Art history in the Netherlands is supported by a number of art libraries in addition to museum libraries, among them the Royal Library at The Hague, the libraries of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and the Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art and Science, both at Amsterdam, university libraries, and libraries of Dutch establishments abroad. The combined art collections of these libraries are considerable; access, however, may be facilitated by the Project for Integrated Catalogue Automation (PICA) which aims to improve on the diversity of existing catalogues.

Only larger public libraries in the United States have distinct art departments; in a majority of these, visual art is combined with other arts subjects such as music and performing arts. Scope is broad, covering all aspects of art and reflecting the limitless interests of users and their need for both access to and the loan of material, and for information in answer to queries. Invariably, indexes and files are maintained to document local art. Responsibilities of the art librarian include encouraging users of the art department to be aware of complementary material in other departments, and ensuring that the art department serves the needs and abilities of a wide range of users. In recent years automation has contributed to the development of networking and cooperation; online searching is generally available within larger libraries but more usually through another department or section rather than as an integral element in the art department’s services. The automation of files of local art information has scarcely begun.

When applied to the visual arts the concept of universal availability implies access to a massive and heterogeneous corpus of visual and archival material as well as printed texts. Achieving full bibliographic and iconographic control will be an enormous undertaking and may eventually become counterproductive. Universal availability also supposes the widest possible popular access to art, despite doubts sometimes expressed about the effects of overexposure. Community libraries have a special responsibility towards the general public’s visual education through targetted selection of printed and visual resources and through the encouragement of local art initiatives.

The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, based at Los Angeles, has developed rapidly since its foundation in 1969. The Resource and Research Center, established in 1975, has from its beginning aimed to achieve and to promote services of the highest quality. The Center comprises specialised units and a central core; the specialised units include two subject divisions (Textiles, Interior Design) which house appropriate collections (such as fabric swatches and trade literature), a Costume Library (a collection of over 2,000 garments and accessories), and the International Fashion Video Library which will be the subject of a separate article in a future issue of the Art Libraries Journal. A comprehensive user education programme is complemented by outreach activities and special events; the Center also lends itself to the role of promoting the FIDM in the community and strengthening its ties with industry.

The mixed fortunes of art, and of subject specialisation, in British public libraries in recent years is compared to the situation in Denmark where librarianship in the service of art has as its main focus the good of the people. The principles which give art librarianship its own integrity are reiterated and the gradual invasion of public library services by the commercial ethic is rejected. Art librarianship can still achieve new successes, and some of these are noted. The scope for new initiatives which the public library service offers is recognised and new areas for development are suggested, modelled on the international network of Music Information Centres.

The situation for libraries in France, particularly art libraries, is complex. Administrative structures differ from those of other countries and from one another, but the existence of networks provides a means of linking different libraries and systems and of sharing and exploiting their common resources. Art education is currently a government priority; libraries of schools of art (including that of the Ecole du Louvre) are among the art libraries which fall within the sphere of the Ministry of Culture and Communication. The training of French museum personnel is now the responsibility of the new École du Patrimoine attached to the Ecole du Louvre and served by its library and a related documentation centre. Co-operation among art libraries is demonstrated by their participation in union catalogues and computer networks: the Ministry of Culture and Communication has adopted the LIBRA system, developed for public libraries, and some art libraries within the Ministry’s jurisdiction have recently joined the network. Their peculiarities have necessitated some adaptions of the system. Still more national co-operation is essential: the professional associations, including the Art Subsection of the Association des Bibliothécaires Français, advocate it; the technology is available. Now is the time for French art librarians to seize the opportunity of joining together to serve an eager public - ‘tous les publics’ - more effectively than ever before.

Six qualities of Nordic civilisation are identified: the spirit of co-operation which links the five Nordic countries; the acceptance of the differing identities of distinct countries, places, and cultural traditions; mutuality of individuals and society; commonality the inclusion of everybody; care of the environment; and world citizenship. While the Nordic spirit of co-operation in particular is exemplified by ARLIS NORDEN, each of these qualities is perceived to have implications for the arts, for art libraries, and for ARLIS NORDEN, and together they illuminate an international role for art librarians to help each other to serve local communities and to cherish local arts.

