Nearly every exhibition catalogue now contains an interview with, or related statement by, the artist. How and why did this become the norm? The increasing popularity of the artist’s words is traced back in this article to its roots in Romanticism, the rise of the mass media and the cult of the avant-garde artist. The value and reliability of the transcribed and printed words is questioned and a bibliography of published interviews with artists follows.

Copyright, if used effectively, managed well and respected in business arrangements, encourages and enhances access to content in the Internet environment. But with the advent of new technologies and the emergence of a knowledge-based society, new ways of thinking are required in order to ensure that the Internet remains a ‘place’ where information can flow with few if any restrictions. Using the modern museum as example, this paper analyzes two types of intellectual property – databases and photographs – to determine whether copyright protection reduces or enhances access. It also touches briefly on some new management models which meet the needs of the users as well as the authors of copyright materials, while still fulfilling the key financial objectives of the organizations that host or provide content.

This paper summarizes a subset of the findings of a study of digital image distribution which focused on the Museum Educational Site Licensing Project (MESL) - the first large-scale multi-institutional project to explore digital delivery of art images and accompanying text/metadata from disparate sources. This Mellon Foundation sponsored study evaluated the costs, infrastructure, and efforts involved in implementing the MESL project, as well as user reaction to functionality. The study also examined costs of running analog slide libraries and compared these to costs and functionality associated with digital image distribution.

The project of creating a catalogue of Nordic collections holding artists’ books, initiated at ARLIS/Norden’s annual meeting in Helsinki in May 1996, was the starting point for a survey of the material held in Icelandic art libraries. This focused on the type and size of the collections of artists’ books in four art institutions covering twentieth century art in Iceland, and examined the current documentation standards applied to artists’ books in Icelandic collections and the extent of national bibliographic control.

Since its establishment in 1934 Silpakorn University has been recognized as the oldest, and one of the best, institutes of art and design education in Thailand. The University Library is believed to contain the foremost collection on art and art education in the country even though, in the past, its capacity to serve the public was constrained by inadequate bookstock and limited physical space. In order to expand its ability to serve the public and to enhance the development of art education in the country, a research project entitled ‘Electronic Resources on Art in Thailand (ERA)’ was launched in 1998, with the objective of creating an online source of information which would be useful both to the public and to professional artists and designers.

Librarians in Northern Ireland are very aware of the need to preserve the visual and written record of the recent troubles as they unfold. Much of this record is ephemeral and difficult to document and preserve. Librarians in Northern Ireland are working to ensure that the account of the visual arts in a time of political and social upheaval is available in the future to the community which created them and to researchers who wish to study them.

The UK’s largest decorative arts museum is re-displaying its British art and design galleries. Information sharing is proving to be an indispensable way of working for the project teams, focused as they are on tight deadlines. Communication between many different parties is vital to the success of the project. Emphasis on electronically stored and transmitted data has given rise to new ways of working. It has also transformed the possibilities of communicating not only within the project and Museum but with visitors both to the Museum site and to its developing online resources. In the future it will also provide for those who will look to these records as a source for the history of the project.

According to a survey by Esther Bierbaum, museum libraries have poor status within their parent institutions, where they are often isolated entities. Yet current electronic developments as part of the information service model are resulting in a repositioning of such libraries within the organisational structure, as well as making them the best locations for museum information centres. Museum librarians are natural guardians of knowledge, and need to focus on supporting the development of information about the museum collections and taking on a leading role as information strategists.

México ha jugado un papel importante en las artes plásticas y en la arquitectura desde la época prehispánica, y ha contribuido no solamente a difundir la cultura mexicana sino que ha enriquecido la cultura universal. No obstante estas disciplinas no están bien representadas en índices y resúmenes; probablemente esta situación se deba a la falta de continuidad de los títulos de publicaciones periódicas más relevantes, o por el uso del idioma español, o quizás por recursos financieros limitados. A pesar de que la situación no es óptima, los creadores de bases de datos sobre artes plásticas y arquitectura de México, estamos convencidos de la riqueza cultural de nuestro país y nos sentimos comprometidos a difundirla a pesar de las dificultades que ello representa.

A l’occasion d’une recherche documentaire en vue d’une exposition, la Documentation du MNAM-CCI a mené une expérience de numérisation sur l’un de ses 30 000 dossiers d’artistes, celui du groupe Supports-Surfaces. Le principe de navigation retenu permet, sans aucune difficulté, d’accéder à l’ensemble des ressources du dossier réparties en quatre sections. La recherche de l’utilisateur se trouve facilitée par une base de données donnant les références des documents numérisés, affichables à tout moment.

Arthouse, the multimedia centre for the arts, is one of the most eye-catching buildings in Dublin’s Temple Bar area. A cultural centre using the latest in communications technology and software, it is the home of the Bureau of Arts Information which among other things has developed Artifact, a visual database of contemporary artists throughout Ireland. This will be available on-line this year. The centre also holds regular exhibitions and multimedia events, and is contributing to making the work of Irish artists better known at home and abroad.

Mexico has played an important role in art and architecture since the prehispanic period, and has contributed not only to the spread of Mexican culture but also to the enrichment of the art world in general. But Mexican art and architecture have been poorly covered by indexes and abstracts, possibly because many of the relevant periodicals have been short-lived, or because of the use of the Spanish language, or due to intermittent financial resources. Nevertheless creators of bibliographical tools such as databases in Mexico are convinced of their country’s cultural richness, and are committed to spreading information in this subject area, whatever difficulties may be encountered.

Ireland’s visual arts have always been overshadowed by the prominence of her verbal and literary culture. Over the last decade permanent, tangible developments have occurred within the visual arts. General prosperity has led to increases in arts funding and more disposable income means more people buy art and attend musical and theatrical peformances. Government arts policy is gradually becoming attuned to the needs of the sector. The establishment of a number of important museums and libraries is discussed in the context of Ireland’s booming ‘Celtic Tiger’ economy.

The importance of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in the development of artistic projects and art institutions in Portugal should be seen in the context of the evolution of the political and cultural scene in this country during the 20th century. The Foundation houses two major art museums and, by developing art information resources, has helped fill cultural gaps at times when official support has been scarce. It has also played a key role in coping with the growing cultural demand of the last few decades, both in terms of art activities and art information. The Art Library and the Gulbenkian Museum are placing special emphasis on the need to integrate library and museum information resources, taking advantage of current technologies, in order to improve the services offered to users. Strategies envisaged by the Art Library demonstrate how this convergence can enhance the value of the different kinds of art resources each holds.

Research in preparation for an exhibition provided the opportunity for the Documentation Centre of the Musée Nationale d’Art Moderne-Centre de Création Industrielle to carry out an experiment to digitise one of its 30,000 artists’ files, on the group Supports-Surfaces. The navigation principle adopted allows easy access to the file’s contents, which have been divided into four documentation types. A database giving references to the digitised documents facilitates user research.