It has seemed to me for some time that one of my preoccupations was really only a hobby-horse, in the sense that Laurence Sterne describes that of Uncle Toby in Tristram Shandy, for it has seemed to be of ‘great singularity’ as if I ‘might have travelled from York to Dover, — from Dover to Penzance in Cornwall, and from Penzance to York back again, and not have seen such another upon the road’. I am thinking of my preoccupation with what I identified as the need for a library, or libraries, in Britain, devoted to contemporary art, and open to the public. I aired the idea in Studio International in May 1973, but received no feedback.

Slides present problems of retrieval which have not always been solved by those responsible for their organisation. Each image can be seen, sought, and labelled in a variety of ways. Organisation of the slides themselves according to subject is essential to facilitate browsing, which is the normal method of selection on the part of borrowers, and which generates ideas and reveals new or alternative material. The borrowing of slides is a major problem which tends to be solved most effectively by relatively informal systems. The slide collection should be conveniently located so far as the user is concerned; even when this can be achieved the development of private collections by individuals or teaching departments should be regarded as complementing the central collection. An ‘ideal’ organisation is proposed, based on conclusions drawn from a survey of slide collections which included interviews with curators, users, and non-users (British Library R.&D. Report no. 5309, 1976)

Due not least to its inter-disciplinary breadth of scope, design history has not developed an adequate methodology for identifying (or cataloguing) artefacts or for placing them in their context (classification). Yet design history is essential to design scholarship and to design itself because these are its tasks. (A paper presented to the ARLIS Annual General Meeting on April 1st, from A Framework for Design Scholarship by Bruce Archer, to be published in 1978).

Art libraries, guided in part by unquestioned assumptions and market forces, tend to buy the same books while neglecting ‘ephemeral’ primary material which can often be acquired cheaply, which will be vital data for future historians, and which is likely to inspire artists then as it does now. Collections of ephemera invariably attract donations, research, and recognition. Reliance on books to document this material means accepting a selective and perhaps misleading view, at second hand, after a lapse of time. Reassessment of the significance of the images and artefacts thrown-up by our culture by means of printing and other mass-production techniques, might lead to the cooperative, rationalised acquisition, by art libraries, of both books and ephemera, and to the exploitation of the latter by inter-library lending of original material or of slides.

Total provision of art literature almost certainly requires international co-operation. It depends too on effective and systematic coverage at the national level, not only of traditional printed books and periodicals but also audiovisual media, microforms, manuscripts and ‘grey literature’. National provision must allow for geographical, political and economic factors and patterns of usage. Various recommendations are made to stimulate discussion of a possible British system.

In an era of economic stringency it is necessary to ‘sell’ the art library, in order to win support as an investment for survival. To do this a new style of reference librarianship has been implemented in the Fine Arts Department of Birmingham Public Libraries, including the provision of services to branch libraries and to art teachers; the creation of publications, exhibitions, and the Art Pack; and the involvement of staff in appropriate committees. (The text of a paper presented to the course on ‘Managing the Arts’ organised by ARLIS and the Polytechnic of North London in December, 1976).

The booklet publications of the Golgonooza Press, which takes its name and sign from the work of William Blake, aim to combat art decadence and the vested interests of mass-art-publishing. One end of the ‘main axis of thought’ on which the Press’s editorial initiative turns, reaches to cultures other than that of the modern West. The other ‘rightfully belongs in the hearts and hands’ of creative artists for whom art remains ‘a channel of Grace’.

In 1975 the Library at Preston Polytechnic undertook the task of reorganising and developing a collection of slides previously in the custody of the School of Art and Design. Circumstances dictated that the collection be organised for maximum use and minimal maintenance. The slides have been classified by 18th Dewey and housed in transparent sheets of pockets suspended in filing cabinets, enabling borrowers to browse and help themselves.

Art libraries differ from other academic libraries in their stock provision and in the way they are used. The disadvantages of multi-site libraries are outweighed by the difficulties of fitting the art library into a large central library, and by the advantages to the user of co-ordinated decentralisation. The implications for art libraries of centralised cataloguing systems require careful consideration; other problems include staff structures, the use (and abuse) of quantification, and the degree and type of user education. (Text of a paper presented to the course for senior art librarians on ‘Managing the Arts’, organised by ARLIS and the Polytechnic of North London in December).

The slide collection at the Bibliotheque Forney is an extension of this library’s documentation of the decorative arts and crafts for the benefit of the craftsmen and public of Paris. The collection consists mainly of sets of slides, copies of which are available for loan.

Rather than developing its stock as a status symbol, the library at Falmouth School of Art aims to contribute actively to students’ continuing education by supporting and stimulating the whole spectrum of their activities, and by teaching the value of the printed word and ‘how to look things up’.

A new course in Art and Design in Social Contexts, offered by Dartington College of Arts, is founded on the premise that the creative process is the right of everyone, and that this process is important in its own right and need not be justified by the end product. The multi-media course will relate the art and design area to social situations, such as industry and schools, and to the performing arts. The demands of the course will require students to be able to make full use of a wide-ranging library and of inter-library facilities. The library’s attempts to acquire relevant material have been made difficult by the ‘alternative’ nature of the literature, and by deficiencies in its bibliographical control and in the literature itself.

Picture libraries exist in many shapes and sizes, within the broad categories of public collections, private and usually specialised collections, and photoagencies. Users of picture libraries range from students to professional picture researchers, though even the latter may need guidance. The picture librarian combines the roles of collectors and custodian while also making the collection available for use. The Mary Evans Picture Library, which comprises some two million prints mounted and filed under subject headings, provides ‘visual documentation of the past’ up to the late 1920s, with an emphasis on social conditions. Cross-references and photographic duplicates (retained for permanent reference) are interfiled with the prints, most of which are available for loan and any of which may be copied. The organisation of the library corresponds to its users’ needs rather than to a rigid system.

History of Design is a very new discipline and there are many problems associated with defining the boundaries of the subject and developing the appropriate methodologies for research and teaching purposes. One of the major problems facing historians of design, and students, is the location and availability of source material, and it is in order to help librarians help those faced with this problem that this composite article has been written. The contributors are all members of the recently formed Design History Research Group.

Mackintosh was for long neglected in Britain, in spite of the efforts of some architectural writers to draw attention to his achievement. Thomas Haworth and the Glasgow School of Art did much to document and preserve his work; following the appearance of Howarth’s monograph in 1952, and an exhibition in 1953, interest in Mackintosh began to revive. Further exhibitions and publications, and reproductions of his furniture, contributed to the continuing growth of Mackintosh’s reputation, but many of the architect’s buildings remained under threat and a Society was formed to campaign for their preservation and to foster interest in his work. Recent years have seen additional publications, with more in prospect, and including the Mackintosh Society’s regular Newsletter, together with some television productions.

Growing from modest beginnings in 1898, the collection was reorganised after the Second World War and now totals more than half a million slides. These are listed in a catalogue on site and in printed catalogues and lists which are available to libraries and individuals; slides are retrieved by accession number from electrically-operated storage units. Slides may be borrowed free of charge, in person or by post, by any resident of the United Kingdom.

Access to original works of art is a human right which cannot be adequately provided for by art galleries. Loan collections of original works of art should be thought of as a logical extension of the lending, by libraries, of books and media. In Sweden over sixty libraries include collections of this kind. (A translation of an article which first appeared in Biblioteksbladet 1976, volume 61 no.4 pp. 56-60).