Although it began as the personal library of one of the most influential art historians and connoisseurs of the last century, the Biblioteca Berenson now has a broad interdisciplinary scope that goes far beyond art and art history. As the library of Harvard University’s Center for Italian Renaissance Studies since the 1960s, it has become a major resource for research into all aspects of the society, culture and thought of Italy between about 1200 and 1650. Nonetheless the Berenson Library offers rich and often unique resources for art historical research, both on the Renaissance and on the 20th century.

The Frick Art Reference Library, founded in 1920 as a research library accessible to the public, grew steadily in holdings and reputation throughout the 20th century. Its special text and image resources now make it ideal for a new era. Projects are underway to transform the Photoarchive into a digital surrogate. Among the aims of the Library’s newly established Center for the History of Collecting in America, as it responds to the changing needs of researchers, is to incorporate new areas for discussion, dialogue and workshops. As a participant in the planning stage of the New York Art Resources Consortium (NYARC), a recently conceived collaborative, the Frick will focus on shared access and delivery, reducing duplication, and further expanding research capabilities for a broader, ever-evolving community of users.

On May 16th 2007 the British Library Centre for Conservation (BLCC) was opened, providing Conservation staff and Sound Archive Technical Services staff with a new purpose-built base from which to operate. The new building allowed them to be brought together onto the same site as their colleagues and co-located them with the collections for the first time. A BLCC-based programme of professional development events, special interest group events and public tours is providing Collection Care, Conservation, and the Sound Archive Technical Section with a public profile and a voice for communicating key messages about the Library’s stewardship of its collections and about caring for collections generally. The Centre, already a milestone in the history of collection care at the Library, is continuing an existing and ambitious change programme, giving the perfect opportunity to examine all aspects of operations and make changes of benefit to the Library and its staff.

The Barnes Foundation is an educational institution located near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Foundation’s world-renowned art collection and its twelve-acre arboretum serve its mission to promote the advancement of education and the appreciation of fine arts and horticulture, through classes and workshops held in the Gallery and the Arboretum. The staff of the Foundation’s long-neglected archives and library is in the process of organizing and cataloguing its collections, and has recently completed a major grant-funded project to create finding aids for several of them.

Mr James Christie (1730-1803) became London’s premier auctioneer in the 1760s and he was still at the top of his profession at his death in 1803. This brief history of the man and his auction house outlines his early career in Covent Garden, the setting up of his own auction rooms during the 1760s and some of his early successes. He came to rely less on the three D’s: Death, Divorce and Debt (still the primary reason for selling at auction in the 21st century) for the source of goods, and also moved away from run-of-the-mill anonymous household furniture sales. Christie encouraged a new breed of seller – the lords and ladies of the land together with princes and royals – and the article highlights a few of the varied characters who entrusted James Christie with the sale of their property.

The Ontario College of Art & Design is a university that provides undergraduate education to a markedly diverse student body. Although the Dorothy H. Hoover Library offers proactive information literacy programming targeting academic research needs, only peripheral support was traditionally given to studio practice. To rectify this gap the reference librarians, in dialogue with selected design and art faculty, endorsed a Library exhibition program using the Library as both case study and exhibition site. An analysis of several works featured in a recent exhibition demonstrates how art can establish an eloquent dialogue with a visually-oriented learning community and lead to the examination of key philosophical and ethical issues in librarianship.