Art bibliographies published in the USA and the UK are notable for their quantity and diversity, for the breadth of their overall scope, and for their aim to document art of the whole world. However, their selection of material tends to favour both publications from their own countries, and art which, along with associated publications, benefits from commercial promotion; their approach to art and art scholarship in socialist countries is biased and inadequate. (Originally published in Russian, in Bibliotekovedenie i Bibliografia za Rubezhom no. 109, 1986, p.41-48).