Electronic networking has been welcomed in Australia not least because of its potential to help solve problems of distances within Australia and of the isolation of Australia. In the world as a whole, the Internet, and the World Wide Web in particular, is transforming the communication of art information and access to art images. Three Australian Web servers focus on the visual arts: Art Serve, Diva, and AusArts. A number of initiatives intended to provide online bibliographic databases devoted to Australian art were launched in the 1980s. More recently a number of CD-ROMs have been published. As elsewhere, art librarians in Australia need new skills to integrate these products of new technology into the art library, and to transform the latter into a multimedia resource centre.

Bekanntlich ist die Kulturpolitik in Deutschland, anders als in Frankreich und England, über weite Strecken föderalistisch organisiert. So existiert denn auch in der Bundesrepublik weder eine Nationalbibliothek noch eine nationale bzw. zentrale Kunstbibliothek. In Anbetracht dieser Situation haben sich 1964 die sechs großen (west) deutschen Kunstbibliotheken von überregionaler Bedeutung zu einer Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Kunstbibliotheken (AKB) zusammengeschlossen, die durch enge Kooperation ihrer Mitglieder eine optimale Literaturversorgung und -erschließung sicherstellen soil. Im Rahmen eines von der DFG gefÖrderten Programms, das 1972 angelaufen ist, wurden die Sammelschwerpunkte der teilnehmenden Bibliotheken aufeinander abgestimmt. Durch ihre kooperative Erwerbungspolitik erfüllen die (inzwischen sieben) Mitgliedsbibliotheken der AKB heute in gewisser Hinsicht die Funktion einer dezentralen Nationalbibliothek für Kunstgeschichte.

Unlike France and the United Kingdom, the organization of cultural affairs in Germany is strongly determined by federalism. So there is no national library, nor is there a particular national art library. In 1964, the six bigger (West) German art libraries of supra-regional importance formed a loose association called Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Kunstbibliotheken (AKB). The purpose of the AKB is to foster co-operation on different levels (acquisition, cataloguing, etc). A co-operative acquisitions programme has been operated by the participating libraries since 1972; it is mainly financed by the German Research Society (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft). Thanks to this co-operation the member institutions of the AKB function in some way as a decentralized national art library.

While discussion continues regarding the ideal education for art librarians, in reality art librarians belong to a broader profession within which many distinctions are collapsing, and anxiety in response to overload is increasing. The concept of the ‘compleat’ art librarian, possessing extensive knowledge of the arts in their diversity, is probably unrealistic given the range of other skills and of information which librarians need. Although it has been argued that commitment is the one real essential, this idea too can become an unreasonable ideal which many people will fall short of and be excluded by. Instead of ‘total’ commitment, our professionalism might rather be defined by ‘authentic commitment’ which is self-determined, and which embraces a commitment to the wider profession of art librarianship as well as to a particular institution as employer. (This paper has also been published in ARLIS/ANZ News no. 42, 1995/96).

Interest in Canada’s built heritage flourished in the period following 1967, inspired by the centennial of Confederation and institutional support of heritage research. An already vibrant and officially sanctioned concern for cultural history in Canada’s mainly Francophone province Quebec and the Official Languages Act of 1969 resulted in a rich series of French-language publications devoted to Canadian architecture. The architecture of provinces, cities and towns, of individual styles, buildings and architects, architectural competitions and archaeology have all been explored in the literature. The contribution of scholars, cultural, academic, and governmental institutions, and publishers has created a strong body of work related to architecture in Canada.

The quality of the library of the future will be measured not only in terms of its collections, but also in terms of the diversity and efficiency of its electronic services. Therefore, the Koninklijke Bibliotheek at The Hague is building an Advanced Information Workstation for the humanities. With this multimedia workstation, users can easily locate and consult sources on the local network (OPAC, CD-ROMs, databases on several collections) and services and databases on national and international networks. Facilities for downloading and processing information will also be offered. Care has been taken to ensure that the Advanced Information Workstation facilitates access, through full bibliographic descriptions and selected keywords, to sources of art history information on the Internet, as well as to specialised on-line bibliographies such as Art Index.

