The Twenty-First Century Art Librarian
Edited by Terrie L. Wilson
A Review
The intended audience of The Twenty-First Century Art Librarian is today's art librarian. As the editor explains in the introduction, this thin volume (110 pages) is "…not intended to serve as a new primer on art librarianship. Rather, the articles …offer a glimpse into the world of art library administration at the beginning of the 21st century".
The Twenty-First Century Art Librarian is divided into three parts. Each section has two articles. None of the articles in this work discuss cataloging of particular materials. Rather, the themes are broader in scope, addressing such topics as staffing standards, budgeting and marketing, digitization trends and techniques, and public services.
The first section, entitled, "The Art Library Professional", focuses on staffing in academic art and architecture libraries, as well as museum libraries. Sarah E. McCleskey presents the results of a survey in which she asked heads of academic art and architecture libraries about levels of staffing, training of staff, and core competencies in library skills required of staff in art and architecture libraries. Next, Joan M. Benedetti's article is also the result of a survey completed by 34 librarians working at small art museum libraries. Usually, the librarian working in this type of setting is the only librarian in the library. Benedetti's article addresses the various issues facing a "solo librarian", who is responsible for everything from the budget and purchase of library material to keeping up with changes and trends in technology. Most of the survey respondents, for instance, are just beginning the process of migrating to an automated catalog. The costs of an integrated library system, of course, do not end once the system in implemented. As a strategy for keeping expenses down, small art museum libraries have formed local consortia to share and defray the costs of cataloguing, for instance. The message to the solo art librarian: seek out other art librarians and learn from each others' experiences.
The second section, entitled, "Managing and Servicing Collections in an Art and Architecture Environment", discusses the nature of art and architecture libraries. In the first article of this section, Paula Hardin discusses the issues involved in integrating the digitization of visual resources into library operations. She stresses the importance of using metadata standards such as the Dublin Core or the VRA (Visual Resource Association) Core standards when creating database field structures. Hardin also discusses the process of creating quality digital images and offers suggestions for reducing problems that frequently arise from the scanning process. Finally, Hardin explains the benefits in making digitization a routine part of a library’s operations, explaining that digital libraries "are the future for visual resources, so it is a good idea to start thinking of the digitization process as more than a project or a temporary supplemental activity". The second article in this section, by Janine Jacqueline Henri, examines the public service, collection care and access service issues related to administering special collections within an academic library.
The final section, called, "The Big Picture: Comparing Practices in Art Libraries", looks at the role of art and architecture libraries in a larger context. Kim Collins compares academic art libraries and museum art libraries by examining on issues of patrons, funding priorities, material budgets, library marketing, technical infrastructure, and professional development. Lastly, Susan Craig presents a summary of responses to a survey on current practices in art and architecture libraries. 163 American and Canadian art and architecture libraries answered questions about facilities, services, equipment, acquisitions practices, collections, and library instructional activities.
The Twenty-First Century Art Librarian is not intended for catalogers seeking guidance on how to catalog non-print materials. This work will be of general interest to special librarians, particularly those working in art and architecture libraries.
Published in 2003 by: The Haworth Information Press, Binghamton, New York. (xiv, 110 p.) ISBN: 0789021080 ($39.95) ; ISBN: 0789021099 (pbk. - $24.95). Co-published simultaneously as Journal of Library Administration, Vol. 39, No.1, 2003.
Reviewed by: Laura M. May
Collection Access Librarian
Concordia University Libraries
Montréal, Québec
Last updated: September 24, 2004
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