In 2009, I was two years into my tenure as a museum employee, managing a collection of small exhibition brochures, pamphlets and gallery announcements at the National Gallery of Art Library. That summer, New York Times art critic Roberta Smith reported on a phenomenon I had also observed in my capacity as Reference Librarian for Vertical Files: the decline of the printed gallery post card. Smith's ArtsBeat blog post, ‘Gallery Card as Relic,’ is a breezy elegy surveying recent “final notice” cards mailed from commercial galleries that were “going green” by eliminating paper mailings. I, however, was feeling less light-hearted about the demise of what Smith describes as a “useful bit of art-world indicator…[and] an indispensable constant creatively deployed by artists, avidly cherished by the ephemera-obsessed and devotedly archived by museums.”

Definitions, uses and management of ephemera are explored in this article, a response to the pioneering ‘Arty choke: acquisition and ephemera’ by Nik Pollard, published in the 1977 winter issue of Art Libraries Journal. The author, in conversation with the Librarian of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, discusses key ideas put forward in the original text and assess their relevance in relation to current art ephemera collections in UK libraries.

The author gives context to the 1977 article ‘Arty choke: acquisition and ephemera’, and re-assesses his ideas with the perspective of a long career in librarianship and four decades of involvement with this and other library materials. He argues for a broad definition of ephemera and for art libraries to collect and make accessible as comprehensively as possible all designed visual artifacts potentially pertinent to the study of art history and the practices of art and design.

A survey was carried out at Chelsea College of Arts Library in 2015 to investigate the currency of printed art ephemera, and to inform the development of its collection. The questions were: 1. Does your institution produce printed exhibition ephemera (i.e. exhibition announcements, private view cards, posters, etc.)?; 2. If yes, does your institution distribute these items by post?; 3. Is your policy on the above likely to change in the foreseeable future? Do you have any comments about this or about anything else to do with exhibition ephemera? Distributed to 250 organisations, this article analyses the data gathered from the replies received.

The collections of e-ephemera of two Auckland art libraries are discussed here: the E H McCormick Research Library at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, a specialist art library within one of New Zealand's major public art galleries, and the Fine Arts Library Te Herenga Toi at the University of Auckland which supports the research and teaching needs of the Elam School of Fine Arts and the Department of Art History. While there are differences in approach both institutions see the value in preserving print and e-ephemera and are looking to make this material more accessible to users, despite numerous challenges.

The vast expanse and volatility of art ephemera based on the World Wide Web pose significant threats to the completeness of the art historical record. Towards its mission to enhance the resources available for current and future research through collaboration, the New York Art Resources Consortium (NYARC) collects, preserves, and provides access to art ephemera born in digital formats native to the web. It leverages its member institutions’ collecting strengths and resources to establish a permanently sustainable web archiving programme. This article introduces NYARC's web archiving practices at the principal stages in a typical web archive's lifecycle, describes how each benefit from collaboration among its member libraries and external programme partners, and identifies opportunities for further art libraries and consortia to participate in this important effort to preserve at-risk art historical resources.

Mark Pawson is an artist, self-publisher and bookseller. He grew up in Cheshire, lives in London and never went to Art School. He's a one-man production line creating and selling a constant stream of artists books, postcards, badges, multiples, T-shirts and other essential ephemera. He has collaborated with jewellery makers Tatty Devine and worked with Levis Vintage Clothing.