Obwohl der Wunsch dazu schon länger bestand, kam es erst im Februar 1995 dazu, daß deutsche Kunst- und Museumsbibliotheken — zum ersten Mal über-haupt — ihren eigenen Verband, die AKMB, schufen. Die Ziele, Pläne und die allerersten Aktivitäten der neugegründeten AKMB sind weitreichend. Sie spiegeln auch die spezifischen Bedürfnisse in der Landschaft deutscher Kunst- und Museumsbibliotheken wider.

Even though the desire had existed for quite a while, it was not until February 1995 that, for the first time ever, German art and museum libraries created their own association, the AKMB. The aims, plans, and the very first activities of the new founded AKMB are very ambitious. They also reflect the specific needs of the German art and museum library scene.

Since the 1950s, the Library of the Université Laval has devoted a great deal of effort and time to its subject headings list. This list, the Répertoire de vedettes-matière (RVM), is an adaptation of LCSH. Sources from specialised thesauri such as the MeSH and AAT supplement the headings. Following a brief historical overview of the RVM, the methodology for integrating AAT descriptors into RVM is discussed.

This article is a revised version of a paper delivered to the 23rd Annual Conference of ARLIS/NA, Montréal, March 10th-15th, 1995.

The now 50-year-old scrap heap of discarded, expensive computer equipment is a monument to bad design and bad understanding of these excellent new tools. The current inadequacies are glossed over with colours and pictures. Buzzwords are used to distract from the battle over control being waged with dubious interpretations of patent and copyright laws. Women have a major role in resisting these efforts.

Sheffield Hallam University possesses a large number of drawings by the sculptor George Fullard (1923-1973). Concern regarding the conservation of these drawings led to a discussion of how to provide access to them in the future. The result was an electronic book, available as a multimedia CD-ROM but which could also be made available on networks, and which can be approached from a variety of intellectual and interest levels.

Founded in Montréal in 1980, the Centre d’information Artexte is a non-profit organisation devoted to the collection and distribution of information on all aspects of contemporary visual arts. The organisation has developed two subject areas in support of its objective (the exhibition catalogue and Canadian art) and sponsors activities on 3 fronts (documentation, distribution and publication). The Centre d’information Artexte’s collections are noted for their comprehensive holdings in contemporary art (1965-). A bibliographic database was developed by the Centre to support advanced research in contemporary art. A bilingual tool, it indexes indepth information found within the exhibition catalogue. Artexte serves both the French and English communities in Canada and promotes Canadian publications in contemporary art abroad.

Bis zum Beginn des Zweiten Weltkrieges hatte man in den wissenschaftlichen Bibliotheken der nunmehr neuen Bundeslanäer, besonders aber in Sachsen, ausgezeichnete Bestände an Kunstliteratur zur Verfügung. Der Krieg brachte mit Zerstörung und Abtransport von Kriegstrophäen schwere Verluste. In den folgenden Jahrzehnten behinderte vor allem Devisenmangel den Anschluß an die internationale wissenschaftliche Literatur. In dieser Zeit konzentrierte die Sächsische Landesbibliothek in Dresden ihre Mittel auf ihr spezielles Sammelgebiet bildende Kunst und ist ein Erwerbungs- und Informationszentrum, besonders für die Universitäten des Landes, gewesen. Seit 1990 fließen aus verschiedenen Quellen Gelder, um neueste Literatur zu erwerben und die störendsten Lücken nach Möglichkeit zu schließen. Gleichzeitig wurden vor allem die Bibliotheken der Universitäten und Kunsthochschulen mit moderner Technik ausgestattet und die Vernetzung in Angriff genommen, hinweg über die verschwundene innerdeutsche Grenze.

