Only larger public libraries in the United States have distinct art departments; in a majority of these, visual art is combined with other arts subjects such as music and performing arts. Scope is broad, covering all aspects of art and reflecting the limitless interests of users and their need for both access to and the loan of material, and for information in answer to queries. Invariably, indexes and files are maintained to document local art. Responsibilities of the art librarian include encouraging users of the art department to be aware of complementary material in other departments, and ensuring that the art department serves the needs and abilities of a wide range of users. In recent years automation has contributed to the development of networking and cooperation; online searching is generally available within larger libraries but more usually through another department or section rather than as an integral element in the art department’s services. The automation of files of local art information has scarcely begun.

The situation for libraries in France, particularly art libraries, is complex. Administrative structures differ from those of other countries and from one another, but the existence of networks provides a means of linking different libraries and systems and of sharing and exploiting their common resources. Art education is currently a government priority; libraries of schools of art (including that of the Ecole du Louvre) are among the art libraries which fall within the sphere of the Ministry of Culture and Communication. The training of French museum personnel is now the responsibility of the new École du Patrimoine attached to the Ecole du Louvre and served by its library and a related documentation centre. Co-operation among art libraries is demonstrated by their participation in union catalogues and computer networks: the Ministry of Culture and Communication has adopted the LIBRA system, developed for public libraries, and some art libraries within the Ministry’s jurisdiction have recently joined the network. Their peculiarities have necessitated some adaptions of the system. Still more national co-operation is essential: the professional associations, including the Art Subsection of the Association des Bibliothécaires Français, advocate it; the technology is available. Now is the time for French art librarians to seize the opportunity of joining together to serve an eager public - ‘tous les publics’ - more effectively than ever before.

Researchers in other disciplines use art resources. Interviews with a variety of researchers in the fields of medicine, literature, history, psychotherapy, and archaeology provide some insights into when, why, and how scholars turn to the study of art. Through informal discussions about their research experiences, these researchers reveal their ways of thinking and pursuing research, the relationship of their own disciplines to art and the frustrations and rewards of pursuing inter- or multi-disciplinary research.

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.

In industrial societies even the poorest people acquire artefacts to embellish their surroundings; such ‘bric-à-brac’ may in some cases be the detritus of a previous age or a more affluent environment, and in some cases is destined to become ‘collectable’ in time to come. Thus, bric-à-brac is of interest to those concerned with popular art and material culture (presumably it will be of interest to archaeologists in the future), and to professional designers, as well as to collectors and dealers and people of all kinds. Expertise resides in people themselves, notably collectors, but is also shared through a range of journals and other publications, some of which are elusive or ephemeral, and which may not be provided, or preserved, in libraries. Price guides comprise an important source of information, as do reference books which are often mines of detailed information. More scholarly works which would readily find a place in the art library are less common, but libraries should think carefully before rejecting the ‘literature of the flea-market’, for which there may be popular demand and without which serious study will be handicapped.

‘The People’s Art’ is a project, originally titled ‘Visual Arts and the Working Class’ and funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, which aims to locate and document visual art produced by working class people in Britain since 1750 and especially from 1870 to the present. A lot of material, including work from the home and the workplace, ranging from paintings and photography to decorative and domestic arts of all kinds, has been located in museums (often in storerooms) and in private collections. An exhibition and an illustrated publication are planned. ‘The People’s Art’ demonstrates that the making of art can have a role in people’s lives which is too often overlooked, neglected, or denied, and which is not adequately represented in publications, exhibitions, museums, or libraries.