bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Inventing a world: Reference Material and the Small Art Library
Authors: Bouwer Garton
Published: July 2016

The case of the Central Art Library in the Cape Town City Libraries illustrates the role of an art reference collection within a lending library. Such a collection should be wide ranging in scope, catering for the needs of students, professionals, and the general public, and must be built up by means of careful and informed selection, with the needs of the local community in mind. Representation of art worldwide should be complemented with documentation of the arts of the library’s own locality and nation. The Central Art Library’s reference section includes two student collections, and a number of special collections, including a collection devoted to African art, a comics collection, an image bank, and a collection of pamphlets and ephemera. Expanding the reference collection can be an effective strategy for serving the needs of the public despite a standstill or shrinking budget.
The Michaelis Art Library: Thirty Years in a Changing City
Authors: Frost Jonathan
Published: July 2016

The Michaelis Art Library, part of the Reference Division of the Johannesburg Public Library Service, originated with a collection of books purchased for the planned Johannesburg Art Gallery in the 1920s. Temporarily and then permanently housed in the Public Library, the collection became the nucleus of a growing art library, the largest public art library in South Africa. In recent years usage of the library declined as a result of political tensions, but then increased in parallel with a surge of vitality in the arts which heralded the end of apartheid and the emergence of democracy. During 1995 the Michaelis Art Library was due to move into Johannesburg’s central library building.
The Technikon Natal Art Library: An overview
Authors: Schnell Hayley
Published: July 2016

The Fine Art Department at Technikon Natal is supported by the Library’s art section, and by the Technikon art gallery. Within the library, the art collection, which is the responsibility of a subject librarian, is an integral part of a multi-disciplinary resource. The scope of the collection is broad, but special efforts are being made to collect documentation of South African art.
What does it mean to be a ‘professional’ art librarian?: ‘Existential Versus ‘Ideal’
Authors: Podstolski Max
Published: July 2016

While discussion continues regarding the ideal education for art librarians, in reality art librarians belong to a broader profession within which many distinctions are collapsing, and anxiety in response to overload is increasing. The concept of the ‘compleat’ art librarian, possessing extensive knowledge of the arts in their diversity, is probably unrealistic given the range of other skills and of information which librarians need. Although it has been argued that commitment is the one real essential, this idea too can become an unreasonable ideal which many people will fall short of and be excluded by. Instead of ‘total’ commitment, our professionalism might rather be defined by ‘authentic commitment’ which is self-determined, and which embraces a commitment to the wider profession of art librarianship as well as to a particular institution as employer. (This paper has also been published in ARLIS/ANZ News no. 42, 1995/96).
Towards the 21st century: the development of the Reference Library of the Chinese Academy of Arts
Authors: Shujuan Dai
Published: July 2016

The Reference Library of the Chinese Academy of Arts (RLCAA) has identified the maintenance and development of its rich collections as its primary objective, which it pursues not merely by acquiring published materials but also, for example, by making recordings of musical and dramatic performances. But also, the RLCAA is committed to promoting and facilitating the use of its collections, and is consciously moving away from a passive custodial role to the active provision of services to users. In order to serve their users better, libraries must end their isolation and join together in networks; a new building at the Chinese Academy of Arts is to become the national centre for art information and library services, and this development also challenges the Academy to co-ordinate its several resource centres more effectively. Staff at the RLCAA have already created an art thesaurus, and are currently working on a bibliography of Chinese artists which it is hoped will be the first of several online databases covering different branches of the arts in China.
Free to fee: the current account from an academic library
Authors: Latimer Karen
Published: July 2016

The Queen’s University of Belfast set-up a fee based service in 1991 aimed initially at built environment professionals. The Architecture and Planning Information Service at the University has long been a major source of architectural and environmental information in Ireland, and has close links with the Architectural Library at University College Dublin and with professional bodies such as the Royal Society of Ulster Architects and the Royal Town Planning Institute in Northern Ireland. Problems encountered include the relationship and balance of services to internal and external (fee-paying) users, staff training, setting realistic prices, quality control, and contract issues. Future trends are likely to include the development of client-tailored services and further collaboration between providers of fee-based services from different institutions.
Paid services at the Library for Foreign Literature: New Objectives, Experience, Perspectives
Authors: Sinitsyna Olga
Published: July 2016

