The ideal of a single, national art library is no more practicable than that of a single national library. The alternative is to regard all of a nation’s art libraries as comprising the national art library, taking advantage of their diversity and of their provision of a range of access points and policies. This requires effective co-ordination, preferably combining maximum co-operation with a minimum of centralisation, and including the rotation of specific responsibilities among participating libraries. An example of such a confederation of art libraries is represented by the network of art libraries within the Research Libraries Group (RLG) in the USA. A new RLG plan for achieving efficient co-operative cataloguing of exhibition catalogues demonstrates how a confederation of libraries can work together to act as a national art library, more effectively than would be possible for a single ‘monolithic’ library.

The Smithsonian Institution, a public organisation established in 1846 “for the increase and diffusion of knowledge”, includes ten museums and several research bureaux. Most but not all of the associated libraries are linked through the Smithsonian Institution Libraries; they include several art libraries which contribute significantly to the overall provision of art library service to the American people but do not of themselves constitute a “national art library”. Most of the Smithsonian’s libraries enter their records in a database (SIBIS) which is accessible online via OCLC. Co-ordinated collection development has been pursued since 1984. In two areas in particular, American and African art, Smithsonian libraries aim to provide a national service.

In response, to initiatives from the Association of Art Historians and from ARLIS/UK & Eire, the British Library Working Party on the Provision of Materials for the Study of Art was established. Its Report (1983) proposed the setting-up of a permanent consultative body. This body, the Standing Committee on Art Documentation (SCOAD), was set up in 1985, to survey, and consider the co-ordination of, the provision of art library collections and services in the United Kingdom and in particular, by the British Library, the National Art Library, and other specialist libraries with notable contributions to make to a national service.

The Israel Museum Library at Jerusalem is Israel’s largest art library; it maintains the Archive of Israeli Art and an index of periodicals and it serves a national audience. It is complemented by other museum, university, and college libraries, and by the public library network.

Literature on Finnish art can be sought via the national bibliography and periodicals indexes and a bibliography of Finnish history; these bibliographies are available as databases as well as in printed form and on microfiche. A working party on art libraries is looking into ways of widening bibliographical control of art literature. The publications themselves, and unpublished information, can be found in libraries and archives of several kinds, from the Library of Helsinki University to the libraries and archives of colleges of art and architecture, museums, and artists’ associations. Many of these organisations are active in gathering and publishing information. The Fine Arts Academy of Finland administers the Art Musum of the Ateneum, Finland’s national gallery, and maintains extensive collections of visual resources, exhibition catalogues, periodicals, and press clippings.

The National Library of Australia at Canberra includes a Pictorial Collection comprising paintings, drawings, prints and photographs which illustrate the history of Australia. The Collection is being actively developed, the ultimate goal being a comprehensive visual record of all aspects of Australian life. The Collection is open to the public, and is served by a photographic unit; a selection of pictures are always on display, and items are lent to exhibitions elsewhere. A publications programme is to culminate in the production of an illustrated catalogue. Data on selected items in the Collection is being entered into the Australian Bibliographic Network database.