The Delft University of Technology Library, the oldest technical library in the Netherlands, is the national focal point for collecting literature on the applied sciences and technology. A major part of this collection covers applied and visual arts, with works from the sixteenth and seventeenth century based on Vitruvius, others by Palladio, Serlio or Dutch architects like Hendrik de Keyser, and contextual material on architecture and the fine arts. The Treasury aims to be both a nationally and an internationally known collection of technological literature.

A recent project at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation has highlighted the importance of the library of private books built up by its founder. Tasks involved the identification of the items, preservation and conservation activities and bibliographic control of the collection. The most visible result is a website that provides virtual access, as well as a deeper insight, into Calouste Gulbenkian’s personal book collection. The information in the library’s catalogue has been re-organised in order to make it accessible to a wide audience with differing needs and interests.

For much of his life the Rumanian-born artist Arthur Segal championed the cause of picture lending for the benefit of the public and as a means of helping artists to earn a living. In Germany in the mid-1920s, Segal put forward his plans for lending institutions for works of art, akin to lending libraries for books. Widespread support was not forthcoming, and an experimental scheme organised by an artists’ association in Berlin ceased in 1927. Segal could give only qualified support to an alternative concept of hire purchase. Arthur Segal settled in England in 1936; some years after his death, his ideas contributed to the devising of an art loan scheme, launched by the London Borough of Holborn public library, which featured the work of local artists. Segal deserves to be remembered; his life and achievements have been celebrated by exhibitions in Berlin and Cologne, and the following article has been translated into English so that his ideas and endeavours can be more widely appreciated.

The Reference Library of the Chinese Academy of Arts (RLCAA) has identified the maintenance and development of its rich collections as its primary objective, which it pursues not merely by acquiring published materials but also, for example, by making recordings of musical and dramatic performances. But also, the RLCAA is committed to promoting and facilitating the use of its collections, and is consciously moving away from a passive custodial role to the active provision of services to users. In order to serve their users better, libraries must end their isolation and join together in networks; a new building at the Chinese Academy of Arts is to become the national centre for art information and library services, and this development also challenges the Academy to co-ordinate its several resource centres more effectively. Staff at the RLCAA have already created an art thesaurus, and are currently working on a bibliography of Chinese artists which it is hoped will be the first of several online databases covering different branches of the arts in China.

The Japan Art Documentation Society (JADS) was founded in April. Inspired by developments both within Japan and abroad, and by the IFLA Section of Art Libraries, JADS has set out to embrace the common interests of library and museum professionals as represented by an integrated concept of “art documentation”. Essentially, the Society represents a collective response to the challenge and potential of the computer - to the benefits it can bring to, and the methodologies it requires of, the organising of art objects, art images, and art information. (The Society’s “prospectus”, from its first Newsletter, is appended).

A six-month project undertaken by the University College Dublin School of Architecture has investigated the possibilities of putting a collection of images, transferred from slides, on to videodisc accessed through a computer. The project grew out of an earlier project to computerize the catalogue of the Slide Library of the Architecture and Planning Library. Drawbacks include loss of image quality and the impossibility of adding to the disc once pressed. Changing technology may provide answers to some of these problems, enabling the benefits confirmed by the project’s successful completion to be exploited further.

Since the 1960s AICA, the Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art, has been increasingly concerned with the primary resources on which research depends. In particular, access to archival material was felt to be necessary in order to counter a dominant, highly selective, ‘modernist’ interpretation of 20th century art, with a more objective, comprehensive, and thoroughly researched history of the period covering all countries. The AICARC-Bulletin, founded in 1974, is devoted to primary sources, archives and documentation centres, archival techniques, and the ‘documentary’ approach to art, in relation to the art of this century.

Arlis was established as a result of this letter which Trevor Fawcett, then Sub-Librarian at the University of East Anglia, published in the Library Association Record, March 1968. (Reproduced here with permission.)