Confronted by enormous financial problems in the late 1980s, many Russian libraries were obliged to find ways of earning money in order to survive and to maintain their collections. The State Library for Foreign Literature was one of the first to break out of the stranglehold imposed by Lenin’s ideal, ‘Libraries - free of charge for everyone’. The Arts Department led the way to the introduction of paid services, over and above basic library services which remain free. Paid services include picture research, special loans, and photocopying, but also classes for children in foreign languages and art to supplement education in school, and courses for trainee teachers. Fees are reduced or even waived to ensure that services are accessible to those on low incomes.
Art reproductions and authenticity
Authors: Fawcett Trevor
Published: July 2016

Whatever their format, reproductions provide illusory experiences of art, but may count as ‘authentic’ if adequate to their purpose and the technical possibilities and expectations of their time. A reproduction seizes the original at one moment in its history, a fact that should be made clear in its captioning. Engraved and other graphic reproductions, being hand-made, were always subjective and idealising. The camera brought greater objectivity, but even modern colour photographs interpret and mislead. The digital image offers still greater potential for exact realisation of, and access to, works of art, but its ease of manipulation increases the risk of falsification. Reproductions also have a psychological existence as mental constructs. Art and its institutions depend on them, and allow them to create their own authenticity.
Preliminaries for a bibliography of museum collection catalogues: Some Historical Observations on a Hitherto Neglected Aspect of Museum History
Authors: Keers Frits
Published: July 2016

Catalogues of 18th century private and municipal collections are the precursors of museum catalogues. But museum catalogues proper date from the establishment of the Musée du Louvre and the publication of its first catalogue in 1793. In this catalogue can be found the essential features of the museum catalogue: a printed list of objects in the collection, in systematic order, and including descriptions which facilitate identification of the objects by the public. From the Louvre catalogue of 1793 a continuing line of development leads to the present day, although different catalogues have adopted different methods of organising their entries, in some cases echoing the arrangement of the collections within the museum building. Two centuries of publishing, and recent developments in editing art historical texts, suggest that there is a serious and growing need for a bibliography of museum catalogues. A few such bibliographies already exist, devoted to single institutions (such as the Louvre) or cities (Berlin, Munich), but there is no comprehensive bibliography comparable to Frits Lugt’s unique listing of auction catalogues. A start should be made on this enormous task.
Coming of age in the Antipodes
Authors: Shaw J. Margaret
Published: July 2016

Since the inception of ARLIS/ANZ, Australia and New Zealand have increasingly seen themselves as part of the Asia-Pacific region rather than as a distant outpost of Britain. The impact of post-War European immigrants from countries other than Britain has been felt and immigration from the Asia-Pacific region is now equally important. These developments have contributed to a confident, diverse culture, within which indigenous art has gained greater recognition. Art librarians are benefiting from worldwide electronic communications which have equally helped overcome the ‘tyranny of distance’ within the region itself. Thus, ARLISANZ-L now complements ARLIS/ANZ News. Because of the vast distance between members, ARLIS/ANZ bases its entire central executive within a single local chapter for two years at a time. Local chapters are flourishing, most particularly around major centres. Dispersal of members is also overcome by the all-important annual conferences and workshops. Like other ARLIS groups, ARLIS/ANZ engages in advocacy on behalf of art libraries and art librarians. A major concern for ARLIS/ANZ remains the documentation of the art of Australia and New Zealand both as a result of scholarship and publishing from within the region, and in major international bibliographies and indexes.
Finding and preserving visual arts resources on the Internet
Authors: Gill Tony , Grout Catherine
Published: July 2016

Internet resources in any discipline are difficult to locate reliably, but the problem is exacerbated for the visual arts community by the intrinsic complexity of retrieving visual resources. After a brief examination of the problems associated with the discovery of networked resources, this paper outlines the development, integration and future objectives of two visual arts information services, the Art, Design, Architecture & Media Information Gateway (ADAM) and the Visual Arts Data Service (VADS), both funded for the benefit of the UK Higher Education community by the Joint Information Systems Committee.
Grist to the mill: folk art in the Atlantic Region
Authors: Foshay Susan M.
Published: July 2016

Literature on folk art of the Atlantic region, with few exceptions, would be nonexistent without the intervention of visual arts institutions and museums. The interest in folk art and folk art collecting by museums and galleries, and the institutions’ penchant for documentation, has generated a diversity of written and visual material on the subject, of both an historical and a contemporary nature, which unveils a regional portrait of artists and their work.
Here & there, now & agin regions end where countries begin
Authors: Murchie John
Published: July 2016

