Heather Seneff

27323 227^th Place SE

Maple Valley, WA 98038

(425) 433-0310 (home)

33hs@comcast.net

Resume, January 24, 2008

Experience

2001- Present Director of Visual Resources

Visual Resources Collection
College of Architecture and Urban Planning
University of Washington, Seattle
Gould Hall, Room 330
Box 355726
Seattle, WA  98195-5726
206-543-7598

The Visual Resources Collection of the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Washington in Seattle consists of approximately 130,000 circulating 35mm slides and 52,000 digital images.  The Collection is primarily a teaching facility, although some student and research access is allowed.  Annual new accessions to the Collection number around 8000 35mm slides and digital images, which include commercial slide and digital purchases, copystand 35mm slide production, and retrocataloged slides from uncataloged sections of the Collection.  The Collection uses a management database developed in 2001 with Microsoft Access (upsized in 2003 to SQL server). Digital images are accessible over the internet to College faculty, staff, and students through a password-protected online database implemented in 2002. A variety of equipment is housed in and circulated by the Collection, including 35mm slide projectors and carousels, analog light and sound meters, light boxes, and portable screens.  The Collection is staffed by the Director and a Graduate Staff Assistant, and two work/study students.

Responsibilities of the Director include:

· Collection management, including sole responsibility for the budget for the facility (purchasing, accountability, strategy), hiring student staff, development of and maintenance of Microsoft Access and SQL databases for Collection holdings, administration, and equipment

· Transition the analog Collection into the digital world: implement DAMS (digital Asset Management Systems), scan 35mm holdings (in-house, using Nikon Coolscan slide scanners and Photoshop), transition the analog copystand process of obtaining material from books and periodicals to a digital one by implementing flatbed scanners (Microtek Tabloid scanner and Epson Letter sized scanner), also used with Photoshop; catalog digital and analog material into database, train students to assist with this process

· Research and catalog accessions to the Collection; maintain consistency and accuracy of accessions, monitor student work in the Collection, process and export new accessions from the Collection’s management database to the digital image database

· Document the Collection, including creating inventories of Collection equipment, backlogged gifts and donations to the Collection, and other material housed in the Collection

· Document procedures and policies as the Collection enters the digital age; create manuals for documentation and training; create and maintain backup of Collection text and image materials

· Maintain the Collection website, direct student assistants to update and improve the website; create and update brochures, newsletters, and other material for distribution to College faculty, students, and visitors

· Remain current with issues that affect the visual resources profession in general and the Visual Resources Collection specifically, including copyright and permissions, database design and maintenance, the digitizing of images, and use of digital images in the classroom; consult with colleagues by e-mail, phone, or direct contact about equipment, digital asset management, policy, and imaging

· Direct projects for student staff for retrocataloging existing Collection holdings, accessioning new analog and digital material, and accessioning new and previously donated material

· Interact with College faculty to assist them with using digital images, the Collection’s online digital image database, and the analog Collection; hold workshops and office hours for helping faculty use digital material and the online database; direct student assistants to lead workshops, answer user questions, and encourage faculty to use digital material

· Interact with other College facilities and personnel to facilitate a congenial and productive presence in the College

· Interact with local professionals, current and retired faculty, and students to obtain donations of slides and digital material when the occasion presents itself; official acknowledgements of donated material from faculty, professional, and student donors

· Interact with accreditation teams for the College departments and schools; update written material for these accreditations

· Foster collaboration with other Visual Resources Collections on campus

· Seek grants and other sources of extra funding for the Collection

· Participate in national professional organization for visual resources (VRA) and in local chapter of VRA

1992 - 2001 Assistant Curator

Visual Resources Collection (Lise Hawkos, Curator)

School of Art

Arizona State University

Tempe, AZ 85287-1505

The Visual Resources Collection in the School of Art housed over 300,000 slides and provided the visual support materials for School of Art faculty (about fifty professors in Art History and Studio Art), graduate teaching assistants, and students required to give presentations in Art classes. Directed by a full-time professional Curator, the Collection was a closed, reserve facility that used a barcode system to circulate slides, the majority of which (ca. 180,000 as of May 2000) are automated (recorded in a relational database).

Responsibilities of the assistant curator included:

· Working with the Curator on strategies of Collection management, database design, inventory and supplies for the Collection, and acquiring and maintaining software and equipment

· The accessioning of newly acquired slides (approximately 5000 slides annually from commercial and in-house sources) within the structure of the Collection’s established database (Microsoft Access from 1998-present, and Dataease, an DOS-based software, from 1992-1998), including some translation from the romance languages and German

· The supervision, training, and direction of part-time student staff (two graduate research assistants, photographer, and up to four work/study students per semester)

· Creating and updating websites for the Virtual Slide Collection (password-accessible image review websites for art classes that incorporate text from the Collection database with scanned images), using Adobe Photoshop, ImageAXS Pro, Nikon LS 2000, and other software; editing HTML, writing and updating instruction manual for the project

· Retrocataloging older Collection slides as part of an ongoing project to research and classify slides not yet on the database

· Monitoring Collection circulation, creating and running reports within the Collection database to identify overdue and/or missing slides, generating tactful reminder notices

· Remaining current with issues that affect the visual resources profession in general and the Visual Resources Collection specifically, including copyright and permissions, database design and maintenance, the digitizing of images, and use of digital images in the classroom

1986 - 1991 Assistant to the Curator of Slides & Visual Resources

Architecture Slide Collection

(Mrs. Elizabeth D. Alley, Curator, retired)

School of Architecture

University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20857

The Architecture Slide Collection consisted of approximately 250,000 slides (as of 1990) and provided visual materials for the School of Architecture faculty and students. Archival photographs are housed in the Collection as well, as are slides recording the School’s history and events. The Collection was directed by a full-time professional curator, and was specially tailored to accommodate the requirements of the School’s curriculum, including historic preservation, architectural history, archaeology, and science and technology.