Until the beginning of the Second World War the scholarly libraries of what is nowadays known as the ‘New Länder’ (‘new federal states’), and especially those in Saxonia, had excellent collections of art literature. The war brought severe losses through devastation and transportation of war booty out of the country. In the following decades, lack of foreign currency impeded the acquisition of international academic literature. The Sächsische Landesbibliothek in Dresden concentrated its budget on its focal collection subject, fine arts, and it has ever since been a centre for acquisition and information, in particular for the universities of the country. After German reunification, since 1990, there has been a flow of money from different sources to enable the acquisition of the most recent literature and to complete most of the inconvenient gaps. Simultaneously, libraries, especially those belonging to universities and art academies, have been equipped with modern technology, and have been integrated into a library network which unites the formerly divided nation.

Early Turkish libraries, attached to such institutions as mosques and medreses, comprised collections of manuscripts including many of great artistic value. Medreses and their libraries were endowed by the Ottoman rulers, who as patrons of the arts were also responsible for causing many manuscripts to be produced. Scholars owned private libraries, and libraries for the public existed in every district of Istanbul. Many of the collections of these libraries survive, in some cases in museums and in libraries of later origin, in Istanbul University Library, and in the National Library at Ankara.

Die Situation der Kunstbibliotheken in der Schweiz ist durch verschiedene historische Faktoren geprägt. Die Kulturhoheit der verschiedenen Kantonsrepubliken und die vier Landessprachen haben in der Vergangenheit die Entwicklung einer einheitlichen Bibliothekslandschaft erschwert. Ebenso wenig mündete die von großen Persönlichkeiten geprägte Entwicklung der Kunstwissenschaft und des Museumswesens in eine vielfältige Landschaft von Kunstbibliotheken. Die drei Zentren für Kunstbibliotheken sind Basel, Zürich und Genf. Eine Kunstbibliothek für die italienischsprachige Schweiz, wie u.a. in einem kürzlich enstandenen Grundlagenbericht für Kunstgeschichte empfohlen wird, ist immer noch ein Desiderat.

The situation of Swiss art libraries is determined by different historic developments. The different Swiss cantons, with their sovereignty in cultural matters, and the four official languages of the country, have impeded the development of a homogeneous libraries’ scene. The development of art libraries has been constrained by the slow and erratic growth of art history and museology. In Switzerland there are three centres for art libraries: Basle and Zurich, and Geneva, in French-speaking Switzerland. An art library for Italian-speaking Switzerland - as once again recommended in a recently published Grundlagenbericht für Kunstgeschichte (= Basic Report for Art History) - is still desired.

The Getty Art History Information Program has joined with MUSE Educational Media in a project bringing together seven universities and seven art museums for the purpose of making digital images of works of art available for study and teaching via campus networks. Beyond the immediate benefits to its participants, the project is designed to develop methods and guidelines for the academic use of digitized museum-owned materials at colleges and universities. Columbia University and the Houston Museum of Fine Arts are two of the participants in the project, which is remarkable for the level of collaboration which it is achieving between museums and universities.

Art periodicals reflect the image of the day by their writing style, the artistic forms noted and the ideas communicated. They are essential documents to the researcher as they reveal the critical values at the time of publication. Journals are often the first venue to publish emerging theories. The journals have expanded their coverage, both linguistically and geographically, to appeal to a wider readership. Fourteen Canadian French-language and bilingual art journals are reviewed, of which six are discussed in depth.

This article is a revised version of a paper delivered to the 23rd Annual Conference of ARLIS/NA, Montreal, March 10th-15th, 1995. An English translation of this article appeared in Art Documentation, vol. 14, no. 3, Fall 1995, p.3-5.

In the past three years, the cultural heritage of Bosnia-Herzegovina has suffered major destruction. The result is what a Council of Europe report has called ‘a cultural catastrophe’. Historical architecture (including 1,200 mosques, 150 churches, 4 synagogues and over 1,000 other monuments), works of art, as well as cultural institutions (including major museums, libraries, archives and manuscript collections) have been systematically targeted and destroyed. The losses include not only the works of art, but also crucial documentation that might aid in their reconstruction. Our Bosnian colleagues need the assistance of the international library community to help them recover and rebuild some of what has been lost and to rebuild the buildings and institutions that embody their country’s cultural heritage. Librarians outside Bosnia, through their institutions and professional organisations, can provide material and technical assistance, training, and documentation, to help undo the destruction of memory.