‘A historical dictionary of artists in Atlantic Canada’ is the first attempt to systematically develop the contours of four hundred years of visual arts in Atlantic Canada since the hegemony of Western European civilization. The project entails the development of a data base of biographical and professional information on artists born prior to 1939 and the beginning of the Second World War who were active in the Atlantic Provinces of Canada — New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The definition of ‘artist’ has been as broadly defined as possible to include craft persons, photographers, architects nor has there been an attempt to limit the definitions to ‘professionals’. The data is stored in a ‘FileMaker Pro’ programme using a Macintosh computer.
New Brunswick Illustration Index
Authors: Pacey Margaret
Published: July 2016

The New Brunswick illustration index is an index to the illustrations in the Legislative Library’s New Brunswick Collection. The illustrations include photographs, engravings, woodcuts, etc. and each is described in a database entry comprised of ten distinct fields. The project, begun in 1989, is not yet complete. The Index is designed to make the unique New Brunswick Collection more accessible.
Automation at the RKD: a short overview
Authors: Starre Jan H. E. van der
Published: July 2016

The Netherlands Institute for Art History (RKD) is one of the largest art documentation centres in the world. It maintains collections of millions of reproductions and press clippings, as well as housing a sizeable library of approximately 400,000 books. In the past decade the RKD has begun setting up various automated systems for the management of these collections. The major systems in operation are the automated library with some 30,000 records online and accessible for visitors, a database with bio- and bibliographical information on artists, and the recently initiated image database. Plans for the future include in-house and web access to all databases, continued improvement and expansion of the systems, retrospective conversion of parts of the collections and publication of CD-ROMs.
Les Archives de la critique d’art et le site Internet Critica
Authors: Leroy Claire
Published: July 2016

Les Archives de la critique d’art sont une bibliothèque et un centre de recherche spécialisés en art contemporain et en critique et théorie de l’art. Elles se sont donné pour but de réunir les documents et les publications de tous ceux qui écrivent sur l’art contemporain.

Unique en son genre, cette institution créée en 1989 a une envergure internationale aussi bien par son fonds (écrits et archives) que par ses actions: développement de bases de données et d’un site Internet, organisation de conférences et de colloques. Son originalité consiste dans l’implication des critiques d’art dans son fonctionnement même. Par l’apport de leurs documents, écrits et/ou documentation personnelle, les critiques constituent la majeure partie des collections de la bibliothèque.
Art history or literature? Documenting Icelandic artists’ books
Authors: Árnadóttir Arndís S.
Published: July 2016

The project of creating a catalogue of Nordic collections holding artists’ books, initiated at ARLIS/Norden’s annual meeting in Helsinki in May 1996, was the starting point for a survey of the material held in Icelandic art libraries. This focused on the type and size of the collections of artists’ books in four art institutions covering twentieth century art in Iceland, and examined the current documentation standards applied to artists’ books in Icelandic collections and the extent of national bibliographic control.
Art Nouveau and ‘Nieuwe Kunst’: books and book collections in the Netherlands
Authors: Wishaupt Maggy
Published: July 2016

‘Nieuwe Kunst’ is the Dutch variant of what is known as Art Nouveau or Jugendstil in other parts of Europe. As far as book art is concerned, the highlight of this style was between 1892 and 1903. When interest in Art Nouveau began to flourish again in the 1960s, private individuals and libraries in the Netherlands started to collect Nieuwe Kunst books; these collections reflect a varied production, in form as well as in content.
Las bases de datos sobre artes plasticas y arquitectura mexicanas: necesidad, logros, problematica
Authors: Barberena Elsa
Published: July 2016

México ha jugado un papel importante en las artes plásticas y en la arquitectura desde la época prehispánica, y ha contribuido no solamente a difundir la cultura mexicana sino que ha enriquecido la cultura universal. No obstante estas disciplinas no están bien representadas en índices y resúmenes; probablemente esta situación se deba a la falta de continuidad de los títulos de publicaciones periódicas más relevantes, o por el uso del idioma español, o quizás por recursos financieros limitados. A pesar de que la situación no es óptima, los creadores de bases de datos sobre artes plásticas y arquitectura de México, estamos convencidos de la riqueza cultural de nuestro país y nos sentimos comprometidos a difundirla a pesar de las dificultades que ello representa.
Reading between the lines: museum and gallery publications in mid-Victorian England
Authors: Holman Valerie
Published: July 2016

When national museums and galleries were still a relatively new form of public institution, official policies of accessibility and popular education were frequently expressed through a sustained use of metaphor drawn from the discourse of the book. Museums became repositories of knowledge or sources of information on good design, and the visitors readers of objects. Such rhetorical devices could prove counter-productive, for they were based on assumptions, not facts, about the extent of popular literacy and the nature and diversity of reading practices, and yet this form of conceptualisation affected the form, content and quantity of early museum and gallery publications.
The National Gallery of Ireland Library
Authors: Cannon Catríona
Published: July 2016

