 The informal annual meetings of art librarians with College Art Association furthered the initiative to organize.According to Wolfgang Freitag, “The Association of College and Research Libraries was but one of several library organizations in which art librarians were enrolled at that time.”

By 1982 a major section of ARLIS/NA had broken off to form its own group, Visual Resources Association (VRA).The mission of the VRA is focused on media and image management, as well as progressing research and education in those areas.