Responsibilities as the assistant to the curator included:

· researching, classifying, and typing labels for newly acquired slides (average of 7500 slides a year)

· assisting with the training and direction of part-time student assistants

· photographing faculty orders for slides from books and periodicals on in-house copystand

· editing the Curator’s 1991 edition of the Slide Classification Manual, as well as generating letters and administrative forms using Macintosh word-processing.

Education

1990 MA, Art History, University of Maryland, College Park, MD

Thesis: The Shepherd’s Houlette: A Study in the Depiction of Shepherds in Fifteenth-Century Northern Painting and Manuscript Illumination

1983 BA, Art History and English, Chatham College, Pittsburgh, PA

Professional Organizations

VRA (Visual Resources Association)

VRA/PRC (Pacific Rim Chapter of the VRA)

Conferences attended

2007 Persistance of Memory: Stewardship of Digital Assets, Seattle, WA

2007 VRA/PRC Annual Meeting, The Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA

2007 VRA Conference, Kansas City, MO

2006 VRA/PRC Annual Meeting, Seattle Public Library, Seattle, WA

2006 VRA Conference, Baltimore, MD

2005 VRA/PRC Annual Meeting, Lewis & Clark College, Portland

2005 VRA Conference, Miami Beach, FL

2004 VRA/PRC Annual Meeting, Cornish College, Seattle, WA

2004 VRA Conference, Portland, OR

2003 VRA/PRC Annual Meeting, Portland, OR

2003 VRA Conference, Houston, TX

2002 VRA/PRC Annual Meeting, University of Washington, Bothell

2002 VRA Conference, St. Louis, MO

2001 VRA Conference, Chicago, IL

1999 ARLIS/MW Conference, Tucson, AZ

1999 VRA Conference, Los Angeles, CA

1997 ARLIS/MW Conference, Denver, CO

1997 Microcomputers in Education Conference: Mastering the Electronic Classroom, Tempe, AZ

1996 ARLIS/AZ Conference, Flagstaff, AZ

1995 VRA Conference, San Antonio, TX

1993 VRA Conference, Seattle, WA

Workshops and classes

2007                    “Projecto-Rama” demonstration of digital projectors, in collaboration with Director of College Computing

2004                    “D-Space as Institutional Repository” (class), University of Washington, Seattle

2002                    “Really Using Photoshop” brownbag workshop, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Washington

2001 Strategic Leadership Program, University of Washington

2000 Dealing with Difficult Behavior, workshop (ASU)

1999 Microsoft Access Classes (Series of 4 classes at ASU: Levels 1-3: Introduction, Intermediate, Table & Form Design, and

Report and Query Design)

1998 Microsoft Outlook Training Session at ASU

1997 Teaching & Learning with the World Wide Web (workshop, ASU)

1996 Classrooms, Labs and the WWW: Guidelines for Using Copyrighted Materials (workshop at ASU)

1990 Introduction to the Internet, WWW, and Information Providing (4-day series of classes at ASU)

Grants

2006 VRA Pacific Rim Chapter Travel Award

2004 Digital Image Collaboration Group, Funds for Innovation and Redesign, University of Washington, Seattle (participant)

Presentations

2007 “35mm Slide Collections: Retention Criteria and De-accessioning Policies” VRA Conference, Kansas City

2005 “Teaching in Bits: Using the MDID” at SAH (Society for Architectural Historians) annual meeting in Vancouver, BC (by

invitation of Jeffrey Cohen, instructor of the session)

2002 Demonstration of the MDID (Madison Digital Image Database), Digital UW Group, University of Washington, Seattle

2002 Demonstration of the MDID (Madison Digital Image Database), VRA/PRC Annual Meeting, University of Washington, Bothell

2001 "Copyright Compliance in Visual Resources Collections: Strategies and Practical Applications" Session at the VRA

Conference in Chicago, IL, co-chaired with Lise Hawkos, (Curator, Visual Resources Collection, ASU)

1999 “Making Technology Work: Using Digital Technology in a Traditionally Analog Facility” PowerPoint presentation with

Lise Hawkos, (Curator, Visual Resources Collection, ASU) at the ARLIS/MW Conference in Tucson, AZ

Publications

2007 “Disaster Planning in the Digital Age” (with Meghan Dougherty), for Session at VRA Conference

2002 Visual Resources Collection News, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Washington

2001 Visual Resources Collection News, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Washington

1997 FASC (Fine Arts Staff Council), Arizona State University) Newsletter (using Microsoft Publisher)

Service and Awards

2006 CAUP Staff Council member elected at-large, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Washington, Seattle

2005 Collegial Staff Award, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Washington, Seattle

2004 Elected Chair of the Pacific Rim Chapter of the VRA for a two-year term

2001 2000-2001 Staff Award, College of Fine Arts, Arizona State University

1999-2000             Member of the Art History Classroom Technology Committee for the School of Art, Arizona State University

1996-1998 Served as liaison (1996-97) and representative (1997-98) from the School of Art to the FASC (College of Fine Arts Staff Council), Arizona State University

References available by request

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