The National Gallery of Ireland Library has recently re-opened to internal and external readers after a number of years. The concentration so far has been on reader services, while a major revision of the cataloguing and classification procedures is being undertaken. New projects to organise the Gallery’s Archives and make them more accessible for research, and to open a sponsored Centre for the Study of Irish Art in 2002-3, show the Library’s revived interest in reaching its potential users.
Chinese art libraries: developments and trends Part I
Authors: Irvine Betty Jo Kish
Published: July 2016

Chinese art libraries reflect many of the changes which have occurred in the art and culture of this society over the past 100 years. While a visiting scholar at Nanjing Arts Institute, the author had the opportunity to interview librarians working in major art libraries in Beijing, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai and Shenyang. This first part of her report gives general background, describes the library collections in the institutions visited, and addresses questions of funding and staff. As the electronic era shrinks the world of art librarianship, and as we seek greater cooperation and expanded networking opportunities, knowledge about Chinese art libraries will provide the foundation for future partnerships and resource sharing.
Chinese art libraries: developments and trends Part II
Authors: Irvine Betty Jo Kish
Published: July 2016

This report is the result of the author spending three months as a visiting scholar at Nanjing Arts Institute in the People’s Republic of China. The first section was published in theArt Libraries Journalvol. 25 no. 4 2000 and gave general background information about a number of art libraries in China, their collections, and the resources available for acquisitions and staffing. In this concluding part the author documents the cataloguing and classification systems being used by the same libraries, their computer applications and networking, the public services they offer, and their physical layout.
The integration of computer services with academic arts libraries: new strategies for the hybrid professional
Authors: Halverson Aniko L. , Volker Joye
Published: July 2016

Two libraries, the National Institute of the Arts at the Australian National University and California Institute of the Arts in Southern California, describe how each has an interdependent relationship with the information technology or network services units in their respective institutions. Major considerations for both are the introduction of electronic full-text art information on the Web and its pedagogical implications, issues faced by arts libraries in the integration of computer services with library services in universities and colleges, and the changing roles of arts librarians and libraries.
Building sustainable digital collections –
a visual resources collection perspective
Authors: Williams Susan Jane
Published: July 2016

One enormous problem confronting visual
resources (VR) collections internationally is the
time, labor and expense of converting or creating
digital collections while maintaining and even
adding to the analog collection. It will take
considerable time to reach the critical digital
mass that will begin to reflect the richness
already available in our analog collections. The
analog collections must be maintained in tandem
with the digital development. As one might
logically conclude, this is twice the work. It is
improbable that any of us will see our staffs
doubling. This underscores the need to define
clear goals for digital collection development
that are reasonable given the level of staffing
and the need for continuation of analog services
for the foreseeable future. This conundrum may
have an up side in that it will tend to encourage
resource sharing and consortial development of
digital resources.
Fair Use, Fair Dealing: will they
survive?
Authors: Pantalony Rina Elster
Published: July 2016

A previous article by this author
discussed an emerging phenomenon on the Internet.
That is, how the law, by denying copyright
protection to certain kinds of digital works, may
have restricted access to such works instead of
liberating them, as was initially intended by the
judiciary. This absurd conclusion has resulted
from owners whose works are no longer protected by
copyright law, who have resorted to restrictive
contractual provisions on-line to control access
and use of their works. And in turn, owners of
such content are still able to generate revenue by
charging a subscription fee for the right to gain
access to the information contained therein. The
result is particularly troubling to end users of
digital content. If copyright law is no longer
applicable, then what of the Fair Use/Fair Dealing
defences available to users of these works? Does
this mean that these defences are not applicable
either? Are users of such content completely at
the mercy of the owners’ terms and conditions of
use as dictated by click-on agreements and Rules
of Use posted on Web sites? This article discusses
the application of Fair Dealing and Fair Use to
Internet-based works, by examining the legislative
and judicial responses to the ambiguities in their
intellectual property protection which new
technologies create.
Canada’s Digital Collections: youth employment opportunities and Canadian content online
Authors: Kazymyra Nadia
Published: July 2016

Since 1996, Canada’s Digital Collections (CDC), a federal government program has enabled organizations across Canada to add high-quality Canadian content on the Internet while providing on-the-job experience in information technology to young Canadians. This article presents an overview of CDC as a model for the digitization of various types of Canadian content. It also highlights three key aspects which have served the CDC program well: the use of alternative fiscal resources (youth employment funds); the development of an accountable and economical program design to facilitate digitization; and the fostering of partnerships among government, cultural institutions and entrepreneurial youth as a means of leveraging value-added results in digitization.
‘A woman of university standing…’: the early history of the Tate Library
Authors: Foden-Lenahan Erica
Published: July 2016

