Introduction to Art and Design Resources - an Arlis Workshop

Two posts in as many days? Only because I needed to write about this one immediately so I had to deal with the backlog from all my earlier CPD...(all one of it. Ahem).

Yes, it's been a busy time, but not with work. I've become a parent, and discovered that apparently the feeling that I had no time at all before is nothing like the feeling that I have no time at all now. Fortunately at work I currently have a temp to help me with collection management and other projectwork, which means we're almost treading water sufficiently that I'm slightly more freed up to attend things which will, in the long run, make our job slightly easier anyway.

The National Art Library (c)V&A

This was one such event: on Monday 18th January I travelled down to the National Art Library in the V&A for an Arlis workshop. It was an all-day event, and I stayed for everything except the final tour of the National Art Library (getting back in time to pick up the little one from nursery would have been tricky had I stayed).

The library appeared pretty well appointed - they have numerous terminals for readers, with access to lots of online resources. In addition the shelves are full of materials, and there's more in the rolling stacks. They even have a seminar room, where we had a networking lunch - yes it was a little bit cold in the room, but at least they have one! I was very envious - and I think if I ever do go on a tour there, I'll only become more so. Nonetheless, I should try and arrange another visit sometime, in order to learn more about their work and where their collections can support ours.

The event itself consisted of several presentations from a range of libraries, and a hands-on task:

• Enquiry work in an art and design museum (Bernadette Archer, NAL)
• Enquiry work in an academic library (Cathy Johns, RCA)
• Practical session on enquiry referral work: specialist sources (Yamuna Ravindran)
• The future is paperless! (But the present still needs 3 x 5 cards...) (Joseph Ripp, NPG)
• Finding connections - art, artist and audience (Jane Bramwell & Allison Foster, Tate)

The reasons for my wanting to attend were multiple.

1. To fill in the gaps in my knowledge and use of standard art resources 

I found Bernadette's talk particularly useful here. She talked about how the NAL deal with their enquiries, which are massively diverse. At the end she supplied a brief analysis of some of the resources they used. A lot I'd come across or use regularly, but there were a few resources I wasn't aware of which seem useful for the library here. The Guide to the Literature of Art History is one such - our reference collection is based both on the museum collections and the interests of the keepers who curate them. When a keeper is replaced, the new keeper will bring new and different specialisms to the museum, which may not be well catered for in the library, so this book is a great starting point to ensure that we have the fundamentals covered.

Success? Yes, lots of good information here, including where to go when I don't know the answers.

2. To ensure my current awareness is, well, both current and aware!

I think I didn't really learn about much here, which either means I'm sufficiently up to date, or that it wasn't really covered. There was again a lot of useful information in Bernadette's talk, with online resources that she uses, and their limits and strengths. EBSCO: ArtSource was recommended as being the most useful, but ProQuest and various other databases were mentioned too, the majority of which we have access to through the University Library.

Success? Yes, I think so. The UL keeps us well-covered for e-resources (although it doesn't subscribe to either AKL or Benezit online. Luckily, we have the hard copies).

3. To test out any resources before potentially purchasing them for my library

This was quite successful in one sense, in that during the hands-on session we made use of the many e-resources offered by the NAL. As museum staff had been asking for access to art valuation websites, I was particularly pleased to have a go with Art Price. However, buoyed up with the possibility of subscribing to this, I later found out that someone in the museum has a personal subscription and everyone gets him to do the searching, so "no need to waste the money". I must admit, I feel a bit flat when people find ways to avoid asking the library for things.

Success? On the day, absolutely. In the end, it turned out more irrelevant than I'd've liked. =(

4. To gain contacts in the area, particularly within museum libraries

I'm really not great at networking. I talked to a couple of people, including someone from The Goldsmiths' Company and a couple of university arts librarians. I thought it was interesting that speakers from museums tended to be people who worked with archives or collections that were considered special in their own right - I'm certainly not in that situation here, so it would be more helpful to make connections with other museum libraries more like mine, assuming there are any!

Success? Low to moderate. I need to be braver!

5. Finally, to raise the profile of my own library amongst those outside the university who might find it useful as a resource

Again, I wasn't great at promoting this library. One thing I hadn't realised was quite how extensive the National Art Library's holdings are when it comes to auction catalogues. They have a lot from overseas, whereas our collection only really focuses on UK, with sporadic German catalogues of antiquities, and the odd French, Chinese and Japanese catalogue from the bigger auction houses. However, I know for a fact we have items in our collection which fill gaps in theirs (and probably vice versa), so the sooner we get our volunteer cracking on the dealers' catalogues project, the better. After this, I am keen to investigate getting our records onto COPAC (currently the UL is there, but none of the other libraries in Cambridge, I believe). The library holds collections of items not readily available elsewhere in the country, so we could do a lot to support scholars from outside Cambridge if only they knew about it as a resource.

Success? Low. Getting our collections visible on the web will do more, I think.

On the whole, more successes than failures (and nothing was really a total failure). Definitely worth going on the course, and I'm very grateful to my line manager and the HR manager at work for supporting me and allowing library budget to be put towards this useful training.