Needlework with a political theme is an example of the kind of art ‘outside the mainstream’ which tends to be documented inadequately or not at all. Information is likely to be unpublished, ephemeral, or not indexed. In supposedly free societies, this can be the result of a cultural conspiracy which allows, while ‘ignoring, condemning, or belittling’, the creative activities of women and of racial, ethnic, or class minorities. Librarians should ensure that library collections do not merely reflect the ‘mainstream’, in spite of the problems of collecting non-mainstream material and of making it accessible. In addition, librarians should be prepared to argue the case for acquiring such material, and should be active in promoting it. Librarians are in a unique position to help redefine art and culture.

In addition to merely substituting for ‘original’ images and artefacts, reproductions and photographs constitute evidence of the history of, and of attitudes towards, works of art, and of the technical means of documenting their appearance. However, the visual document may have intrinsic value and aesthetic worth, giving it a life, a power of influence, and a depth of association, entirely its own.

The ideal of a single, national art library is no more practicable than that of a single national library. The alternative is to regard all of a nation’s art libraries as comprising the national art library, taking advantage of their diversity and of their provision of a range of access points and policies. This requires effective co-ordination, preferably combining maximum co-operation with a minimum of centralisation, and including the rotation of specific responsibilities among participating libraries. An example of such a confederation of art libraries is represented by the network of art libraries within the Research Libraries Group (RLG) in the USA. A new RLG plan for achieving efficient co-operative cataloguing of exhibition catalogues demonstrates how a confederation of libraries can work together to act as a national art library, more effectively than would be possible for a single ‘monolithic’ library.

By the late 1970’s many of the full members of the Research Libraries Group (RLG) were academic institutions with major art libraries. The possibilities of special membership afforded museum libraries the opportunity to contribute to the database as well. In 1979 the Art and Architecture Program Committee of RLG was formed and charged with advising the president of RLG on special requirements of art and architecture and the information needs of scholars and professionals in the field. Through its accomplishments in supporting cooperation among art librarians and launching art documentation projects the AAPC serves as an interesting model for art librarians networking on a national and international basis.

The National Museum of Women in the Arts was established in Washington in 1981 to make known the achievements of women in the visual arts. Its Library and Research Center plays a central part in the Museum’s essentially educative role, providing information on art by women primarily by means of one of the largest specialised collections of materials on women’s art. This includes extensive archival files and a number of special collections. Ongoing projects include the compilation of a database on women artists, an inventory of works of art by women in private and public collections, and an index to women artists documented in group exhibition catalogues. The activities of the Library and Research Center demonstrate how this and other art libraries can counteract the neglect of women in the arts.

Picture libraries have been developed to serve a wide range of public and private enthusiasms and needs. Collections of several kinds have evolved to serve different archival, commercial, teaching and private functions. Recent developments include advances in conservation and exploitation, the publication of directories, and the formation of associations of picture libraries. Technological advance may help provide opportunities for greater cooperation and more effective use of existing resources.

The Smithsonian Institution, a public organisation established in 1846 “for the increase and diffusion of knowledge”, includes ten museums and several research bureaux. Most but not all of the associated libraries are linked through the Smithsonian Institution Libraries; they include several art libraries which contribute significantly to the overall provision of art library service to the American people but do not of themselves constitute a “national art library”. Most of the Smithsonian’s libraries enter their records in a database (SIBIS) which is accessible online via OCLC. Co-ordinated collection development has been pursued since 1984. In two areas in particular, American and African art, Smithsonian libraries aim to provide a national service.

Visual materials can fulfill many purposes and enhance many disciplines. Their potential is illustrated by the way in which visual resource collections in colleges can be organised and extended to serve the college as a whole.