The title is taken from the Tate Board Minutes in 1929, where it was suggested that such a woman might offer to make a subject catalogue and new card index ‘without pecuniary remuneration’. It sums up the approach taken to the early development of the library within the gallery setting. The library’s position has always been determined by the Tate’s fortunes and reliant on the support of directors whose agendas were broader than the provision of a research library. This article, which is condensed from an MA dissertation, demonstrates how these varying agendas have affected the resources that have been available to the library and the corresponding effects on its collection and culture.
The Hyman Kreitman Research Centre for the Tate Library and Archive
Authors: Houghton Beth
Published: July 2016

The Hyman Kreitman Research Centre for the Tate Library and Archive opened at Tate Britain in May 2002. The Library (covering those areas collected by the Gallery) and the Archive (covering British art since 1900) together constitute a centre of excellence for the study of modern art, particularly British. The new Centre, comprising storage for up to 20 years and reading rooms for around 40 people, has been built in a refurbished area of Tate Britain. The design aimed to comply with BS5454 and issues of compact storage, security, reading rooms without daylight, fire and flood hazards have been addressed.
Tillsammans: co-operation among art libraries in Sweden
Authors: French Sonia , French Tom
Published: July 2016

Following the ARLIS/UK & Ireland study visit to libraries in Stockholm in June 2002, this article reports on the many fascinating aspects of the libraries visited, with particular emphasis on co-operation amongst them and especially the central role of the Royal Library/National Library of Sweden. Swedish colleagues have been most helpful in providing some of the details below, which are supplemented by data drawn from the web pages listed. Some information has also been adapted from reports by colleagues on this visit.
Portraying plants: illustrations collections at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Authors: Ward Marilyn , Flanagan John
Published: July 2016

The Library & Archives at Kew hold one of the world’s greatest collections of botanical illustration, assembled over the last 200 years. A resource well-known to the natural history community, it contains much to interest art historians. Using this historically rich heritage our forward thinking includes acquisition of more contemporary items and the formulation of a digital strategy for 21st-century access and exploitation.
Diverse practices: video art and libraries
Authors: McKie Annamarie , Trumper Jill , Turner Nicholas
Published: July 2016

This article looks at the many problems that art libraries experience in developing video art collections. It considers a range of issues, from why it is often difficult to acquire video art, to reasons why many of the respected art library collections do not actively collect such material. Most of the findings arise from a workshop called Diverse practices, which was held at Kent Institute of Art and Design in February 2003.
From the glue-pot to the internet
Authors: Comerre Marie-Cécile
Published: July 2016

Drouot-Documentation, the library of the oldest auction house in the world, began the 21st century by putting its furniture and furnishings database onto the Internet. This has given access not only to the 12,000 objects Drouot sells and photographs for its sales catalogues each year, but also to selected data in this specialised subject field from provincial sales in France and from others overseas, notably American and English ones. And there are plans eventually to convert the remaining manual indexes, which cover many other hard-to-find topics like the art of glass, ceramics and goldsmiths’ work.
Allied forces: libraries and museums collaborating on World War II provenance research
Authors: Young Jacklyn
Published: July 2016

In recent years museums and galleries have come under scrutiny following claims that artworks confiscated or looted during the Second World War, and still unaccounted for, have made their way into public collections. In response, many such institutions worldwide have been endeavouring to reaffirm the integrity of their collections. The Queensland Art Gallery has established a Provenance Research Team to complete its records for artworks of European origin which have missing provenance details during the period 1933-1945. This paper highlights the role the Gallery Library is taking in supporting the project.
The Art Loss Register
Authors: Radcliffe Julian
Published: July 2016

Illuminated manuscripts, Islamic books, rare maps and first editions are amongst the many items registered on the Art Loss Register database of stolen art, antiques and collectibles. Once they have catalogued and recorded an object the company’s experienced art historians are able to search the database as part of the process of recovering missing goods. But to maximize the chance of recovery it is essential that each item is carefully and accurately described, and preferably accompanied by an image of the object, and to be most effective this of course needs to be done in advance of theft or other loss.
Collection management in Oxford art libraries – high rise or deep six?
Authors: Martin Eunice
Published: July 2016

