The New Art Museum Library

Amelia Nelson is the head of library and archives at the Spencer Art Reference Library in The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. With a background in public services, information literacy, and digital initiatives she has published and presented on innovative topics like using VTS in information literacy classes and local artists’ files in contemporary art classes. In her own professional practice she believes in creating innovative projects that can be replicated and adapted to fit the needs of art libraries across the country. She is inspired by the innovative work that art libraries and archives have done to share unique resources in this rich information landscape and happy that these projects and initiatives can be shared with practitioners and those considering a career in art librarianship. Traci Timmons is senior librarian at the Seattle Art Museum. In this role she manages all aspects of running two research libraries and a satellite library for the largest art museum in the Pacific Northwest: personnel management, acquisitions, cataloging, reference, research, digital collection development, maintaining and processing archives, artist files management, collection development, and grant writing. She has published on such diverse topics as early-printed books, special collections, artists’ books, classification theory, and user experience. She is passionate about the field of art librarianship, and specifically about its application in museums.

Preface

Amelia Nelson, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and Traci E. Timmons¸ Seattle Art Museum

Introduction

The Art of Transformation, Kristen Regina, Philadelphia Museum of Art

Part I. Developing, Managing, and Caring for Collections



Shelved Out of Sight: Library Spaces and Archives Storage in ArtMuseums

Jenna Stout, Saint Louis Art Museum



Cultivating Wisely: Strategies to Keep the Collection Alive and Evergreen

Doug Litts, Art Institute of Chicago



Blood on the Walls, Blood on the Shelves: Decolonizing the Art Museum Library

Courtney Becks, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign



Haptic Aesthetics: Artists’ Books in Art Museum Libraries

Anne Evenhaugen, Smithsonian Institution, American Art & Portrait Gallery Library, and Tony White, Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art



Ephemeral Survival: Managing Physical and Digital Artist File Collections

Alexandra Reigle, Smithsonian Institution, American Art & Portrait Gallery Library, and Simon Underschultz, National Gallery of Australia



Building Web Archive Collections in Art Museum Libraries

Sumitra Duncan, The Frick Collection/ New York Art Resources Consortium



Preservation and Conservation for Art Museum Library Collections: Progressive Approaches and Evolving Concepts

Beth Morris, Independent Librarian, Preservation Specialist, Book Conservator, and Scholar

Part II. Access, Outreach, and Collaboration



Prioritizing Special Collections in the Art Museum Library

Lee Ceperich, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts



The Life of the (Third-) Party (System): Integrated Library Systems and Discovery Layers

Dan Lipcan, Peabody Essex Museum



Reconsidering the Reference Collection: Using Print Art Reference Materials as Training Tools

Gwen Mayhew, Canadian Centre for Architecture, and Annalise Welte, Getty Research Institute



The State and Vision of Exhibitions in Art Museum Libraries

Carol Ng-He, San Jose State University



Evolution & Revolution: New Approaches to Art Museum Library Programming

Janice Lea Lurie, Minneapolis Institute of Art



Local Consortia and Museum Libraries: Partnering for the Future

Alba Fernandez-Keys, Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields

Part III. Personnel in the Art Museum Library



Entering the Field: Resources for Aspiring Museum Librarians

Lauren Gottlieb-Miller, The Menil Collection



Demonstrating the Value of the Art Museum Library through Strategic Volunteer and Intern Management

Traci E. Timmons, Seattle Art Museum

Part IV. Digital Landscapes in the New Art Museum Library



Digital Art History and the Art Museum Library

Stephen J. Bury, The Frick Collection



The Changing Ecologies of Museum Metadata Systems

Jonathan Lill, Museum of Modern Art



Digitization and Contributions to Digital Repositories

Bryan Ricupero, University of Wyoming, and Sophie Jo Miller, University of Wyoming



The Wikimedia Movement in the GLAM Sector

Sarah Osborne Bender, National Gallery of Art, and Carissa Pfeiffer, Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center



Getting a Seat at the Table: Art Museum Libraries as Open Access Stakeholders

Heather Saunders, The Cleveland Museum of Art

About the Editors and the Contributors

Index