An expansion project to serve disciplines other than art history must begin with an assessment of the existing collection and of pockets of materials that exist elsewhere on campus. Thorough knowledge of the availability of materials, coupled with an understanding of what areas can be enhanced by the use of visual materials, can enable the visual resources librarian to devise plans and to budget for broader collection development. Ease of access should be the guiding principle in the integration of new materials in the collection. Promoting use can be accomplished by publicizing new holdings and by conducting information literacy presentations. Good record-keeping, and the response of teaching staff in the college, are the two most important factors in evaluating the success of a new program.

During the last fifteen years, Japanese museums and institutions, which previously kept art historical information very much to themselves, have begun to take steps to make information and research materials more accessible. In several cases, museums have founded their own research and information centres. At the same time, the use of computers has been introduced in the humanities, and the potential of the computer as a means of organising, exchanging, and providing access to art historical and bibliographical data is being explored. These “new trends” are being spearheaded by art historians and museums; art librarians are now contributing to the dialogue, and although the concept of the “art library” remains relatively undeveloped in Japan, the time is ripe for art librarianship to flourish.

Since their appearance in the early 20th century, catalogues prepared for exhibitions of African art have undergone a gradual transformation. Beginning as mere checklists many of these publications have, in the 1970s and 80s, evolved into major scholarly works whose significance transcends their original purpose as guides to the exhibitions. Changes occurring over the years are traced through examination of the form and content of representative catalogues and by review of the reception by art historians of many of these works into the corpus of literature of African art. The growing importance of exhibition catalogues as important art historical documents is also demonstrated by a chronological analysis of bibliographic citations in the major scholarly journal of African art in the United States. Finally, scrutiny of sources and annotations included in an important bibliographic guide to the literature of African art indicates how firmly established the exhibition catalogue has become as one of the most important publication forms for the dissemination of scholarly writing on African art.

[This paper won the ARLIS/NA Gerd Muehsam Award for 1986. We hope to publish a sequel in a future issue, on exhibitions of African art in Africa and the development of catalogues written by Africans. Editor].

In response, to initiatives from the Association of Art Historians and from ARLIS/UK & Eire, the British Library Working Party on the Provision of Materials for the Study of Art was established. Its Report (1983) proposed the setting-up of a permanent consultative body. This body, the Standing Committee on Art Documentation (SCOAD), was set up in 1985, to survey, and consider the co-ordination of, the provision of art library collections and services in the United Kingdom and in particular, by the British Library, the National Art Library, and other specialist libraries with notable contributions to make to a national service.

Work is proceeding on the compilation of a database on Mexican art, comprising references to bibliographic and visual resources, and artist’s biographies, and representing the history of art in Mexico from the beginnings of Prehispanic civilisation to the present day. UNESCO’s Common Communication Format (CCF) has been adopted, as also has CDS/ISIS software. A thesaurus is in the process of being developed; terms are being drawn in many cases from existing indexes and other sources. MEXICOARTE has been initiated by the Art Section of the Mexican Library Association (AMBAC) in association with the National University (the host institution) and the Nation Institute of Fine Arts.

Fashion has been categorized as a global means of non-verbal communication, television has been classified as the medium with a global communications message, and videotapes are becoming a primary documentary format for both. The International Fashion Video Library (IFVL), located in Los Angeles and a division of the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) Museum and Library Foundation, is the world’s only fashion video library open to students, educators, scholars, industry, and the general public. Its purpose is to collect, organize, and preserve archival, contemporary, and futuristic videotapes which document the various facets of the fashion industry.

The Israel Museum Library at Jerusalem is Israel’s largest art library; it maintains the Archive of Israeli Art and an index of periodicals and it serves a national audience. It is complemented by other museum, university, and college libraries, and by the public library network.

Third Text, subtitled “Third World perspectives on contemporary art and culture”, is a new journal which has been launched to fill a gap in the literature of contemporary art. It aims to promote wider discussion and a deeper understanding of the work of Third World and black artists than can be provided from an exclusively Eurocentric or “Western” viewpoint. Its scope and purpose, as demonstrated by the contents of early issues, is explained by Guy Brett, writing on behalf of the editors and at the invitation of the Art Libraries Journal; readers must judge its success for themselves.