FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OVER 77,000 DIGITIZED WORKS OF ART COMING TO WILSONWEB
H.W. Wilson Now a Distributor of The AMICO LibraryTM

New York, NY and Pittsburgh, PA, August 8, 2001  The H.W. Wilson Company,
publisher of such art reference databases as Art Full Text, Art Index, and Art
Index Retrospective, and the Art Museum Image Consortium (AMICO) have agreed to
a distribution relationship making The AMICO LibraryTM available via WilsonWeb
beginning in Fall 2001.

The AMICO Library, an online resource of art images and related multimedia
gathered from AMICO member museums, provides educational institutions with
images and other related information to support learning in art history, the
humanities, studio art and design, and other subjects.  “The AMICO Library fits
naturally into Wilson’s existing assortment of art and biography reference
materials, and its visual quality, impressive array of content, and member
sources provide a resource that should appeal to a great deal of our existing
users,” stated Deborah Loeding, H.W. Wilson Vice President, Sales & Marketing.

Documentation and images of a range of art, such as paintings, sculpture,
prints, photographs, illustrations, arms and armor, costumes and jewelry,
decorative arts, textiles, and other works, comprise the contents of this
online resource. Works in The AMICO Library span the length of artistic
creation, from 3000 B.C. to the late 20th century, and represent a broad
cross-section of cultures from Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Africa.

Each work in The AMICO Library features at least one high-resolution digital
image, and a full description. More than simply an image database, The AMICO
Library may also include curatorial text, provenance information, details or
multiple views of the work, and other related multimedia, like sound and
video.  
All works in The AMICO Library are rights-cleared for educational use. An
agreement with Artists Rights Society (http://www.arsny.com) facilitates the
inclusion of works created by ARS-represented artists  major figures from the
20th century like Picasso, Pollock, Kandinsky, and Rothko.  This makes the
modern and contemporary content in The AMICO Library an unparalleled resource.

“Our goal is to integrate art and cultural resources into as many on-line
environments as possible. The relationship between AMICO and H.W. Wilson
enables us to connect to an entirely new user community. Broadening our reach
and scope drives AMICO Members’ enthusiasm and participation,” comments
Jennifer Trant, Executive Director of AMICO.  Ms. Trant adds, “Wilson’s plans
to integrate The AMICO Library with other Wilson resources will help us meet
our mission of enabling educational use of museum multimedia, across the
curriculum.”

The initial delivery of The AMICO Library will be as an additional database in
Wilson’s WilsonWeb offerings. Greater integration of The AMICO Library with
other Wilson research databases through hyperlinks to related content or
appropriate bibliographic citations is currently in development and Wilson
anticipates an enhanced release in 2002.

About AMICO
The Art Museum Image Consortium (AMICO) is an independent non-profit
corporation with 501 (c) 3 designation from the IRS.  Founded in 1997 with 23
Members, the Consortium today is made up of over 30 major museums in the United
States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.  It’s an innovative collaboration  not
seen before in museums  that shares, shapes, and standardizes digital
information regarding museum collections and enables its educational use. 
Membership is open to any institution with a collection of art.

AMICO Members make annual contributions of multimedia documentation of works in
their museums’ collections.  This data is compiled by AMICO and made available
as The AMICO Library to universities, colleges, schools, and public libraries
via distributors.  Potential subscribers may preview a Thumbnail Catalog of The
AMICO Library and get further information at http://www.amico.org.

About The H.W. Wilson Company
An icon in the library community, the H.W. Wilson Company has been a leading
provider of information resources for more than 100 years. The Company serves
academic, public, school, and special libraries worldwide, with more than 50
specialty databases and a wide range of reference monographs. Full-text
periodical resources, biographical databases, abstracts, and indexes are
offered on the web via WilsonWeb, on CD-ROM and in print. Popular titles
include the Readers' Guide family of references, Biography Reference Bank,
Library Literature & Information Science Full Text, The Wilson Standard Library
Catalogs, and others. A complete catalog of Wilson services is available on
request and further information is featured at http://www.hwwilson.com. 

Current List of AMICO Members:
Albright-Knox Art Gallery
Art Gallery of Ontario
Art Institute of Chicago
Asia Society Gallery
Center for Creative Photography
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute
Cleveland Museum of Art
Dallas Museum of Art
Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley College
Denver Art Museum
Detroit Institute of Arts
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
The Frick Collection and Art Reference Library
George Eastman House
J. Paul Getty Museum
The Library of Congress
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal
Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
National Gallery of Canada
National Museums of Scotland
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Philadelphia Museum of Art
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Smithsonian American Art Museum 
Walker Art Center
The Walters Art Museum 
Whitney Museum of American Art

Contact Information:
H.W. Wilson
Roseward Sky
Phone (800) 367-6770, x2272
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Web: www.hwwilson.com

AMICO
Kelly Richmond
Phone: (412) 422 8533
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Web: www.amico.org
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