The verbal information which accompanies an exhibition, whether alongside exhibits (in labels or wall panels) or in a catalogue, is often a straitjacket which does not fit the requirements of the individual gallery visitor. Exhibition organisers too rarely articulate the rationale behind the selection and display, the assumption being that works will ‘speak for themselves’. Gallery education officers, by contrast, seek to adopt a more open and exploratory approach, and may have more freedom to do so in their work with the gallery’s permanent collection. The presentation of a variety of personal views of each work may be a stimulating alternative to authoritative labels, encouraging the viewer to develop an individual response.

National, regional and international networking between art libraries and art librarians benefits the users of particular art libraries by extending each library’s awareness of resources beyond the limits of its own collections. At the same time, electronic information systems are facilitating the communication and sharing of data through library networks. But every art library, while opening up access to other libraries and information sources, works to improve access to its own collections, and to encourage browsing which can be a crucial method of overcoming the limitations of library classification schemes and of penetrating the contents of books, journals, or other formats of packaged information. Commitment to opening up information resources to human enquiry necessarily involves librarians in opposition to censorship and to those factors, such as illiteracy, which can deprive people of access to information even in “free” societies; any absence of information or publications, if not the result of overt censorship then a consequence of bias or neglect, will be of concern to librarians who may also adopt a pro-active role of acquiring and promoting unfamiliar material. Open libraries can thus provide alternatives to established ways of thinking, and can help to facilitate access to the broadest spectrum of ideas.

Most art libraries in Poland are in fact sections of libraries of more general scope. In the case of the National Library of Warsaw, although material on Polish art is represented in the collections there is no art section as such. Other art library collections include the library of the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy, the ‘Cabinets of Illustrations’ within other libraries attached to the Polish Academy in various cities, departmental libraries in universities and technical universities, and libraries of museums and of learned and professional societies. Public libraries disseminate information on the arts and often organise arts activities; the Art Section of the Warsaw Public Library is among the most important art library collections in the country. Although public libraries join in cooperative arts ventures, art libraries in Poland have not yet begun to work together, and so far there is no professional organisation especially for art librarians.

All librarians come face to face with design every day in their interaction with a library building, its furniture, and its equipment. Librarians in design libraries are in addition concerned with information, about and for designing. The library of the German Design Council constitutes the most comprehensive collection of design information available to the public in the former Federal Republic, and is complemented by a photo and slide archive, including company literature and a newly-established video collection. Although no use is made of modern information technology, user-friendly information services, including a periodicals indexing service in the form of cards which are also available to external subscribers, are provided. However, the dissemination of design information further afield is constrained by three factors. In the first place, designers themselves do not fully appreciate how libraries can help them. Secondly, there is little co-ordination in Germany of design libraries of different kinds and in different regions and administrative units. Thirdly, most German design libraries are insufficiently resourced to allow them to do more than fulfil a specific function within the context of an institution or a locale. Nonetheless, librarians of German design libraries have formed an action group and have taken the first steps towards working together, while the German Design Council’s publication Design Bericht (1989) has provided a directory of design institutions. Design Bericht will appear every two years; a similar publication encompassing the whole of Europe is envisaged. (A full English version follows the original text in German. Please note that this paper was written before the unification of Germany).

The need to document the history of art in Poland, and to provide a bibliographic record of, and access to, that documentation, is felt the more keenly because Poland’s cultural heritage has been so vulnerable to the ravages of history. The Polish Art Bibliography 1801-1944, a labour of love dating back to 1951, existed for many years as a constantly expanding card index at the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy; publication in a series of volumes began with Volume I Part 1 in 1975, and brought with it problems of editing and selection. Volumes II and III have followed; Volume IV, devoted to architecture, is in preparation.

An insufficient flow of information leads to inadequately designed products. There are several reasons why designers do not receive good information. Designers have no training in research, and rarely conduct their own research studies. They therefore must rely on research performed by persons in other fields. This information, in turn, is poorly adaptable to the designer’s needs. An information gap exists. Contributing to the problem are project schedules and budgets that unreasonably limit the amount of time that can be invested in the gathering and assimilation of information. On the horizon is the utilization of multi-disciplinary research teams that will apply their efforts to design. In the meantime, information gathering is a tedious process that needs to be performed as expediently and as painlessly as possible. A librarian with an understanding of the design process can be a vital member of a product design team.

The use of a rigorous and consistent indexing language is essential if a bibliography (whether manual or computerised) is to be used effectively; the adoption of a common language and indexing policy is a necessary prerequisite of co-operation and pooling of data between bibliographies. BHA, the successor to RILA and the Répertoire d’art et d’archéologie, has sought to develop and to apply such a language and policy in the environment of a bilingual database and publication, using English and French as befits a joint Franco-American project.

Art libraries are in many instances particularly well placed to operate international exchanges of publications, especially when (as in the case of museum libraries) they serve institutions which publish art documentation. It is nevertheless necessary to be aware of the hidden costs which can exist, and to examine the reasons for and the cost-effectiveness of exchange programmes. Guidelines for efficient and effective exchange are suggested.

Should a collection of prints and graphic materials include only items of undoubted artistic worth, or can it also include items which are valued primarily as historical evidence and because they vividly illustrate the past? This question is raised by the variety of materials accumulated in the graphic collections of the Biblioteka Jagiellonska in Cracow, ranging as they do from artists’ prints to photographs and postcards, and including a unique collection of material arising from the political struggle in Poland during the 1980s. Typically, graphic collections accumulate by gift and chance, without any intention that they should serve only a single aim; since visual images of all kinds lend themselves to being looked at and used in different ways, a visual collection, especially in a public library, should serve many purposes and a wide range of users. (A full English version follows the original text in French).

