Digital Images and Art Libraries in the Twenty-First Century
Edited by Susan Wyngaard
A Review
Comprised of eleven essays, Digital Images and Art Libraries in the Twenty-First Century is an introduction to the rapidly changing world of art librarianship, from the technical challenges in creating digital images to the role of the art librarian. In her introduction, Susan Wyngaard writes that art libraries have always been "charged with building, organizing, and maintaining visual collections … ". Indeed, articles in this volume give many detailed examples of how this work will be accomplished in the twenty-first century.
The first four articles discuss projects that digitized a variety of formats. David Austin begins with "CITY2000: a Holistic Approach to Administering Image Resources". This Chicago-based project was designed to provide access to photographic negatives, audiotapes and videotapes created in Chicago in the year 2000. Susan Koskinen discusses architectural records in "Architectural Archives: To Web or Not to Web". She writes about several projects that digitized finding aids using Encoded Archival Description (EAD). "Integrating Digital Images into Art and Art History Curriculum", by Sharon P. Pitt, Christina B. Updike, and Miriam E. Guthrie, discusses the creation of a particular database, the Madison Digital Image Database (MDID) designed at James Madison University. Terrie L. Wilson and Erika Dowell address a particularly difficult organizational challenge for the Web in "Today's Ephemera, Tomorrow's Historical Documentation: Access Options for Artists Files". Traditionally artists' files have been difficult to organize, and subsequently, the authors point out, among the most underutilized of information sources. They write that items unique to the collection, and not available in other formats, should be identified for inclusion in Web-based projects. In all four of these articles, the authors describe the careful planning process, and the collaborative nature of their projects, including librarians, curators, teaching staff, technical experts, and vendors.
Max Marmor, Director of Collection Development for ArtSTOR contributes, "ArtSTOR: a Digital Library for the History of Art". A project supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, ArtSTOR was designed to provide access to a wide range of digital image collections. Primarily aimed at colleges and universities, ArtSTOR (now ARTstor) hopes to provide a licensed alternative to having each institution create their own digital image collection.
Following this article is a report of a statewide consortium project, "The Case for Collaboration: the OhioLINK Digital Media Center ", by Charly Bauer and Jane A. Carlin. An art and architecture component is one of several databases in the Digital Media Center (DMC), including records in both VRA Core and Dublin Core. The authors present several examples of local collections that were contributed, emphasizing the advantages of a consortium, eliminating local concerns for technical expertise and storage needs.
In "Smothering Free Speech: Filtering the World Wide Web", Susan Travis Bissonnette discusses the use of Internet filters and their impact on library services. In an effort to filter out pornographic images, some filtering software may be limiting access to images of works of art. She gives a relevant example of an image of a nude that may be blocked when a student searches via the Web, although this same image would be available to the student in a print source.
Bradley L. Taylor writes about the use of new technologies in museums in "Enhancing the Value of Museum Web Site: Lessons from the Practical Engagement Front". Taylor discusses a study where graduate students compared the response to museum artifacts in the museum itself and through their digital surrogates. His work suggests that museums can go beyond merely providing surrogates of images contained in their collections to creating new models for museum learning.
Henry Pisciotta's article, "Image Delivery and the Critical Masses", examines image delivery in the context of user studies with search engines. While the Web is not considered a scholarly source by many academics, he writes that it has become the "… information source of choice for most people".
In "Link It or Lump it: Basic Access Strategies for Digital Art Representation", James L. Murphy discusses the challenges in integrating images of art objects in online catalogs.
He talks about the need for consistent subject access throughout the OPAC, using controlled vocabularies such as LCSH and AAT.
Finally, Amy Lucker's essay, "Evolution of a Profession: the Changing Nature of Art Librarianship", asks if librarianship is truly changing or simply the resources provided to the user. She points out the change in education for those currently entering the profession, as well as the need for present librarians to keep up with new technologies.
From outlining the preparation and decision-making processes needed to begin digitization to describing successful collaborative projects involving librarians, curators, technology specialists, and software vendors, this book provides both interesting case studies and theoretical issues regarding access for those who are beginning to think about similar projects. It is particularly valuable for its inclusion of discussion of a broad range of concerns including fair use and copyright, preservation and storage, and the myriad of standards available to provide access to them, including MARC, VRA Core, and Dublin Core.
Published in 2004 by: Haworth Information Press, Binghamton, New York. (183 p.) ISBN: 0-7890-2347-4 ($49.95); ISBN: 0-7890-2348-2 ( pbk.- $24.95) Co-published simultaneously as Journal of Library Administration, Vol. 39, Nos. 2/3, 2003.
Reviewed by: Elizabeth Lilker
Cataloger
Bobst Library
New York University
Last updated: December 8, 2005
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