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Two decades of change in Dutch university art libraries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2016

Martien Versteeg
Martien Versteeg*
Affiliation:
University of Amsterdam, Herengracht 286, 1016 BX Amsterdam, The Netherlands
*
Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

In 1987 Chris Smeenk wrote in this journal about the libraries of the Dutch art historical institutes. In the 22 years that have since passed many changes have occurred, perhaps most notably the merging of the many autonomous institute libraries into larger ones. Has this led to a more professional approach or was it caused by a search for more efficiency? Does this really matter? The fact is that Smeenk, or any other library user familiar with Dutch art history libraries, would hardly recognise the situation at the end of the first decade of the 21st century. Maybe he would complain about the disappearance of the traditional academic institute librarian, but on the other hand he might be cheered by many other developments, such as the more central role of services for the public. Let’s take a look....

Type
Research Article
Information
Art Libraries Journal , Volume 34 , Issue 4 , 2009 , pp. 24 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © The Art Libraries Society 2009

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References

1. Smeenk, Chris, ‘Art libraries of educational and research institutions,’ Art libraries journal 12, no.1 (1987): 5–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2. These universities sometimes maintain a number of specialised collections, for example at Erasmus University Rotterdam, where publications on the commercial aspects of culture including art are being collected.Google Scholar
3. In its new location the library has been organised according to criteria that were formulated shortly before the fire, and which appear to be rather traditional but are strongly advocated by the academic staff in the faculty.Google Scholar
4. This is the Centrum voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, http://www.ru.nl/ckd/.Google Scholar
5. In Dutch this is ‘Bibliotheekvoorziening Geesteswetenschappen’. Between 1998 and 2008 seven Dutch academic libraries co-operated to fight the impoverishment of humanities collections. On three separate occasions a financial contribution was received from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (1998-2006) and between 1998 and 2008 the institutions themselves invested heavily in literature for the humanities.Google Scholar
6. An important role was played here by the SURF Licentiebureau, the UKB, the Dutch consortium of university libraries and the Royal Library. See http://www.kb.nl/bst/bgw/intro-bgw.html.Google Scholar
7. In Dutch ‘Gemeenschappelijk Geautomatiseerd Catalogiseersysteem’.Google Scholar
8. AdamNet libraries hold millions of books, thousands of periodicals, all sorts of multimedia and more. Access to the AdamNet libraries is free; however borrowers, and in some libraries those wishing to have access to reference material, will need a card. See http://www.adamnet.nl/.Google Scholar