Libraria is a small business which provides a visiting library service to architectural practices. Although practices vary, their information needs are similar, and are met from the several categories employed by Libraria to organise information materials: technical literature, trade literature, samples, consultants and contractors, company information, fine art and reference, maps, journals, and in-house material. Information from these categories must be available as required to support successive stages in the building design process from inception to completion. Library services in the construction industry have to provide the right information at the right time, without being a drain on the resources of practices which can only survive as profitable businesses; the librarian must be seen to be an ever-helpful source of practical information.

Building on the precedent established by the Kunstakademiets Bibliotek and RILA, Nordic countries are for a trial period of three years contributing bibliographic records to the BHA, via the latter’s Scandinavian editor in the U.S.A. Several institutions are involved; the selection and preparation of records for the BHA can usually be done in conjunction with work already undertaken by the institutions concerned, in some cases for national bibliographies. Records include abstracts, which should ideally be provided or approved by the authors. Only a selection of material can be cited in the BHA; it is important that its international role should be complemented by national bibliographies. Although Nordic libraries can subscribe to the BHA in its printed form, online access is inhibited by financial considerations; a CD-ROM version would be most welcome. It is hoped that this three year experiment in co-operation will be judged a success, and that funding to enable it to continue will be forthcoming; a crucial test of any form of international co-operation is whether respect for national traditions outweighs any desire for excessive standardisation.

The publication of art books in France is increasing in response to the growth of public interest in art; approximately 1,200 titles are now being published each year. Most French art books are published by commercial publishers; while French publishing in general is concentrated in the hands of a relatively few publishing houses, art publishing is undertaken by a wider range of bodies including, in many cases, smaller establishments dedicated to quality and having particular interests and strengths. Publications from these smaller concerns tend to be printed in editions of around 6,500; sales are generally too few to encourage the issue of paperback editions, although co-editions, produced in conjunction with publishers in other countries and thus reaching a wider public, are becoming more frequent. Although the range and the nature of art books from the commercial publishers is limited by the constraints of profitability, many art publications, including exhibition catalogues and works of scholarships, are also produced by cultural institutions such as museums. Art publishing of all kinds benefits from sponsorship, including prizes. Purchasers of art books include collectors of beautiful books; art books purchased by the general public are mostly bought during the Christmas season, although currently efforts are being made to promote sales at other times of year. Although French art publishers cannot compete with English-language art publishing in quantity or diversity, the quality of their volumes are of the highest order.

“Informkultura” is an information system, for art and culture, based on the Lenin State Library, but involving other major libraries in the U.S.S.R. as well as national libraries and information centres in Eastern Europe, Cuba, and Vietnam. “Informkultura” disseminates information through regular publications, including bibliographic indexes and information bulletins, and a variety of information services. Currently, “Informkultura” is responding to the impact of “perestroika” and the ensuing demand, for, and democratisation of, information.

Everybody is a designer, or at least has a right to be involved as an active participant in the design of the world around them. Information needed for successful design includes both ‘expertise’, and also, information from people themselves, about themselves and their localities. Professionals, who may regard expertise as their exclusive property, tend sometimes to neglect this second category of information; non-professionals who engage in design are familiar with their own requirements but may need more technical information than is readily available to them. Those professional designers who interpret their role as one of facilitating participation in design, will willingly share their expertise while at the same time appreciating the value of the information and skills which non-professionals can contribute. Libraries, and other information agencies, can also help to make both categories of information available to professionals and non-professionals alike. In a global context, there is a need for indigenous knowledge and traditions to be recognised and respected by ‘experts’ from those countries in which professional specialisms are highly developed, and by the growing design professions in developing countries themselves.

Founded in 1969, the CCI at the Pompidou Centre in Paris is devoted to the study of design, broadly defined as ranging ‘from town to teaspoon’, and within both an international and a cultural context. It hosts and organises exhibitions, conferences, and seminars, and produces publications; its documentation service supports the CCI’s own staff and activities, in addition to offering a service to external users. The collections include over 15,000 books, many journals, and files of press cuttings. From its inception the CCI has used a computer system to organise and provide access to its documentation; previously available online via Questel under the name CéCIle, the database is now known as CCIDOC and can only be searched on site. It comprises some 42,000 bibliographic citations, plus a directory of French designers; up to 4,000 new references are added each year. Access to CCIDOC records is provided via both an indexing language controlled by a thesaurus, and keywords (representing subjects, proper names, dates, and places) taken from the natural language of titles and abstracts. Related terms from both controlled and natural languages are brought together in a lexicon which indicates the frequency of use of particular terms. Searches can also be limited or made specific by means of identifiers, all of which can be combined using Boolean operators.

On the basis of its first issue, and in spite of some initial shortcomings due to attempts to bridge the gap between this issue and the final issues of the two publications it subsumes (RILA and the RAA), the BHA is to be warmly welcomed. It is handsomely produced, well organised, and economically priced, and it has successfully solved the problem of its use of both English and French. It provides greater and wider coverage than both of its predecessors put together, with more emphasis on the Nordic countries, Eastern Europe, and Latin America, and a scope which embraces “art anywhere in the world that reflects contact with the Western tradition”. It can be expected that many more titles will be indexed than those represented in the first issue. Although selective, the quality and extent of the BHA’s coverage of contemporary art (some 20% of its content) will challenge ABM; although both the BHA and ABM will be essential in libraries with a strong interest in contemporary art, in other art libraries BHA by itself may well suffice.