two-page spread listing 127 individuals on the project team responsible for the exhibition and the catalogue. The publication has 316 pages and more than 230 illustrations. It includes four scholarly essays with extensive notes and a catalogue divided into five sections: early works, gunpowder drawings, explosive events, installations, and social projects.

The committee was also impressed with the scholarly apparatuses. There is an extensive anthology of writings by and about Cai Guo-Qiang. It includes illustrations of the articles and book covers, and many writings were translated into English for the first time in this catalogue, which will be invaluable to future scholars. There is also a chronology of personal, political, social, and geographic references, which also includes photos and excerpts from a 2007 interview by Alexandra Munroe with the artist. Finally they have a comprehensive exhibition history and bibliography.

This catalogue is a true winner in every category and an honor to the Wittenborn stable.

The committee awarded an honorable mention to Muraqqa' Imperial Mughal Albums from the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, by Elaine Julia Wright, with contributions by Susan Stronge and others; exhibition organized and circulated by Art Services International (Alexandria, Va.: Art Services International; Hanover: Distributed by University Press of New England, 2008).

This 528-page fully illustrated color catalogue includes three scholarly essays and detailed entries for each work in the show.

From Tom Caswell, Architecture & Fine Arts Library, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida: I will be on sabbatical during the fall 2009 semester in St. Augustine, Florida, cataloging the research collection housed in the Government House library.

From John Taormina, Director, Visual Resources Center, Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina:

I have been appointed editor of the VRA Bulletin, the journal of the Visual Resources Association, the international organization of image media curators and librarians. My editorship will be for a two-year term beginning March 2009 and continuing through March 2011. The Visual Resources Association has more than six hundred individual and institutional members in more than twenty countries who receive the VRA Bulletin three times each year. I previously served as editor from 1996 to 2005. During the past year, I guest edited a special themed issue on "Digital Collaborations," containing eighteen articles by authors from the United States, Canada, and England.

From Patricia Thompson, Art Librarian, retired, Sloane Art Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill:

I recently published a short article in Art Documentation, in its Between the Lines series: "James Johnston Pettigrew as Connoisseur of Art: His Copy of Vasari's Lives of the Artists," Art Documentation 28:1 (2009) 57–60.

I'm still working on Spanish and studied in Antigua, Guatemala, in January. And still working on the artists Edith Branson and Henrietta Gardner Macy—all research is completed; I just need to do the final writing.

The Southeast Chapter of the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) is pleased to announce the 25th Annual Mary Ellen LoPresti Art Publication Awards competition for copyrighted 2008 publications.

The Southeast Chapter of ARLIS/NA established the LoPresti Publication Awards competition in 1985 to recognize and encourage excellence in art publications issued in the Southeastern United States. The publication awards are named for Mary Ellen LoPresti, who was the design librarian at the Harrye B. Lyons Design Library, North Carolina State University, until her death in 1985.

Museums and galleries, educational institutions, libraries, organizations, and commercial presses are encouraged to submit publications for consideration. All publications will be judged on the quality of content and format within the appropriate category. The number of items that may be submitted is not restricted.

Only those art and architecture books, exhibition catalogues, serials, and artist's books published/copyrighted during the 2008 calendar year in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, or the Virgin Islands are eligible for consideration. In-house newsletters, posters, invitations, and other promotional material will not be considered.

Entries should be received by August 31, 2009, to be considered. There is no entry fee, but ARLIS/ SE reserves the right to retain all works submitted for consideration.

Winners of this year's award will be announced in November 2009 at the ARLIS/SE annual meeting in Savannah, Georgia, and notification will be sent to all entrants. Winning entries will be placed in the Duke University East Campus Library, Durham, North Carolina.

Mail entries with an entry form (see http://www.arlis-se.org/LoPrestiEntryForm2008.html) to:

ARLIS/SE 2008 Publications Awards
c/o Liz Gentry, Librarian
Booth Western Art Museum
P.O. Box 3070
Cartersville, GA 30120-3070
lizg@boothmuseum.org
Voice: 770-387-1300 ext. 235

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