In addition to merely substituting for ‘original’ images and artefacts, reproductions and photographs constitute evidence of the history of, and of attitudes towards, works of art, and of the technical means of documenting their appearance. However, the visual document may have intrinsic value and aesthetic worth, giving it a life, a power of influence, and a depth of association, entirely its own.

Picture libraries have been developed to serve a wide range of public and private enthusiasms and needs. Collections of several kinds have evolved to serve different archival, commercial, teaching and private functions. Recent developments include advances in conservation and exploitation, the publication of directories, and the formation of associations of picture libraries. Technological advance may help provide opportunities for greater cooperation and more effective use of existing resources.

Visual materials can fulfill many purposes and enhance many disciplines. Their potential is illustrated by the way in which visual resource collections in colleges can be organised and extended to serve the college as a whole.

An expansion project to serve disciplines other than art history must begin with an assessment of the existing collection and of pockets of materials that exist elsewhere on campus. Thorough knowledge of the availability of materials, coupled with an understanding of what areas can be enhanced by the use of visual materials, can enable the visual resources librarian to devise plans and to budget for broader collection development. Ease of access should be the guiding principle in the integration of new materials in the collection. Promoting use can be accomplished by publicizing new holdings and by conducting information literacy presentations. Good record-keeping, and the response of teaching staff in the college, are the two most important factors in evaluating the success of a new program.

Fashion has been categorized as a global means of non-verbal communication, television has been classified as the medium with a global communications message, and videotapes are becoming a primary documentary format for both. The International Fashion Video Library (IFVL), located in Los Angeles and a division of the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) Museum and Library Foundation, is the world’s only fashion video library open to students, educators, scholars, industry, and the general public. Its purpose is to collect, organize, and preserve archival, contemporary, and futuristic videotapes which document the various facets of the fashion industry.

Much of the original and printed material which constitutes the history of graphic design is in danger of being lost. The efforts of libraries and museums to preserve this material can be enhanced by the use of interactive videodisc to record, and to facilitate access to and exploitation of, the contents of graphic design archives. At the Rochester Institute of Technology, a project which aims to create an ‘electronic museum’ alongside an extensive archive of graphic design has achieved the production of a prototype videodisc and of accompanying software. While the Rochester Archive is focussed on American graphic design of the 1930s to 1950s, an international network of graphic design collections, and of electronic databases, is envisaged.

As compared to card catalogs, the content and extent of the online database is not apparent; parts of it become visible only in response to appropriate search strategies. When searches are conducted by librarians on behalf of researchers, the researcher is dependent on the librarian’s expertise and on his or her interpretation of the researcher’s requirements. Remote from the data, and at a remove from the search process, the researcher cannot be certain that the results (if any) are the product of an adequate search. Only first class performance, enabled by subject knowledge as well as technical proficiency, involving imagination and serendipity, and facilitated and sustained by sympathetic management, will inspire confidence in online reference services.

New technology is giving researchers greater independence in their use of bibliographic databases. Art librarians should promote ‘end-user services’ which provide library users with direct access to online databases, although there are a number of problems which are liable to detract from the efficiency and thoroughness associated with computer-assisted searching.