The Oxford University Library Services, with its millions of volumes and extensive electronic resources covering all subject areas, is going through a lengthy process of consolidation and rationalisation at every level. Increasing pressures on space and budgets have forced the issue. Art history is a small component. However libraries and collections covering the visual arts have been at the forefront of this process by virtue of the establishment of the new Sackler Library. The system continues to evolve on all fronts, including collection development, integration of existing libraries into fewer sites, new offsite storage facilities and increasing reliance on electronic resources.
Brilliant grey: the color of documentary resources at the Fundación Espigas in Buenos Aires
Authors: Trouvé Analía
Published: July 2016

Grey literature, documentation published outside traditional commercial channels, is not very often taken into account by art librarians in Argentina, judging by searches on online databases. However, experience with grey literature at the Fundación Espigas, the highly specialized Argentinian art information center in Buenos Aires, is changing this point of view. The Center’s database offers access to a great corpus of such publications, especially to ephemera such as private view cards, pamphlets, auction catalogues, catalogues of solo and group exhibitions and posters. This ‘minimal documentary information’ has an important place as a resource, and would prove invaluable for any research project on Argentine art in the future. Indeed this material is not grey but unexpectedly brilliant at providing rich and hidden information.
REDARTE-SP: networking art information resources in São Paulo
Authors: de Almeida Maria Christina Barbosa , de Almeida Pina Paulo Simões
Published: July 2016

Art information providers in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, include libraries, archives, and documentation sections in art museums and cultural centers. In 1998 REDARTE-SP, a network of these services in the city, was created to facilitate discussion of theoretical, technical and organizational issues facing art information services and to formulate collaborative projects. The subsequent exchange of ideas, discussion of successful practices and development of shared projects empowers art information professionals, contributes to improving the quality of art information services and products, provides better use of the available resources and widens the circle of users.
Investig@rte: the national network of art libraries in Mexico
Authors: Barberena Elsa , Block Carmen , Guerrero Elda Mónica
Published: July 2016

Mexican art, dating back to 2500 BC, is enormously rich and stylistically varied, the product of the country’s indigenous, ‘mestizo’ [mixed race] and Mexican cultures, which range from Olmec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec and Mixtec, to Mayan and Aztec. During the colonial period, the influence of European art was added, brought via Spain, and at the same time Catholicism prevailed over pre-Hispanic polytheism. Mexican culture as it is known today emerged at the end of the Spanish colonial period and its wealth is amply demonstrated in the content of the writings and other documents found in Mexican libraries today.
The Bibliotheca Hertziana (Max Planck Institute for Art History) in Rome
Authors: Ebert-Schifferer Sybille
Published: July 2016

The Bibliotheca Hertziana’s fascinating history is contrasted in this account with a description of the reconstruction work currently being carried out on its buildings in the historic centre of Rome. Its extensive collections are listed in the Florence-Munich-Rome union catalogue (www.kubikat.org), the union database of the major German art history research libraries in those cities, which has been accessible on the internet since December 1998. Conceived from the start as a place of study for art historians from all nations, the library continues to follow the vision of its founder, Henriette Hertz, by playing a part in international activities in the field. It is scheduled to re-open to external users in early 2008.
The Zentralarchiv des internationalen Kunsthandels ZADIK
Authors: Herzog Günter
Published: July 2016

The Zentralarchiv des internationalen Kunsthandels (ZADIK = Central Archive of the International Art Trade) was established in 1992 by the Bundesverband Deutscher Galerien (BVDG), the association of German art dealers, and is the only research archive in the world that specialises in collecting and preserving documents and information from the art market. The history, purpose, collection profile and work of this still very young art archive is described here.
The British Library: a treasure trove for the creative industries
Authors: Meads Carol
Published: July 2016

The British Library, the UK’s national library, has often been described as a ‘hidden treasure’, with a huge amount of material and expertise which could support the creative sector, including graphic design, product design, the performing arts and fashion. During a recent visit Zandra Rhodes, the renowned fashion designer, called the Library a ‘Pandora’s Box’.
Digital images and art historians – Compare and contrast revisited
Authors: Graham Margaret E. , Bailey Christopher
Published: July 2016

As the number of digital images available to art historians grows apace, it is perhaps an opportune moment to consider what impact digital images have had on the discipline and on the work methods of art historians. This paper revisits the findings of a research project – Compare and contrast – focusing on the attitudes of art historians towards digital image technologies, the role of the technologies in the different phases and activities of the research process, the tools and their potential, and barriers to the use of digital images.
Managing and cataloguing ephemera collections
Authors: Lowther Stephen
Published: July 2016

