The Russian State Arts Library, formerly the library of the Malyi Theatre and then the Russian State Theatre Library, is used by a variety of artists and designers who may be given considerable help by the Library staff especially when undertaking historical research, for instance, for set or costume designs for the theatre. The Library also arranges exhibitions of the work of artists and designers.

A survey of holdings of non-Western art in British, and some North American, art libraries has by and large confirmed that it is poorly represented, and that contemporary non-Western art is especially neglected. Libraries’ freedom to acquire material in this broad area may be restricted or defined by curricula, the interests of clients, and the availability of material, yet libraries which allow themselves to be thus constrained present a distorted and impoverished view of world art. Library classification schemes tend to favour Western art, with non-Western art sometimes being relegated to ‘crafts’ or ‘anthropology’, while subject descriptors sometimes employ inappropriate terminology.

The Fine Art Department at Technikon Natal is supported by the Library’s art section, and by the Technikon art gallery. Within the library, the art collection, which is the responsibility of a subject librarian, is an integral part of a multi-disciplinary resource. The scope of the collection is broad, but special efforts are being made to collect documentation of South African art.

Emerging from an epoch of severe constraint, Russian libraries needed to experience freedom and independence before entering voluntarily into cooperative arrangements. Art libraries in Moscow, and also in St Petersburg, are now working together; in Moscow, informal cooperation preceded the foundation, by five institutions, of ARLIS/MOS in 1993, and the association has embarked on a programme of activities. (The text of a paper presented to the ARLIS/UK & Ireland Annual Conference in London, April 1994).

The South African National Gallery (SANG) Library has been making its resources available to school teachers since 1992. Now a new outreach project, which has been in a planning stage for some months, has been started with the loan of material to libraries situated at some distance from the centre of Cape Town.

The library and archive at the Institute of International Visual Arts (inIVA) in London aims to redress the existing lack of resources in the UK relating to contemporary visual arts and artists from a plurality of cultures and cultural backgrounds. Opened in June 1995, the library hopes to become a centre for study, exchange, and promotion of artists working in the UK and abroad. The library will be fully automated by the end of 1995 and hopefully the catalogue will be accessible remotely on the Internet by 1996.

Use made of the graphic arts collections of the Russian State Library demonstrates the value of art libraries, and especially of collections of graphic arts and of pictorial materials, to artists. Among the artists who are most likely to benefit are illustrators and graphic designers, who are themselves engaged in the production of publications, and film makers. Conservators of buildings and of works of art also use art libraries. Libraries such as the Russian State Library can promote their collections by mounting exhibitions.

Present day Slovenia has inherited a number of historic libraries and collections, one of which provided the foundations of the National and University Library at Ljubljana, the major library for arts and humanities. There are also a number of specialised art libraries within and outside the University of Ljubljana, including the library of the University’s Department of Art History, the Library of the Academy of Fine Arts, and the libraries of the National Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Museum of Architecture, all in Ljubljana. Slovenian libraries have been or are being automated and linked together through the COBISS network; most of the academic libraries are connected to the Internet. Library training programmes are available at degree level, and students can study another subject, such as art history, as well. More art librarians are needed, as is an association of art libraries and art librarians.

Increasingly, video is the medium of choice for learning about art, because it is immediate and revealing. However, not all art libraries include artists’ documentary videos in their collections. For libraries, video presents problems of changing formats, fugitive qualities, lack of reviews, and insufficient information regarding their existence and their availability. Videos frequently accompany exhibitions on contemporary artists. What happens to this documentation when the exhibit closes? What resources besides the Getty’s Art on Film Database keep track of these independently produced videos? How can art libraries work together in a co-ordinated effort to acquire, catalog, and preserve documentary video work on artists?

Specialised art libraries emerged in Romania during the 19th century. Today, all of Romania’s art libraries are facing similar problems, the result of years of isolation from the international community and from one another, compounded by an absence (until recently) of education for librarianship, and by a continuing lack of money and adequate accomodation. In addition, different kinds of art library are confronted by problems specific to their functions. However, the renewal of contact with the wider world is bringing many benefits; work has started on a common automated system, initially involving a handful of art libraries; and three art libraries are trying to establish a Romanian art libraries society. (The text of a paper presented to the Annual Conference of ARLIS/NA at San Francisco, January 28th — February 3rd 1993. Please note that this report dates from over two years ago. We eagerly await further news.)

The South African Museum (cultural history) opened in 1966 as part of the South African Museum; in 1969 it began an independent existence as the South African Cultural History Museum, with a mission to enable the ‘entire community… to enjoy and to learn about our Cape and international heritage’. The library dates back to the opening of the museum, and now comprises some 12,000 books, 900 pamphlets, and 190 current journals on art related topics. Although the library exists primarily to serve the museum staff, it is open to the public and is well used by students.

The Library of the present-day Vilnius Academy of Arts was founded at the beginning of the 1920s to serve the newly created Faculty of Arts of Vilnius University. The Faculty became the autonomous Vilnius Academy of Arts in 1941. During the years when Lithuania was part of the USSR, the Library acquired Russian art books but was unable to purchase art books from other countries, and access to some material was strictly limited. Since Lithuania became independent in 1991, political restrictions have been removed but funds, and space, are lacking.