How exactly does one interpret the term ‘User Education’ and how is it best done? These are questions which still puzzle me after two years of working at them.

Rigid interpretation of User Education as chalk and talk stand-up teaching (‘class contact’) can reduce it to apolitical hour counting activity, useful for promotion but guaranteed to get least response from students.

Whilst I think that teaching methods are all important in User Education I would argue that they must be appropriate to the activity and not imposed for the sake of form. You can’t, for example, write a series of Information Retrieval lectures into a course submission document and expect them to work because they have a degree of legitimacy. The activity may be best treated informally.

The information needs of practising designers are only rarely to be found in the traditional printed sources. Rather the designer requires current data such as details of product availability and exact specifications. Documentary library services may meet some of these needs but the ideal library from a designer’s point of view would contain not only a comprehensive coverage of design history information in monograph and periodical form but also a large collection of product samples and an extensive referral service to sources of expertise in industry and in research organisations.

(Based on a paper presented to the ARLIS Seminar on User Education held at Leeds Polytechnic, 7–8 April, 1978.)

In the section ‘Plan for Action for Librarians’ a great deal is asked of the library service for what it is suggested is in the short run a formidable if not impossible task. The intention is to raise many issues in the hope that individual libraries or other organisations might pursue those activities for which they have resources.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Design Council.

User education is a field of activity in which there are a number of problems that would benefit from detailed study, particularly because of its multidisciplinary nature. Such research must be initiated, reported upon, and not least communicated to librarians in the field who may subsequently be able to implement it.

(The text of a paper presented at the ARLIS Seminar on User Education held at Leeds Polytechnic, 7 – 8 April, 1978.)

Given the complexity and diversity of resources in art history, the research student needs a thorough and systematic programme to guide him through the range of information sources from catalogues and indexes to esoteric and elusive art works and individuals. Such a programme is described in detail and also a survey made of the literature on bibliographic instruction in art history.

Special thanks are extended to Phillip Heagy for bibliographic assistance and manuscript preparation and to Sue Ramage for manuscript review.

An exhibition of ‘forgotten’ 19th century Dutch history paintings titled Het Vaderlansch Gevoel: vergeten negentiende-eeuwse schilderijen over onze geschiedenis, was shown at the RIJKSMUSEUM, AMSTERDAM (24 March – 25 June 1978). The substantial 302p. catalogue which accompanied it carries illustrations of all 134 exhibits (all b/w), plus notes and a bibliography for each work, brief biographies of the artists (many of them lesser known), and introductory essays.

An exhibition organized as part of the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of Bartolini’s birth in 1977, titled Lorenzo Bartolini: mostra delle attività di tutela, was shown at the PALAZZO PRETORIO, PRATO (February – May 1978). The 303p. catalogue, published by Centro Di, has sections on the gallery of plaster casts, archival documentation and the drawings of Bartolini, plus black and white illustrations of sculptures and drawings.

This is the first of a regular series on new architectural books. To avoid passing over some important works the list is more retrospective than we hope future issues will be. Nothing published before 1975, however, is included. The list contains only books seen at first hand in the British Architectural Library and thus there will always be a delay between publication date and appearance in this column. Where possible prices are given in the currency of the country of origin. Otherwise prices given represent those paid by British Architectural Library.