What is ephemera? How do we catalogue it? Every library’s ephemera collection differs greatly from others in its content and cataloguing needs. Does one dictate the other? Is there a right way and a wrong way? Or just a way that is right for the library and material in hand? A look at how these things were approached at the Wellcome Library gives an example of how a successfully ordered collection can be created out of the initial chaos with just a little forethought and a lot of hard work.
RSVP . . . the strange life and after-life of the private view card
Authors: Houghton Beth
Published: July 2016

The private view card is a ubiquitous form of art ephemera. Produced in large quantities and circulated widely within the art world, it has evolved over time from the simple postcard invitation to a vehicle for graphic and artistic creative licence, taking on in the process the widest (and weirdest) forms. At the same time it becomes, retrospectively, vital documentation of that art world, providing information otherwise untraceable through more conventional publications.
How images are the making of the Women’s Art Library/Make
Authors: Greenan Althea
Published: July 2016

When a group of women artists decided to organise their slides to inspire others to document themselves and raise the visibility of women’s art, they could not have known that several decades later those slides would still be together, forming the core of an internationally significant research resource. How did this idea of gathering together images transform a women’s art group – in the 1980s these were almost as common as book groups are today – into the Women’s Art Library/Make collection? Historically rooted in gender politics and the subsequent emergence of a radicalised women’s art practice and feminist art criticism, WAL/Make is an exciting ‘work in progress’. Now based in Goldsmiths, University of London it is being developed as a key special collection by the Library.
Institutional activism: documenting contemporary women artists in the United States
Authors: Olin Ferris
Published: July 2016

The Margery Somers Foster Center, based at the Mabel Smith Douglass Library on the Douglass College campus of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, is a resource center and digital archive focused on women, scholarship and leadership. Numerous intersecting initiatives based at the center, library and university are making visible the lives, works and contributions to cultural history of contemporary women artists active in the United States.
The Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust: a Nepal architecture archive at Harvard University
Authors: Wilburn Hugh
Published: July 2016

The papers of the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust are one result of the passion of Harvard University Professor Emeritus Eduard F. Sekler. In the 1960s he witnessed the encroachments of progress and the associated threat to buildings in the royal and religious centers of the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal, and co-founded the Trust in 1990 with others interested in documenting the sites and restoring the buildings. The Trust has restored numerous temples, guesthouses, townhouses and shrines in Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur, and in the process has generated vital documentation including measured drawings, photographs, contextual materials, planning reports and feasibility studies. Threats to this material from the natural environment and political turmoil, as well as longstanding ties to Harvard of several of its members, led the Trust to approach the Frances Loeb Library at the University’s Graduate School of Design, where as a result the archive will be housed. The infrastructure developed by Harvard University Library will be used to create a virtual archive available worldwide on the web, as well as a parallel paper archive to be maintained by the Trust in Nepal.
The library as muse: using Liberty’s textile archive
Authors: Buruma Anna
Published: July 2016

Liberty’s textile archive is probably unique in the way it is set up, both through its ownership and in its make-up. It shows only one aspect of the firm’s history, although arguably its most important one. It is of interest not only because of the Liberty fabrics, but for 19th-century textiles in general, as it includes material from most of that century. The main purpose of the archive is to act as a reference library for the in-house studios; however, limited access is offered to specialist users from outside the company.
The High Wycombe Furniture Archive
Authors: Kaner Jake , Grover Sharon , Crocker Emma , Hodgkins Lisa
Published: July 2016

The town of High Wycombe is internationally renowned for furniture-making, and Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College holds important photographic material relating to the industry during the 20th century. Funding from the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council is now going to enable the archive collections to be digitised and made accessible via an interactive website. The team undertaking this initiative describes below both the process of the project and the content of the archive, discussing some of the challenges it faces and some of its aspirations for the future.
The Papunya Tula Archive at the Art Gallery of New South Wales: providing archival services for indigenous art
Authors: Miller Steven
Published: July 2016

Papunya Tula Artists is a company owned and directed by Aboriginal people from the Western Desert, predominantly from the Luritja and Pintupi language groups. It currently has 49 shareholders and represents around 120 artists. The broad aims of the company are to promote individual artists, and to provide economic development for the communities to which they belong, thereby preserving and extending their traditional culture. Towards the end of 1993 the Art Gallery of New South Wales entered into a formal partnership with the company to assist it in preserving, copying and providing access to their immensely important archival records. The project, which at first seemed straightforward and easily manageable, raised a number of important issues about the provision of archival services for Indigenous art and provides a useful case study for reflecting on these.
A library and a bibliography to cope with the torrent of pictures? A glimpse into the Antwerp FotoMuseum
Authors: Salu Luc
Published: July 2016

