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Survey Results
2003 Visual Arts Libraries survey
This survey was conducted by the National Library, with assistance
from ARLIS/ANZ, to provide background information for the Visual Arts Forum
which was held in 2004.
Survey Results
Respondents 37 organisations responded to the
survey. Disappointingly, not all of the state libraries approached responded to
the survey, and not all state galleries sent in a response. A good range of
academic visual arts libraries responded, and a number of smaller galleries,
both public and private. In two cases, smaller galleries responded only to say
that their "library" was small, had no professional staff, and was for use by
gallery staff only.
Although we expect most respondents would not object to their
responses being made public, this public version of the results does not in
general identify specific libraries, although some larger libraries are named
where it seemed appropriate.
Users of visual arts libraries Most
respondents indicated that their major user groups were their own staff and
students, however large public institutions such as the State Library of New
South Wales and the National Library have a very large potential user base made
up of members of the public and researchers.
| User group identified by responding
library |
Number of libraries identifying this as a user
group |
| Staff |
27 |
| Students |
25 |
| Volunteer guides |
5 |
| Members of the public |
17 |
| Researchers |
10 |
Other user groups mentioned in responses include art dealers,
gallery members, independent scholars, government bodies and special researcher
groups such as genealogists.
Size of user population Libraries serving
whole communities counted the total population as potential users. Actual user
numbers ranged up to 2,000 regular users at one educational institution, while
some libraries of small galleries serve only a small number of onsite staff.
Many thousands of people visit the research libraries of some larger public
institutions each year.
Collections The major collections identified
in the survey are those of state galleries and other cultural institutions. In
some cases collection statistics and detailed collection information are
available on the institution's site. Some large institutions are not in a
position to estimate with any accuracy the proportion of the total collection
which is visual arts- related.
Monographs Some regional galleries report monograph
holdings of only a few hundred volumes. The largest monograph collection in an
arts-specific institution was that at the National Gallery of Australia
(125,000 volumes). A further 9 institutions identified visual arts collections
of 30,000 or more monographs.
Journals Most libraries reported no holdings of
electronic journals, apart from those which are part of major library systems
such as universities or state libraries, where large numbers of electronic
titles are subscribed to on an institution-wide basis. Print journal
holdings were quite extensive in some cases, with 12 libraries reporting over
500 titles (although some of these are general, not subject-specific,
collections), and a further seven holding 101-500 journals. Art libraries
within universities or major galleries reported the largest journal holdings of
art-related titles.
| Number of journal titles |
Number of libraries reporting
holdings |
| 0 or no response |
5 |
| 1-50 |
6 |
| 51-100 |
6 |
| 101-500 |
7 |
| 501 + |
12 |
Photographs Five collections of over 100,000 photographs
were reported. These include the collections of the National Library, the State
Library of New South Wales, and the Australian War Memorial. The majority
of respondents did not have photographic collections, and several others hold
photographs but do not have a count of because they are only held as part other
collections such as ephemera.
Digital images Only 11 libraries have any digital image
collections, and of these only the Australian War Memorial, the State Library
of New South Wales and the National Library had over 10,000 images. Such
collections are not always within the library within an institution - they may
be held in an academic department within a university, or in a library separate
from main library.
Slides A number of libraries have extensive slide
collections. In all, 17 of the responding institutions have slide collections,
and as with digital images, the collections are sometimes outside the library.
Six institutions reported slide collections of over 50,000 items.
Film/video All but five respondents had some film and/or
video in their collections, although the majority of the collections are quite
small. The majority of collections (17) contain less than 1,000 titles. Only
Film Australia, the State Library of New South Wales, and the National Library
reported collections of over 5,000 film/video items.
Other collections, including guerilla resources Original
art works or prints are held in a number of institutions. Manuscript
collections in institutions such as major libraries include some collections of
relevance to the visual arts, and the National Gallery of Australia has a very
significant archive collection (150 shelf metres). Some libraries hold very
extensive collections of guerrilla resources, including sales and exhibition
catalogues (14 libraries), biography files (nine libraries) and press clippings
(11 libraries). Some libraries estimate their ephemera collections contain over
a million items.
