CAA News Today

Each week CAA News publishes summaries of eight articles, published around the web, that CAA members may find interesting and useful in their professional and creative lives.

Higher-Ed Associations Form Joint Steering Group to Build Federated System for Publicly Funded Research

The Association of Research Libraries, the Association of American Universities, and the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities have announced the formation of a joint steering group to advance a proposed network of digital repositories at universities, libraries, and other research institutions across the United States that will provide long-term public access to federally funded research articles and data. (Read more from the Association of Research Libraries.)

Survey of Faculty Attitudes on Technology

Online education arguably came of age in the last year, with the explosion of massive open online courses driving the public’s (and politicians’) interest in digitally delivered courses and contributing to the perception that they represent not only higher education’s future, but its present. Faculty members, by and large, still aren’t buying—and they are particularly skeptical about the value of MOOCs, Inside Higher Ed’s new Survey of Faculty Attitudes on Technology suggests. (Read more from Inside Higher Ed.)

The Berlin Decision: Old Masters Stay Put

Jeffrey Hamburger, the Harvard professor behind the petition, now more than a year old, asking Prussian authorities to reconsider their plan to mothball half of Berlin’s collection of old masters so they could place a modern art collection in the Gemäldegalerie, its current home, is declaring victory. And, true, the old-master paintings will not move from their current location. (Read more in Real Clear Arts.)

Insider Tips from the Art World’s Social-Media Pros

Just a few years ago most major museums’ social-media strategy consisted of a sporadically updated Facebook page and little else. Today, social media is a key aspect of art organizations’ outreach. Many institutions maintain profiles on multiple platforms, from Tumblr and Twitter to Instagram and YouTube, updating each one multiple times throughout the day. But with this expansion in the volume of content and the number of channels through which it’s posted has also come a better understanding of the role social media can play in helping museums and art organizations accomplish their goals. (Read more from Blouin Artinfo.)

A Conversation with an Artist/Nonprofit Worker about Her Money

I’m 29. I work in the communications department at a nonprofit in Manhattan and live in Brooklyn. Currently my salary is $39,750. Benefits include health insurance, life insurance (which is free via the health insurance), optional dental and vision, and 401(k). Public transit, parking, and childcare can be put on a prepaid card pre-tax. My office doesn’t participate in any federally available tax breaks for reimbursing bike expenses, which irks me since I mostly bike there. There’s also an FSA card for healthcare costs not covered by insurance, like copays and glasses. (Read more in the Billfold.)

Discovering Open-Access Art History

This article evaluates the indexing of open-access art journals in four frequently used art indexes: Art Full Text, ARTBibliographies Modern, Art and Architecture Complete, and Bibliography of the History of Art/International Bibliography of Art. The authors also compare the indexing of open-access journals in Google Scholar to that in the traditional indexes mentioned above and demonstrate that the content coverage from commercial indexes currently lags behind that of Google Scholar. This article argues that increased indexing of open-access art journals in the traditional, subject-specific indexes will be integral to their acceptance within the discipline of art history. (Read more in the Serials Librarian via Alex Watkins 123)

Help Desk: Art Fairs Everywhere

I may be in an enviable position, but it is a sticky one nonetheless. I’m getting to the position where I may be represented by multiple galleries that want to show my work at art fairs. With the rise of the art fair as a way of selling and promoting artists, how might I go about deciding which gallery will show my work at a fair? (Read more in Daily Serving.)

Academy Fight Song

This essay starts with utopia—the utopia known as the American university. It is the finest educational institution in the world, everyone tells us. Indeed, to judge by the praise that is heaped upon it, the American university may be our best institution, period. With its peaceful quadrangles and prosperity-bringing innovation, the university is more spiritually satisfying than the church, more nurturing than the family, more productive than any industry. (Read more in the Baffler.)