Between 1965 and 1985, the library of the FotoMuseum Provincie Antwerpen acquired three large collections: that of the library of the Association Belge de Photographie, the collection of magazines from Fritz L. Gruber and the company library of the photographic firm Agfa-Gevaert. The bibliographic activities associated with the history of photography were started in 1978 at the European Society for the History of Photography and resulted in a four-part History of photography: a bibliography of books, published 1989 to 1999. The FotoMuseum Provincie Antwerpen produced an augmented version of this bibliography on CD-ROM in 2003.
Crafts Lives: oral history in the making
Authors: Hughes Hawksmoor
Published: July 2016

Crafts Lives, an oral history project for National Life Stories at the British Library, records in-depth life stories of Britain’s craftspeople exploring both their personal and their working lives. This new archive will provide a well of new information for academics, historians, students and craftspeople to draw upon. It should also contribute to a definition of British crafts that will give them their proper place in relation to the fine arts.
‘Artist as Activist’: promoting collections, outreach and community learning
Authors: Gluibizzi Amanda
Published: July 2016

Inspired by their new university president’s call for global outreach and a desire for community partnerships, several libraries at the Ohio State University worked with the Columbus Museum of Art on a proposal for exhibitions and public programming. Called ‘Artist as Activist’ this exhibition and educational program proposed a dynamic collaboration between the institutions, with the goal of broadening the audience for the museum’s and the libraries’ collections and developing an inclusive educational and dissemination model.
The BFI National Library and film education in a digital age
Authors: Earle Wendy , Sharp David
Published: July 2016

The British Film Institute has always tried to balance its role as a repository of moving image collections and their associated materials with encouraging their study and understanding. This article looks at the increasing opportunities for providing access to material in educational and library contexts, as well as giving an overview of the library.
Oscar’s very special library: the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Authors: Mehr Linda Harris
Published: July 2016

‘Oscar’ is the best-known symbol of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. But there is more to the Academy than the golden statuette. The Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library, which has been in existence for 80 years, is widely regarded as the pre-eminent research and reference facility for the study of all aspects of motion pictures, as an art form and an industry. The non-circulating research and reference collection, located in Beverly Hills, California, is open to the public, free of charge, and is heavily used by students, scholars, industry personnel, journalists, filmmakers and the general public. Its holdings document the multiple facets of the film industry and its personnel, past and present, and include books, periodicals, clipping files and screenplays, as well as special collections of photographs, manuscripts, posters, graphic art materials, music and recorded sound, and oral histories.
Research is the basis of knowledge: four art knowledge centres in the Netherlands
Authors: Homma Heleen
Published: July 2016

These days we face great emphasis on the term ‘knowledge’, which is often followed by the statement that ‘knowledge is power’. Research institutions increasingly call themselves knowledge centres, while their libraries are designated using the same term or as ‘information centres’. Information is enriched with contextual data, digitisation and web 2.0 activities circulate as keywords. Even research institutions whose main focus is art, art history or architecture are using the term ‘knowledge centre’ in their organisation plans and on their websites. The author asked four librarians from different research institutions on art history to introduce their library in order to find out if they work in an ‘art knowledge centre’.
The library of Istanbul Museum of Modern Art: a new type of art museum library for Turkey
Authors: Uralman Hanzade
Published: July 2016

Libraries can easily be integrated into a museum’s activities, since museums too have functions that require the processing of information, such as preservation, research and communication. However museums in Turkey were not notable for developing efficient art libraries until Istanbul Museum of Modern Art opened. The distinctiveness of this museum’s library results from a change in the museum environment in Turkey, and the introduction of a number of features that are new in art libraries in this country.
Overcoming the monster: Seven Stories’ approach to the born-digital challenge
Authors: Robinson Elinor , Green Hannah
Published: July 2016

Seven Stories, the Centre for Children’s Books, is at the forefront of exploring born-digital material in the North East of England. The Centre has met many challenges on its quest to acquire, preserve and provide access to born-digital material. This article describes these challenges and how Seven Stories has approached them, and how the Centre is using born-digital material at present.
KULTUR: showcasing art through institutional repositories
Authors: White Wendy , Hemmings Clare
Published: July 2016

Showcasing work has always been at the heart of the arts community, whether it be through an exhibition, site-specific installation or performance. Representation of the original work has also been important and use of print-based options like exhibition catalogues is now complemented by websites and multimedia friendly services like Flickr and YouTube and Vimeo. These services also provide options for sharing born-digital material. For those working in higher education there is a need to profile both the personal and the institutional aspects of creative outputs. The KULTUR project created a model for arts-based institutional repositories and it is hoped that this approach will be useful for other arts institutions.