Gustavo Grandal Montero (ALJ):Could you give an overview of the main aims and context of the project?

Ami Clarke (AC): The Digital Archive of Artists’ Publishing (DAAP) is an interactive, user-driven, searchable database of artists’ books and publications, that acts as a hub to engage with others, built by artists, publishers and a community of creative practitioners in contemporary artists’ publishing, developed via an ethically-driven design process, and supported by Wikimedia UK and Arts Council England. The project is inspired by the site of Banner Repeater's public Archive of Artists’ Publishing on Hackney Downs train station, with 11,000 people passing a day, in response to the need for a similarly dynamic approach to archiving in an online context.

In recent years we have noticed a substantial increase in interest in our archive collections at the E H McCormick Research Library at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. With circulation figures for print publications generally reported to be on a downward trend for libraries, unique material is being eagerly sought out.

Who are our new audiences and how do they engage with archives in varying ways? What specific approaches have contributed to achieving this positive shift? Including observations from other research librarians and archivists, this article provides a view of art archive use and users, as well as the mechanisms that are proving successful. Our aim is to increase the visibility of our special collections to facilitate the unlocking of their powerful potential for the understanding and, sometimes, making of art.

As producers and mediators of digital resources, art librarians frequently interact with the digital humanities in a broad sense. In the following brief overview of recent DH work undertaken in US art libraries, engagement with digital humanities is evidenced by the development of open access projects, the creation of linked data sets and the innovative sharing of art and archive collections to support digital pedagogy. Related activities of the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA), its Digital Humanities SIG and the ARLIS/NA in the Humanities Commons are also discussed.

Exhibition catalogues, in spite of being an important aspect of art documentation, too often escape the notice of both libraries and bibliographies; their existence may be unsuspected and they may disappear without trace. With support from the British Library, ARLIS/UK & Eire is currently conducting a comprehensive survey of exhibition catalogue production and acquisition in England over a period of twelve months; the survey involves the active participation of art librarians throughout the country as regional co-ordinators and local collectors, and it constitutes a study of the feasibility of a permanent collecting network. Such a network is desirable, not least to supplement the national system of legal deposit and to provide data for inclusion in the British National Bibliography.

Since the 19th century, a developing awareness of cultural patrimony has been accompanied by advances in conservation, by the growth of a body of literature on conservation, and by the establishment of bodies, including agencies at the international level, dedicated to conservation. But not everything can be preserved: choices have to be made of what most merits preservation. Art librarians are involved, both as conservers of the documentary heritage (which contributes to the ethos in which decisions are made) and, sometimes, as members of teams responsible for the preservation of artefacts and buildings. There is a need for specialists of all kinds who are involved in the preservation of the cultural patrimony to work closely together, to discuss priorities, and to ensure that nothing escapes attention.

The modern image library, with its large collections in a multiplicity of formats, requires sophisticated systems of classification, indexing and information retrieval. Alongside the traditional art historical approach to the reproductions it contains, iconographic indexes are being developed which treat art as a language and analyse signs, symbols and meanings. Given the increase in iconographic and iconological research there is a need for the co-ordination and standardisation of indexing techniques at an international level.

In Japan, art museums have created databases for management, educational and promotional purposes, rather than for research. At the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo, a group consisting of a librarian, three curators, and a systems specialist, embarked in 1984 on a four year project to assemble and test a system which, utilising machine-readable thesauri and classification systems developed in Western countries, will, it is hoped, facilitate research into Western art.

The literature of archaeology reflects the development of archaeology as a discipline, from the curiosity of wealthy amateurs to serious enquiry utilising scientific method and techniques and drawing on other disciplines in its efforts to interpret objects as evidence of their times. Archaeology libraries thus contain rare (often large and fragile) early works, specialised and highly detailed studies, works not obviously related to archaeology, and texts in several languages; such libraries are most usually associated with academic institutions, of which the University of Pennsylvania Museum and Bryn Mawr College offer contrasting (though neighbouring) examples. Both libraries - the University Museum more so than Bryn Mawr College - serve a larger public beyond the institution’s own community, at least to a limited extent. Archaeology libraries can nourish the widespread and growing public interest in ancient civilisations in spite of the rarefied and valuable nature of their collections, by participating in library networks, and by encouraging the publication or reprinting of books for the non-specialist.

The overall problem of professional education for Italian librarians arises from the lack of specific schools of librarianship. Librarians must learn ‘on the job’. However, the inauguration of BiArte, the Italian Art Libraries Association, in 1988, has provided a forum through which art librarians can share their experience, knowledge and enthusiasm, and further their professional education … even if it cannot of itself win for librarians the professional image which only a sound, basic training in librarianship can provide.

The Barber Institute of Fine Arts is acknowledged as one of the finest small art galleries in Europe. It has a richly resourced library which functions both as a curatorial library for the Barber’s curators and as part of the University of Birmingham’s network of site libraries. Students of art history thus benefit from the combined resources of a specialist art gallery library and a major university library. The Barber also houses a visual resources library, music library and coin study room.

This paper provides a history of the Golden Cockerel Press, an English private press active between 1921 and 1961. There were three major periods in the Press’s development. Under Harold Taylor the Press was an idealistic attempt to provide an opportunity for the publication of new writers not yet well-enough known for the larger publishing market. The second owner was Robert Gibbings who had helped found the Society of Wood-Engravers and used the Press as a showcase for his own and fellow engravers’ work. Finally, during the longest period in the Press’s history, Christopher Sandford continued both the innovative approach to text and the interest in wood engraving for illustrations. He produced 122 books, most on handmade paper in limited editions, and contrived to keep the cost within the price range of the average book collector by using mechanical typesetting at a commercial press while yet overseeing and revising the work at every stage of its design. Sandford sold the Press to Thomas Toseloff, an American, in 1959.

The work of the Press is exceptionally fine and contains a unique record of British wood engraving over a period of forty years. Following the history of the Press are three appendices: a chronological list of the Press books, an index to authors, and an index to illustrators.

The Australian National Gallery Library has used RLIN since January 1985. It is used primarily as an online bibliographic database, to trace publications on particular artists and as a means of verifying references supplied by library users. It is also used, but less frequently, to verify bibliographic details of items to be acquired for the Library; other more occasional use is made of RLIN as a source of catalogue records, to identify locations of items the loan of which is to be sought from overseas, to verify name headings, and as a source of information used in stock selection. Of the special files, Scipio has proved most useful as a source of information on sales catalogues. RLIN does not present insuperable problems to the remote user, although an offline print facility and extended access hours would both be helpful.

Art academy libraries belong to institutions that deal primarily with the development of artists. As a result the library usually functions in an environment where a great deal of experiment, research and study is going on, and is there as a resource for the students as they produce their visual and written work. When I was asked to write an article about them, I decided to make visits to several similar libraries in the Netherlands so that I could compare their characteristics, use and users.

New Zealanders like to think of themselves as high users of the latest technology. Does this extend to digital imagery in the workplace? Curators at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki were surveyed regarding digital image sources, their use and the problems and opportunities they presented. They were found to be keen, adept users, satisfied with their technical and retrieval capabilities, and aware of issues relating to copyright and image storage. Happy with thumbnails in many instances, they employed the skills of the Gallery’s professional photographers when higher quality images were required. Looking at the move from analogue to digital, slide use was found to be negligible but reproductions in books and journals were still a favoured source. Disadvantages were downplayed and the positive impact of digital imagery was stressed.