A survey of current Dutch periodicals, devoted to the visual arts (including architecture) or of related interest. A noteworthy feature of art literature in the Netherlands is the contribution made to it by student journals. The quantity and variety of Dutch art periodicals has increased in recent years, enriching art literature but posing problems regarding its bibliographical control.

The All-Union State Library of Foreign Literature has extensive holdings of art literature which are used far more than any other material. Access is via alphabetic and subject catalogues. Journal articles are also indexed, and data is forwarded to the V. I. Lenin State Library and included in its bibliographic and current awareness publications in the field of art.

Artotheks, collections of works of art whose sole purpose is to be lent to the public, have existed in Norway since 1958/60. 7-8% of Norwegian public libraries developed rather small scale artothek-collections during the 60’s and early 70’s. After a period of decline and stagnation the activity was revitalized in 1983, through a pilot project based on the central organisation of acquisition, distribution, and circulation of original prints to six public libraries and hospital libraries, relieving them of all tasks except the actual lending routines. The culmination of this pilot project was the foundation of the Artothek Centre (Stiftelsen Artoteksentralen) in 1986. The Artothek Centre circulates small collections of prints to libraries throughout the country on a subscription basis, and has so far been a success. The prints are lent to the public free of charge.

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 Rijkmuseum Meermanno-Westreenianum at The Hague has as its core the former private collection, rich in manuscripts and incunabula, of Willem van Westreenen, who was able to acquire material from the earlier collections of Gerard and Johan Meerman. Maintained as a static collection, seldom open to the public, for more than a century, the Museum has since 1960 developed into a vital centre for fine printing, now including examples of modern typography alongside its older treasures.

‘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.

The inter-relationship between art librarians and artists/designers in the public library sector in America has been a reality since the early 20th century when libraries were organized into subject departments. This specialized clientele is eclectic and ranges from novices to the most accomplished artists and includes architects, art directors, illustrators, calligraphers, craftspeople and photographers in addition to painters, sculptors and graphic artists. Materials and services in public art libraries are highly diversified and the literature of other disciplines is also readily available. The increase in art exhibitions and special collections is noted in addition to a new focus on information for career opportunities, art law and the handicapped. Current developments set the stage for the continuing symbiotic relationship between public art librarians and artists/designers into the 21st century.

Despite apparent reluctance amongst academic art libraries, the nature of art and of education justify an extension of their activities into the local community. Publication and the loan of work produced by the academy are two of many suitable techniques, but availability of a qualified subject specialist librarian is seen as crucial. Predicted increases in free time will lead to an increase in the study and practice of art. The academic art library should now aim to become a community art focus.

The library of the 19th century caricaturist Alexander Ver Huell, many of its volumes annotated and embellished by their former owner, was bequeathed by him to the town of Arnhem and is now incorporated in Arnhem Public Library. Its contents reflect his interests and values – values which, not least a belief in the moral virtue and social role of art, he cherished apart from society’s antipathy.

The art libraries in Sydney exist to provide a service for their immediate clients. However, there is considerable interest in meeting the needs of the art community and the teaching profession as well as the wider community. Sydney’s art libraries, including several academic libraries, co-operate with each other in a number of ways from the extremely structured through the membership of CLANN (Co-operative Library Activity Network, NSW) to ad hoc arrangements involving individual libraries and librarians.

The Museum Willet-Holthuysen, comprising the house and private collections of Abram Willet and his wife Louisa Holthuysen, was bequeathed to Amsterdam on the death of the latter and in 1929 became the home of the Institute of Art History of the University of Amsterdam. The collection of books, originally scattered through the house, had previously been gathered together, and although added to up until 1965 remained essentially the reference library of a 19th century collector whose special interests were the decorative arts, particularly glass and ceramics. The art historical volumes were moved with the Institute in 1961-62 and remain in the care of the Institute’s Library; they are likely to become more accessible when the Institute is rehoused once more in the near future.

The Library of the Faculty of Architecture in the University of Technology at Delft includes two important private collections. The Peters Collection comprises material formerly owned by the Gothic Revival architect Cornelis Hendrick Peters and includes architectural and topographical drawings and prints as well as books. The Leliman Library comprises the library of the Classical architect J.H. Leliman, augmented by his son, Johannes Hendrik Willem Leliman, himself an architect who specialized in housing, an associate of the garden city movement and advocate for the preservation of old buildings.