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).

The now 50-year-old scrap heap of discarded, expensive computer equipment is a monument to bad design and bad understanding of these excellent new tools. The current inadequacies are glossed over with colours and pictures. Buzzwords are used to distract from the battle over control being waged with dubious interpretations of patent and copyright laws. Women have a major role in resisting these efforts.

Early Turkish libraries, attached to such institutions as mosques and medreses, comprised collections of manuscripts including many of great artistic value. Medreses and their libraries were endowed by the Ottoman rulers, who as patrons of the arts were also responsible for causing many manuscripts to be produced. Scholars owned private libraries, and libraries for the public existed in every district of Istanbul. Many of the collections of these libraries survive, in some cases in museums and in libraries of later origin, in Istanbul University Library, and in the National Library at Ankara.

In the past three years, the cultural heritage of Bosnia-Herzegovina has suffered major destruction. The result is what a Council of Europe report has called ‘a cultural catastrophe’. Historical architecture (including 1,200 mosques, 150 churches, 4 synagogues and over 1,000 other monuments), works of art, as well as cultural institutions (including major museums, libraries, archives and manuscript collections) have been systematically targeted and destroyed. The losses include not only the works of art, but also crucial documentation that might aid in their reconstruction. Our Bosnian colleagues need the assistance of the international library community to help them recover and rebuild some of what has been lost and to rebuild the buildings and institutions that embody their country’s cultural heritage. Librarians outside Bosnia, through their institutions and professional organisations, can provide material and technical assistance, training, and documentation, to help undo the destruction of memory.

The Brooklyn Museum’s collection of Islamic art, gathered from early in the 20th century, represents the full range of Islamic artistic production, with objects dating from the earliest periods of Islam through the 20th century, from Spain and India, and executed in a variety of media. An extensive library collection of over 5,000 titles has been developed since the establishment of the Museum Libraries in 1923. The collection was enhanced by the acquisition of the personal library of Charles Edwin Wilbour, and by the bequeathing of the library of Charles K. Wilkinson, and it continues to benefit from the generosity of foundation and individual support. The Library is open to the public by appointment, and bibliographic records of its collection are entered on RLIN.

There is a fundamental dichotomy between conservation and access. The ambiguity which clouds discussion on the issue starts with the selection process. Who selects what for whom. Librarians are trained to be objective in the selection process using tried and tested tools. Much material from the mid-19th century is in an unusable state and until really cheap mass deacidification or paper strengthening programmes are started, conservation must rely on microform to supply the user with required material. Digitisation is no substitute for the microform. Increasing use of personal computers will familiarise our readers with material outside their specific sphere of interest and will stimulate demand for access to original material. Conservation of some art forms distorts the artist’s intention and should be avoided. Research has demonstrated that the environmental conditions for storage are more flexible than hitherto believed. This will have a bearing on international loan exhibitions. Librarians and conservators should make common cause to serve the user and allow maximum appropriate access.

The dynamism of elements of the archive profession has been particularly apparent over the past two decades as change and innovations have shaken up a profession previously perceived, perhaps not always unfairly, as pedestrian and static. The impetus for change has come both from outside and within the archive community. The lack in the UK of a national legislative framework covering the collecting of all types of archives, and an increased awareness of both the research and commercial value of historical records, have encouraged an expansion both in the types of organisations collecting archives and in the types of archives being collected. The shifting focus of attention of professional historians away from a preoccupation with ‘official’ records and the encouragement of more source-based teaching, both in schools and at undergraduate level, have facilitated such changes. The archive profession, however, is very aware that collecting by itself is not enough, and while lack of resources means that most archivists are still embarrassed by backlogs of material that have not been catalogued as fully as they would wish, greater attention is being focused on issues such as the need to widen access to archive collections, to increase security within repositories and to promote a greater understanding of conservation techniques.