Access While many libraries have public
catalogue access to their monograph and serial collections, access to more
ephemeral material is problematic. In many cases guerilla resources are
accessible only by physical access to the collections. This usually means they
are organised alphabetically by artist or other subject. Printed or online
lists of items in the grey literature collections are uncommon. Those libraries
which are part of major institutions often have their monograph and serial
collections fully catalogued, but ephemera is catalogued only at collection
level if at all. There are a variety of ad-hoc arrangements in place also - one
library reports retrieval by "ISYS text retrieval across Word documents" and
another major library indicates that while some material is on RAAM, there are
no staff to continue the work, and volunteers are doing some listings.
Just over half the respondents would like to increase the levels of use of
their guerilla collections. Libraries which do not want to encourage access are
those which operate for the use of staff only, or are not "public" libraries.
There are a variety of reasons why libraries are reluctant to encourage more
use of materials, apart from general access policies. These include security
concerns, a lack of space for visitors, a lack of staff resources, damage to
items in the past and copyright.
Australian visual arts databases ARTEX (NGA) is made
available by Discovery Media's subscription AVAD service. The AustArt database
is freely available through the COFA site, but few people know about it. Some
other databases constructed by art libraries are for internal use only.
Subject areas represented in responding
libraries The list below indicates those subject areas specifically
named in survey responses. It is by no means a comprehensive list of the
subjects covered in all responding libraries, and the areas overlap, being a
combination of format and subject. Some libraries simply indicated that they
had "all" subjects.
| Subject area |
No. of libraries |
Subject area |
No. of libraries |
| Aboriginal art |
3 |
Fine arts |
11 |
| Antiquities |
1 |
Furniture |
2 |
| Architecture |
4 |
Glass |
2 |
| Art education |
1 |
Graphic arts |
2 |
| Art history |
2 |
Jewellery |
1 |
| Art theory |
3 |
Local/family history |
1 |
| Artists |
1 |
Maritime history |
1 |
| Asian art |
1 |
Media arts |
1 |
| Australian art |
2 |
Metalwork |
1 |
| Ceramics |
3 |
Military |
1 |
| Contemporary art |
2 |
Ocenaia |
1 |
| Craft arts |
4 |
Painting |
4 |
| Dance |
3 |
Photography |
12 |
| Decorative arts |
4 |
Performing arts |
1 |
| Design |
8 |
Printmaking |
4 |
| Digital art |
1 |
Prints |
1 |
| Drama |
1 |
Sculpture |
6 |
| Drawings |
1 |
Textiles |
3 |
| European art |
1 |
Tribal art |
1 |
| Fashion |
2 |
TV/broadcasting |
1 |
| Film |
2 |
Wood |
1 |
Comments on significant items not accessible
A small number of respondents commented on known collections which are not
readily accessible. It was noted that some early Australian databases in the
field are no longer available, such as AARTI (National Gallery of Australia,
database ceased 1985) and Artsdoc (Australia Council, database ceased 1988).
The Trendall collection at Latrobe University, which is not held in the Library
nor represented in the Latrobe Library catalogue, is an example of a major
collection which is not widely accessible. The collection, of over 9,000
monographs and other materials, is not available for loan, under the conditions
of the bequest to the University (the collection is housed in the A. D.
Trendall Research Centre for Ancient Mediterranean Studies, and is only
accessible to honours and postgraduate students and staff). See
http://www.latrobe.edu.au/trendall/library.htm for details and catalogue
access.
Several libraries commented that the collections in state gallery
libraries should all be listed in the National Bibliographic Database, because
these are valuable public collections which are often not well known nor easily
accessible.