In addition to Dutch academic and museum libraries, a number of art libraries and relevant document and information centres are attached to government and other institutions. These include the Netherlands Institute for Art History at The Hague (the parent institution of DIAL, an iconographical classification of Dutch art); the Stichting MARDOC at Rotterdam, which is evolving thesauri to facilitate automated access to museum collections; and the Netherlands Office for Fine Art, responsible for coordinating and promoting Dutch art collections. Other institutions are concerned with contemporary Dutch art, photography, architecture, the role of art in society, art education, and museology. Some of these, with some other institutions, are linked by the network Culturele Pool (CUPO) which coordinates and indexes current literature on the art in the broadest sense.

The Arts Department of the Regional Library (“Lyoben Karavelov”) at Russe provides a range of information and outreach services, promoting use of its multi-media collections on music and the visual arts among all sections of the community including working and young people. Activites include the organisation of exhibitions and lectures, and of opportunities to meet artists and performers. Similar departments exist in other Bulgarian public libraries, contributing to a broader nation-wide programme of aesthetic education and cultural provision.

Researchers in other disciplines use art resources. Interviews with a variety of researchers in the fields of medicine, literature, history, psychotherapy, and archaeology provide some insights into when, why, and how scholars turn to the study of art. Through informal discussions about their research experiences, these researchers reveal their ways of thinking and pursuing research, the relationship of their own disciplines to art and the frustrations and rewards of pursuing inter- or multi-disciplinary research.

With one exception Dutch art museum libraries date from the second half of the 19th century or later. In general, museum libraries reflect the scope of the museum they serve and exist primarily for the use of museum staff although the public are also admitted. Most now use the same cataloguing rules; manual catalogues are still commonplace but are likely to be displaced by the computer.

Iceland’s cultural heritage dates back to the Vikings. While crafts have always been important to the Icelandic way of life, the country has become much more art and design conscious with the development of educational and cultural institutions in the last hundred years. The National Library receives copies of all Icelandic publications and publishes the Icelandic national bibliography (which includes art but omits some exhibition catalogues); in addition the Library of the National Gallery collects all published literature on Icelandic art. There is a major art collection in the University Library and a specialist art library at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts. The Nordic House at Reykjavίk accommodates an artotek. Because of its isolation, Iceland is unusually dependent on libraries for knowledge of world art, and much work remains to be done on the bibliography of Icelandic art. However, art librarianship has made substantial progress since the 1970s, and training in art librarianship is available.

Since reorganisation in 1978, the former ‘Svensk Konsthistorisk Bibliografi’ has been published under the title ‘Svensk Konstvetenskaplig Bibliografi’ (SKvB) in the journal Konsthistorisk tidskrift. More recently the bibliography has become the basis of a computerised database, KONSTDOK, accessible on-line through the host Goteborgs Datacentral (GD). Coverage encompasses all aspects of Swedish art, and publications of Swedish art historians.

Dutch scholarship is so international in outlook that it tends to overlook the particular contributions of the Dutch themselves. The last general overview of Dutch scholarly literature appeared thirty-five years ago, Wabeke’s A guide to Dutch bibliographies (1951). The following survey offers an interim update of bibliographical material for art historians. The compilers are dismayed that there is so little that can be listed here, not least because of promising initiatives which have not been brought to fruition. The introduction of automated data processing improves access to information but does not help to teach students the use and value of bibliographies. The list proceeds from the general to the specific.

The literature of archaeology reflects the development of archaeology as a discipline, from the curiosity of wealthy amateurs to serious enquiry utilising scientific method and techniques and drawing on other disciplines in its efforts to interpret objects as evidence of their times. Archaeology libraries thus contain rare (often large and fragile) early works, specialised and highly detailed studies, works not obviously related to archaeology, and texts in several languages; such libraries are most usually associated with academic institutions, of which the University of Pennsylvania Museum and Bryn Mawr College offer contrasting (though neighbouring) examples. Both libraries - the University Museum more so than Bryn Mawr College - serve a larger public beyond the institution’s own community, at least to a limited extent. Archaeology libraries can nourish the widespread and growing public interest in ancient civilisations in spite of the rarefied and valuable nature of their collections, by participating in library networks, and by encouraging the publication or reprinting of books for the non-specialist.

The loan and hire of contemporary original works of art has a long but littleresearched history. Its recent development, in and outside public libraries (particularly in the USA, Canada, Europe, and Israel) began essentially after 1945. Its nature and scope is strongly influenced by contemporary art. Art loans are worth promoting because art plays a lesser role in our cultural life compared to music and literature, because of the gulf between contemporary art and the public at large, as a means of securing and developing the role of the artist in society, and to foster discrimination and visual literacy in an age dominated by images of all kinds.