Art Libraries Section

Glasgow, Scotland 17th August 2002

Minutes I.

Present:

Jean Adelman, Svetlana Artamonova, Kerstin Assarsson-Rizzi (Chair), Jo Beglo, Jeanette Clough, Jeannette Dixon, Javier Docampo, Laura Held, Rüdiger Hoyer, Geert-Jan Koot, Sylvie Le Ray, Joyce Pellerano Ludmer, John Meriton (Secretary), Monique Nicol, Eila Ramo, Marcia Reed, Margaret Shaw, Deborah Shorley, Olga Sinitsyna, Nancy Stokes, Marie Thompson

Apologies:

Calendar of events for Art Libraries Section

The programme for the ALS was published in Newsletter, No. 50. A detailed programme for the Pre-Conference was distributed and the Chair recommended attendance at the IFLA 75th Birthday Lecture by Herman Liebaers and the poetry reading by Seamus Heaney.

IFLA Booth: Jeanette Clough volunteered to represent the ALS on the IFLA booth on Wednesday from 13.00-14.00.

Incoming President's brainstorm session. Jeannette Dixon volunteered to be the ALS note-taker at this session Wednesday 15.30 - 17.30

Report from the Chair

Communication

The Chair commented on the difficulty of maintaining active communication between Section members. She stressed the need to be «more of a group through the year». There are efficiencies to be gained from being more structured and knowing what other members are doing. This does not apply only to Standing Committee members.

The main method of communication is the IFLA-ART discussion list. It was agreed that all present should be added to the list unless they ask not to be included. Anyone may post to the list e.g. notifications for conferences, jobs etc.

Conference programme 2002

The Chair reported that no papers had been offered for the Open Session this year, which had therefore been cancelled. It was felt that the difficulty of the proposed topic was likely to have been the cause. It was agreed that both voluntary and invited speakers should be considered in future.

There was strong support for the inclusion in the programme of papers / presentations on the art and architecture of the host country.

There was some discussion of the best structure for Conference participation. IFLA discourages satellite meetings as they tend to detract from the main conference. There was some feeling that it is better that local / regional annual conferences should not be re-scheduled and that, however valuable, pre-conferencs do make attendance at IFLA very long and expensive. The ALS does have a strong programme within the IFLA programme. (See also : Future Conferences below)

Coordinating Board Meeting

The following points were reported from the CB meeting

Scheduling

In Berlin, Open Sessions will be limited to 2 hours and Standing Committee meetings to 1.5 hours. There was general concern in the CB about the limit on SC meetings and all Sections plan to request a longer period. It may also be possible for the ALS to find a location off-site.

Elections

In October there will be an advanced call for nominations for : President-Elect ; Governing Board for 2003-5 ; replacement of Standing Committee members whose terms end in 2003 in Berlin (Jeannette Dixon and Geert-Jan Koot)

Conference papers / Speakers

IFLA requires that papers be submitted in full, not just in power-point format. Some sections argue that the importance of currency of information negates this policy but it was felt that translation requirements over-ruled this for the ALS. A possible alternative is to record and transcribe a presentation.

There was discussion of the position and potential embarrassment of invited, un-registered speakers. Each division gets 1 or 2 free registrations for this purpose (Division 2 has 2 which were not used) . It was felt that invited, non-delegate speakers should be offered free registration to cover their presentation.

Section Membership

Figures for ALS membership vary significantly throughout the year because of the patterns of payment (from 50 to 103). The current figure is 103 from 19 countries.

• Elsa Barberena, Mexico
• Josephine Anderson, South Africa, has retired and Ms J.M. Truman-Baker (jtruman-baker@iziko.org.za) from the South African National Gallery (Cape Town) has been suggested as her replacement. The Section agreed to request her appointment as a corresponding member.
• Veronica Lavin, National Museum of Fine Art,Cuba, is not currently listed. The Section agreed to request her appointment.
• Mrs C. Dasri (Silpakorn University, Bangkok) was also suggested as a good candidate for Corresponding Membership . The Executive to follow this up.

Publications Report

The Publications Report was tabled.

Newsletter

Two issues of the Newsletter have been distributed, numbers 49 and 50. Re-scheduling of the publication of ALJ, which formerly distributed copies to all its subscribers, left these to be distributed by the ALS. The resulting increase in postage costs for no. 49 necessitated a reduced mailing for no.50 which was made available to ALJ subscribers electronically.

Copyright deposit libraries who request a copy are supplied. So far, only UK libraries have done so. National / regional ARLIS groups should be encouraged to copy / link the electronic version to their web-sites .

International Directory of Art Libraries

Section Leaflet

Financial Report

The Financial Report was tabled.
The Section has balances of £882.02 in administrative funds and £2292.33 in project funds for the Int. Art Libraries Directory on which no funds were expended this year. Project funds may not be used for another purpose.
The Financial Report was approved.

Future Conferences: 2003 Berlin

The Kunstgewerbemuseum der Staalichen Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz has offered its auditorium for the ALS workshop. There is a connection to the Nationalgalerie and to the Kunstbibliothek, the three comprising the Kulturforum. Lunch will be at the Kunstbibliothek. The foyer of the conference room is suitable for presentations by sponsors. The Workshop will conclude with tours of the Nationalgalerie or, alternatively, the Kunstbibliothek's special collections.

Laura Held will investigate suitable hotels in Berlin for the ALS.

Themes

• art libraries and the art trade, including sales catalogues, rare book catalogues (this could include provenance / repatriation of looted art) etc.
• the founding of academies and the building of art libraries and institutions
• practical aspects of lending library materials to exhibitions in other institutions / countries including insurance, export permissions, guarantees of return, etc.
• German art and architecture

There is potential for linking with the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section and for covering the different sectors of art librarianship.

Rüdiger Hoyer, Jeannette Dixon and Jeanette Clough agreed to meet for further discussions and to prepare a list of topics for Standing Committee 2 on Friday 23rd August.

The format of the sessions was discussed. Opinion was divided on the value of break-out sessions but the meeting appeared to favour introductory papers with break-out sessions and reporting for the workshop, provided topics chosen suited this format.

It was agreed that an evaluation form for sessions, particularly the workshop, would assist future planning.

Project Report: Imageline