The documentation problems faced by museums, and the organisations established to assist in tackling them are described along with an assessment of present progress at individual museum, and national and international co-ordination levels. The role which computers may play in this field is examined. However, systems analysis is the first priority, and automation is only one solution, and not appropriate in all cases.

Picture lending in Norwegian public libraries has recently been revitalised by the creation of the Artoteksentralen, initially a pilot project and now a permanent foundation, which circulates collections of original prints by Norwegian artists to public libraries, hospitals, and prisons. (An updated version of an article originally published in Scandinavian Public Library Quarterly v. 18 n.4 1985).

Is the development of UK digital visual arts initiatives driven by professional ideology more than user need? Is the vast treasure trove of images and metadata being produced still difficult to identify and locate? A brief overview of a selected range of recent key initiatives finds a mixed picture. Content is still mainly accessible to users with an informed expectation of its existence, and the full potential of the internet has not been fully absorbed by the providers. However, there are optimistic signs of improving visibility and access.

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.

ARTstor (http://www.artstor.org) is a digital library consisting of images in the areas of art, architecture, the humanities and social sciences, along with a set of tools to support use of those images in research and pedagogy. Originally conceived as a project of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in 2001, ARTstor became an independent not-for-profit organization in January 2004 and launched the digital library in July of that year. ARTstor works closely with both providers and users of content from educational and cultural institutions around the world in creating a resource that meets the needs of the scholarly, educational and cultural communities. At present, the ARTstor Digital Library contains over 420,000 digital images and descriptive data; software to enable active use of the images in the digital library; and tools that allow users to access and use personal and/or institutional images along with ARTstor content for scholarship and teaching.

In recent years many museums and art galleries in Europe have remodelled their libraries, often funding the physical changes by means of sponsorship, while at the same time re-thinking access and the services to be provided. This article analyses some current examples in Paris, London and the Netherlands and describes a range of different approaches. But it finds most successful the British Museum’s Paul Hamlyn Library, housed in the famous circular Reading Room and open to all visitors: these will discover, that, alongside modern databases, the Library has kept its traditional links with the book.

Artists’ books have been exhibited several times in the Netherlands since the late 1970s, notably at the Van Reekummuseum at Apeldoorn. They can be purchased from Galerie A in Amsterdam, and collections can be found in several Dutch museums including the Stedelijk Museum, the Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, and the Groninger Museum, although problems associated with storage and conservation tend to inhibit access.

Les bibliothèques des musées français possèdent un patrimoine considérable, divers, original qui doit sa spécificité à l’expertise de leurs conservateurs. Ils ont le souci constant de rassembler une documentation de haut niveau afin de mener leurs recherches. Ces trésors, et cette documentation, acquis sur des fonds publics, devraient-ils être mis à la disposition d’un plus large public, comme nous en avons de nombreux exemples en Europe, en Amérique du Nord? Malgré quelques réussites exemplaires, la plupart des bibliothèques et centres de documentation des musées français n’ont pas les équipements et le personnel nécessaires à cette mission plus large. Cet article suggère quelques pistes qui pourront leur permettre d’affirmer leur place essentielle dans le réseau des bibliothèques d’art, tout en restant des bibliothèques de recherche.

Some reflections on the life and home of S.C. Hall, founder of the Art Journal, his wife Anna Maria, and their literary explorations of the Thames.

Les Archives de la critique d’art sont une bibliothèque et un centre de recherche spécialisés en art contemporain et en critique et théorie de l’art. Elles se sont donné pour but de réunir les documents et les publications de tous ceux qui écrivent sur l’art contemporain.

Unique en son genre, cette institution créée en 1989 a une envergure internationale aussi bien par son fonds (écrits et archives) que par ses actions: développement de bases de données et d’un site Internet, organisation de conférences et de colloques. Son originalité consiste dans l’implication des critiques d’art dans son fonctionnement même. Par l’apport de leurs documents, écrits et/ou documentation personnelle, les critiques constituent la majeure partie des collections de la bibliothèque.