En août 2008, 47 bibliothécaires en art de 11 pays différents ont participé à Montréal (Québec) au congrès préliminaire de l’IFLA 2008 axé sur le thème « Documentation sur l’art/contenu local/contexte mondial ». Organisées par la section d’ARLIS/NA MOQ (Montréal-Ottawa-Québec) et par la Section des bibliothèques d’art de l’IFLA, les activités étaient commanditées par Artexte, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, le Centre Canadien d’Architecture, la Bibliothèque de l’Université McGill, le Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal et Bibliothèque et Archives du Musée des beaux-arts du Canada.

How does an art museum library move into the digital arena? An account of four recent and current projects at the National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives, involving the extraction of information of value from printed matter and its re-presentation on the web, throws light on this topic. The selection of resources for digitization, and the challenges of an integrated approach, have also raised issues requiring discussion and solution.

The World Wide Web has created significant changes in how cultural institutions, including galleries, communicate their role as custodians of cultural content and research. In this paper we discuss a number of initiatives involving the Research Library and curatorial sections at the National Gallery of Australia to bring information about Australian visual arts to an online audience.

The Gallica programme of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and the Digital Library of the Institut national d’histoire de l’art (INHA), are two major French initiatives in the digitisation of art history information. Gallica was launched in 1995 and by the end of 2007 incorporated some 80,000 images and 90,000 texts. Essentially encyclopaedic in content, it nevertheless contains much material relevant to art, including iconographic documents from the library’s specialist departments. Mass digitisation of some 100,000 works per annum from 2007 onwards will add a substantial body of texts and periodicals in this subject. INHA’s digitisation programme for its Digital Library began in 2002: the two main areas it is currently concentrating on are a corpus of ‘classics of art history’, and the digitisation of specialised and rare documents such as the pre-1920 catalogues of the Louvre. 200,000 images are already available on line.

Is the development of UK digital visual arts initiatives driven by professional ideology more than user need? Is the vast treasure trove of images and metadata being produced still difficult to identify and locate? A brief overview of a selected range of recent key initiatives finds a mixed picture. Content is still mainly accessible to users with an informed expectation of its existence, and the full potential of the internet has not been fully absorbed by the providers. However, there are optimistic signs of improving visibility and access.

When seeking comprehensiveness, any collector encounters the rare and the exceptional. Posters and prints are this article’s main theme; many outstanding recent additions of these documents have been made to the Quebec Heritage Collection at Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec since 1992, when new areas of development were added. Various acquisition modes and strategies are described, illustrating original ways to apply legal deposit and documenting varied sources for purchase and donation within each family of publications. Forays made by visual artists into poster production are also outlined. In conclusion, the authors evoke concerns about how to cope with disparate, distant and diversely managed iconographic documents and the strategic value of acquisition data.

The Media Centre of the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal is a typical museum library in terms of collections, activities and services. Despite the experience gained during its 42 years, the Media Centre still faces many challenges, such as expanding its service and conservation areas, and carrying out a complete revamp of its web site in a knowledge portal. However its biggest challenge is ensuring that it continues, every day, to be at the cutting edge of contemporary art.

Libraries and other information providers in the visual arts have had to adapt to an environment of changing research patterns, due to the widespread adoption of information technologies for personal use, the blurring of disciplinary boundaries, and shifting notions of geographical representation. As a small and independent arts organization, Artexte must navigate the obstacles and challenges raised by this dynamic environment. To do so, it has had to take into consideration the relevance of its original purpose – to focus on contemporary Canadian art within a national arts community. How can Artexte become more active in bringing Canadian art practices and critical discourses to larger, international networks? This article looks at the factors that define the current situation, and the ways in which Artexte bridges the gap between ‘local’ and ‘global’ contexts.