ISSN 1443-0568 | no. 72 | December 2004
Arts Libraries
Society of Australia and New Zealand Biennal Conference
The biennial Arts Libraries Society of
Australia and New Zealand
(ARLIS/ANZ) Conference
was held this year at the Art Gallery of New South Wales from 8–11 September.
Taking as its theme ‘What Makes us Special? Serving the Arts as an Information
Provider’, the conference focused on a range of approaches to improving access
to the information resources held by arts libraries, and addressed the particular
challenges and opportunities that changing technologies present for librarians
in the visual arts field. Two key issues raised at the conference were the need
for slide libraries to eventually make the transition to digital databases as
a result of the phasing out of slide technology by Kodak, and how best to provide
access to ‘grey’ or ‘guerrilla’ resources in an increasingly digital environment.
The Art Gallery of NSW staff did a wonderful job of organising the conference.
A cataloguing workshop for visual arts librarians, sponsored by the NLA, was
held on the first day, and was following in the evening by the launch of the
new ARLIS/ANZ website located at <http://arlisanz.anu.edu.au/>.
A number of excellent papers were delivered over the next two days by speakers
from Australia
and New Zealand.
Particular highlights included the panel session ‘Views from the Client Side’,
where arts professionals recounted their experiences of, and approaches to,
using arts libraries, and conference reports on New York and IFLA
given by Joye Volker, Library Manager for Art, Music and New Media at the ANU,
and Margaret Shaw, Chief Librarian, National Gallery of Australia,
respectively. At the Annual General Meeting, held as part of the conference,
Linda Groom, Director of the Pictures Branch, National Library was elected to
the position of President of ARLIS/ANZ for 2005–06.
As always, the ARLIS conference provided a great opportunity to meet one’s
peers and exchange information. The opportunity to tour the Gallery’s very impressive
reference library and visit the marvellous exhibition of Imperial Chinese costume
were also greatly appreciated by conference attendees. The next ARLIS/ANZ Conference
will be held at the National Library in 2006.
—Michelle
Hetherington, Pictures Branch
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