Participation in the Australian Libraries
Gateway
| Entry in ALG |
Number |
| Yes |
25 |
| No |
7 |
| No response |
4 |
Most of the organisations not represented in ALG are smaller local
galleries, and a number of these said they were not aware of ALG. 16
libraries indicated that they have updated their ALG entries within the last 12
months. 12 libraries have not updated their entry, and the remainder did not
indicate if their entry has been updated. Ten libraries have included
information about subject collecting levels in their ALG entries. 11 libraries
include collection highlights in their ALG entries.Usefulness of Australian
Libraries Gateway 13 libraries commented that ALG was a useful tool.
In particular, there were comments about the usefulness of the
digitisation pages, contact details for libraries, and the links to web
catalogues. Comments include: "a widely used and valuable resource"
"excellent" "use it frequently" "useful if the entries are up to
date"
There were also comments about desired improvements to ALG. These
include requests for:
- Keyword searching of all fields (2 responses asked for
this)
- Improved / clearer terminology
- More information on guerilla resources
- Ability to search on the name of library system used
- Boolean search on all fields
- Improved subject search (3 responses
- Simpler editing
Bibliographic control of collections
| % of collection catalogued or
listed |
Number of responses |
| 100 |
6 |
| 80-99 |
11 |
| 50-79 |
1 |
| All except ephemera / guerilla collections |
11 |
| Most of collection uncatalogued / unlisted |
2 |
| No response |
5 |
It is common for guerilla collections to be uncatalogued. A number
of the libraries reporting a high level of bibliographic control of their
collections qualified their response with a note that ephemera is uncatalogued.
Automated library systems All but 12 libraries
responding to the survey have an automated library system. Systems in use
include:
| System |
Number of responses |
| Advance |
1 |
| Alice |
1 |
| DB/Textworks |
2 |
| Dynix |
3 |
| ExLibris |
2 |
| First |
2 |
| Horizon |
3 |
| inhouse |
1 |
| Innopac |
3 |
| MetaMARC |
1 |
| Spydus |
1 |
| UNICORN |
1 |
| Virtua |
1 |
| Voyager |
2 |
Those libraries without library systems were all smaller local or
regional galleries.
Quite a number of libraries also have supplementary systems or
methods for maintaining control over parts of their collections. These include:
Card catalogues Filemaker Pro DB/Textworks MySQL AWAIRS
and some inhouse systems
Cataloguing standards The use of MARC and
AACR2 is common, and 21 libraries mentioned these standards. A small number of
respondents mentioned DDC, Dublin Core or specialised subject headings.
Six libraries reported that they make some use of the Australian
Pictorial Thesaurus, although only two of these use it for subject headings in
their catalogue.
Online catalogue availability 21 libraries
make their catalogue available over the Internet, while five reported that it
is available online only within their institutions. The remaining libraries do
not have an online catalogue.
Participation in the National Bibliographic Database and
Interlibrary loans NBD 17 respondents add data to the
NBD, 11 do not, and eight did not respond to this question. Those not
participating in the NBD indicate that cost (three responses) and insufficient
staff resources (seven responses) are the major reasons, although two also
believed that it was unnecessary because they hold no unique materials. Two
libraries are concerned about possible interlibrary loan workloads.
Interlibrary loans 24 libraries provide interlibrary loans. The
libraries not providing ILL cite limited staff resources, or a lack of demand
for ILL, as the reasons. Three libraries did not respond. Three of those
providing ILLs do so almost exclusively to other TAFE libraries, but most
others have no restrictions on ILL, although pictorial material is generally
not lent except for exhibition purposes. Only 11 of the respondents use the
Kinetica Document Delivery system. Seven respondents report that
interlibrary loans are increasing, while ten others have seen no change in the
level of ILL over recent years. Only the National Library reported a decreasing
level of ILL, although the State Library of NSW reports that traffic is now
steady after a period of decline.
Use of databases
Australian databases
| Database |
Number of responses reporting
use |
| APAIS |
15 |
| AustArt |
12 |
| AVAD |
7 |
| AUSTROM (compilation) |
2 |
| AMOL |
3 |
| APAFT |
4 |
| HERA |
2 |
| NATSIVAD |
2 |
A wide variety of other databases are mentioned by single
respondents. These include: RAAM, NATSIVAD, Australian Education Index, ACMI
and ARCH.
