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The indivisibility of art librarianship

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2016

Wolfgang M. Freitag
Wolfgang M. Freitag*
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Fine Arts Library
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Abstract

As the range and sophistication of visual resources, and the size of collections available to the art historian and student have increased over the last century, so has the need for an appropriately qualified body of professionals to organise and develop them. This paper explains how and why those involved with visual resources have tended to have a background and training other than in librarianship, and how as a consequence, the two branches of the profession of art librarianship (textual and visual) have grown apart, with visual resources professionals allying themselves to art historical organisations. The author makes a case for the merging of the two professions, united in serving the same subject oriented clientele. This paper was first delivered to the Section of Art Libraries at the IFLA Council, in Montreal, August 1982.

Type
Research Article
Information
Art Libraries Journal , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , Autumn 1982 , pp. 23 - 39
Copyright
Copyright © The Art Libraries Society 1982

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References

(1) Fawcett, Trevor. Control of text and images: tradition and innovation. Art Libraries Journal, vol.7, no.2, Summer 1982, pp. 7–16. (special issue devoted to the proceedings of the International Seminar on Information Problems in Art History, Oxford, 20-22 March 1982).Google Scholar
(2) Berenson, Bernard. Isochromatic photography on Venetian pictures. The Nation, vol. 57, 9 Nov. 1893, pp. 346–7. Quoted by Samuels, Ernest, Bernard Berenson: the making of a connoisseur. Cambridge (Mass.): Belknap Press of Harvard University, 1979, p.75.Google Scholar
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(5) The reader of this editorial is puzzled by the still tentative language in which the reference to an international organisation of visual resources professionals is couched. According to the author’s “Bologna Report” and a detailed “Report of Visual Resources Meetings” at Bologna penned jointly by Clark, Cynthia (Princeton) and Charlton, Ian (Oxford) in the Winter 1979 issue of the MACAA Slides and Photographs Newsletter, vol.6, no.4, Dec. 1979, pp.7–10, the international organisation was actually formed during the 24th Congress of the CIHA and received official recognition by the CIHA President Jacques Thuillier, who referred to it in his report of “Enterprises which Concern CIHA” as an association.Google Scholar
See also The new VR Organization, editorial by DeLaurier, Nancy. International Bulletin for Photographic Documentation of the Visual Arts, vol.8, no.3, Sept. 1981, p.4.Google Scholar
(6) White, Herbert S. An American Federation of library associations: the time has come. Library Journal, vol.107, no.9, 1 May 1982, p.860.Google Scholar
(7) Personnel issues: more specialty personnel working for ARL libraries. Library Journal, vol.107, no.8, 15 April 1982, p.768.Google Scholar
(8) Maxwell, A.D. (Bertie). Visual resources organise in Britain. International Bulletin for Photographic Documentation of the Visual Arts, vol.7, no.1, March 1980, p.4.Google Scholar