What is it?
o Artists files or vertical files are files kept in art
libraries that “may contain exhibition announcements, press releases,
clippings, brochures, small exhibition catalog, or checklists, as well as
invitations or other ephemera”[1]
in relation to a specific artist. Artists files are
important to art libraries in that they provide items and objects not commonly available
in other parts of the library.
Users?
o Art
researchers, art historians, students, artists, museum staff
· Issues related to
collection access and maintenance?
o There
are issues related to both access and maintenance, generally complete artists
files are not digitized. If MARC records are created they do not list what
exactly is in each file, just give a general “this may be included” line. They
basically put in enough information so that the user at least knows that an
artists file is available in the library for that artist. In order to actually
see the information an actual visit is required.
o The
types of materials included in these files were not meant to be kept for long and
so may deteriorate more rapidly. Ideally these materials should be treated as
archival quality and so should try to be preserved using archival techniques
such as climate controlled rooms and creating copies of fragile materials such
as newspaper.
·
Bibliography
1. ARLIS/NA Artist Files Working Group, "Artist Files
Revealed: Documentation and Access," Art Libraries Society of North
America (2009-2010).
2. Boese, Kent C. “Art Ephemera: Relics of the Past, or
Treasures for Posterity?” Art
Documentation 25, no. 1 (2006): 34-7.
3. Library
Collections FAQ. (2011,
October). Retrieved from MOMA: http://www.moma.org/learn/resources/library/faq_library_collection#af
4. Slania, Heather. "Online Art Ephemera: Web Archiving at
the National Museum of Women in the Arts.” Art
Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America 32, (Spring 2013).
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