11 libraries did not answer this question, and three said they do
not use online databases. In several cases cost was mentioned as the reason for
not accessing online databases, apart from those available at no charge.
Overseas databases
| Database |
Number of responses reporting
use |
| Art Abstracts |
6 |
| Art Bibliographies Modern |
9 |
| Bibliography of the History of Art |
6 |
| Grove Dictionary of Art |
5 |
| AMICO |
2 |
| Design and Applied Arts Index |
7 |
Other overseas databases mentioned include general indexes such as
ABI Inform and Expanded Academic Index, as well as specialist files such as
auction house sites and the International Index of the Performing Arts, and a
variety of art price and auction databases.
12 libraries indicated that the cost of some overseas databases
means they are unable to make use of such resources. The Grove Dictionary of
Art was named by some respondents, as was the Art Full Text file. Some
libraries have no funds for overseas database access, and even libraries in
large institutions report that cost limits their access to overseas databases.
15 libraries indicated an interest in joining a consortium to negotiate
database access, although participation would depend on the cost.
There were no suggestions for titles of Australian art journals to
be indexed in online databases. A single respondent mentioned Encore magazine,
which is a film industry title (a very limited number of articles from Encore
are indexed in APAIS), and another respondent expressed interest in Ceramics
Technical. Respondents also suggested that newspaper indexing needed attention,
and that more retrospective indexing of journals already indexed would be
useful.
Other online resources Other online resources used by
survey respondents include online image collections, full text journals,
publishers' sites, booksellers' sites, tables of contents services and
dictionaries and maps. One library made suggestions about some reference titles
which would be useful online resources. 25 libraries reported they do not
encounter difficulties in accessing online resources. The most common complaint
among other respondents was the poor quality of some online images, and
software/hardware problems.
AustArt indexing 22 libraries are not in a position to
assist with AustArt indexing, with some of those noting that the reason is
staff shortages. Only two libraries responded with actual suggestions for
journals they may be able to index for the database.
Six libraries indicated that might be able to offer some
assistance, but one of those noted that they are short-staffed anyway so unable
to see what help they can provide. Eight respondents did not answer this
question.
Resource sharing Ten libraries indicated they have
resources they would like to be able to share, although at this stage are
unable to do so because of a lack of resources (staff, appropriate software,
funds). These include indexes to specific journals, and other potential
database products.
Subject Gateways Only eight respondents make
use of Australian subject gateways, and the same number use overseas subject
gateways.
PictureAustralia 20 respondents are current
users of PictureAustralia, and 11 are not. The remainder of respondents did not
answer this question.
| Are you interested in participating in
PictureAustralia as a contributor in the future |
Number of respondents |
| Yes |
12 |
| No |
11 |
| Existing contributor |
5 |
| No response |
8 |
Digitisation 12 respondents have digitised at
least some parts of their library collection. Five did not respond to this
question, and 19 have not digitised any resources.
Digitisation standards There is no obvious standard in
use. Some respondents were unaware of the standards in use in their
institution, and other institutions are still working on an inhouse standard.
The National Library makes its digitisation information available online at
http://www.nla.gov.au/digital/capture.html
Availability of digitised resources Only six
organisations make their digitised images available outside their institution.
They include the Australian War Memorial, the National Gallery of Australia,
the National Library and the State Library of New South Wales. Access is
either via the website or the library catalogue, and the organisations above
are also in PictureAustralia. Some organisations which do not make their images
generally available will make images available upon request.
Suggestions for discussion areas at the 2004
Forum Suggestions put forward by respondents were:
- Prioritising/identifying resources with a view to seeking
cooperation and funding for digitisation or online database projects
- Ways of cooperating
- Joint projects
- Approaching vendors about database pricing to suit small
libraries
- The need for a visual arts gateway
- Access to guerilla resources
- ALG potential and enhancements
- National standard for digitisation
- The high cost of images from some PictureAustralia
providers
- Copyright
- Standards for the description of pictorial material/images
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