hello everyone.  below are the minutes from the first meeting of the
Electronic Resources Discussion Group associated with ARLIS/NY held at the
Frick Art Reference Library on Friday, November 15, 2002.  the next
Electronic Resources Discussion Group is tentatively scheduled for February
or March of 2003.  Angela Graven has volunteered to hold the meeting at
Christie's [http://www.christies.com] and will be emailing information about
the upcoming meeting soon.  The topic for the next meeting is electronic
auction resources.  i would like to thank everyone who attended the first
meeting and would like to encourage others to join the next meeting.  we
have a great start.  let us keep it going.  if you are interested in being
added to the Electronic Resources Discussion Group email list, let me know.

Suz Massen
Assistant Reference Librarian for Electronic Resources
Frick Art Reference Library
The Frick Collection
10 East 71st Street
New York, NY 10021
212.547.0661
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Electronic Resources Discussion Group - ARLIS/NY - Meeting Minutes

November 15, 2002

Frick Art Reference Library
10 East 71st Street (between Madison and Fifth Avenues near Central Park)
New York, NY 10021-4967

Attendance

Sherman Clarke - Chief of Original Cataloging, New York University
Catherine Cooney - Assistant Librarian, Marquand Library of Art and
Archeology, Princeton University
Angela Graven - Associate Librarian, Christie's
Mariko Iida - Reference Associate, Frick Art Reference Library
Suz Massen - Assistant Reference Librarian for Electronic Resources, Frick
Art Reference Library
Evalyn Stone - Serials Librarian, Watson Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Deborah Vincelli -Electronic Resources Librarian, Hazen Center, Watson
Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Renee Watson - Electronic Resources Associate, Hazen Center, Watson Library,
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Cynthia Wolff - Collections Management Librarian, Museum of Modern Art

Introduction

The first meeting of the Electronic Resources Discussion Group [ERDG]
associated with ARLIS/NY was hosted at the Frick Art Reference Library of
The Frick Collection on Friday, November 15, 2002, from 3-5 in the
afternoon.  The ERDG was organized to create a forum in which librarians and
other library professionals can discuss electronic resources in relation to
art institutions, art libraries, and art research.  The first meeting acted
as an exploratory meeting to allow interested participants to get to know
each other and discuss important or new electronic resources that their
institutions use to fulfill their information needs.  This open discussion
was followed by a discussion about the future of the ERDG.  Refreshments
were served in the penthouse kitchen of the Frick Art Reference Library,
which has a lovely view of Central Park.

Open Discussion on Electronic Resources

New York Times Backfile

Deborah Vincelli got the discussion going with mention of the recent
acquisition of the New York Times Backfile database by the Thomas J. Watson
Library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art [MET].  The NYT Backfile database
accesses full text of the New York Times from 1851-1999 in the form of Adobe
Acrobat PDF image files.  Evalyn Stone stressed the importance of her
negotiation skills when she negotiated the acquisition of the NYT Backfile
from the vender ProQuest.  Stone stressed the user population of the MET to
ProQuest as a way of reducing the cost of the database.  Price for the NYT
Backfile is strongly associated with number of users allowed to access the
database at one time and by the number of locations where the database would
be available.  This brought up a reoccurring theme of the importance of good
negotiation skills, which was set aside for a possible topic at a later
meeting of the ERDG.  A short discussion of search strategies and accuracy
within the NYT Backfile followed the discussion of the database.  Suz Massen
mentioned that when the Frick Art Reference Library had a trial subscription
to the NYT Backfile it was sometimes difficult to retrieve relevant
articles.  Vincelli mentioned that the default search function without
Boolean operators is a relative adjacency search.

ProQuest - Historical Newspapers - New York Times Backfile
http://www.il.proquest.com/products/pt-product-HistNews.shtml

Westchester Academic Library Directors Organization - WALDO

The discussion of negotiating contracts with vendors lead to the mention of
the Westchester Academic Library Directors Organization [WALDO].  This
consortium offers electronic databases at reduced prices through the
Metropolitan New York Library Council [METRO] to METRO members.

METRO - Information Technology
http://www.metro.org/inf_services.html#4

WALDO
http://www.metro.org/inf_services.html#4

Auction Resources

Catherine Cooney asked the participants for information on electronic
auction resources since she is searching for ones that would be suitable for
the Marquand Library of Art and Archeology at Princeton University.  A
discussion of Artnet.com, Artprice.com, Artfact.com, and the Art Sales Index
followed.  It was agreed that Artnet.com was the best for image access since
many of the other databases do not include an extensive amount of images.
Angela Graven brought to everyone's attention that Artnet.com offers monthly
usage reports for your account and now offers IP address restriction.
Artfact.com was mentioned as an important resource since it is the only
database that covers decorative arts.  Graven mentioned that Artfact.com is
good for decorative arts but is weak in covering fine arts.  Many
participants noted the difficulty of retrieving accurate results in
Artfact.com due to the cumbersome search interface.  Graven also mentioned
that Art Sales Index has the most comprehensive coverage going back to the
1920's for Christie's and Sotheby's.  Artprice.com was discussed for its
comprehensive coverage.  It drawbacks were mentioned as being a clunky
interface and no images.  It is noted for offering access to biographical
and signature information for select artists.

Artnet.com
http://www.artnet.com

Artprice.com
http://www.artprice.com

Artfact.com
http://www.artfact.com

Art Sales Index
http://www.art-sales-index.com

Art Market Research

Deborah Vincelli mentioned that the MET had received promotional material
for an application called Art Market Research and asked for Graven's opinion
on the resource.  Some of the other participants had received material on
this resource as well and were trying to figure out its significance as
appraisal software.  Graven mentioned her option that it was a waste of
money since it performs tasks that professional appraisers already know how
to do.  The general consensus was that it did not appear to be helpful based
on trial runs using the software.  Graven stated that the cost is about
$5000 a year.

Art Market Research
http://www.artmarketresearch.com

Askart.com

Suz Massen asked Deborah Vincelli and others about the resource Askart.com,
which indexes over 27,000 American artists.  This website use to be
completely free but now requires a subscription to access image gallery
details and auction record details.  Vincelli said that the MET does not
promote this database much, and Renee Watson mentioned that they are still
collecting statistics on its usage.  Catherine Cooney was not impressed with
the quality of information offered by Askart.com.  There was a general
concern for the accuracy of information on the website since it relies
heavily on its users supplying it with new information.

Askart.com
http://www.askart.com

Research Assistance Software

Cynthia Wolff asked participants about research software such as Endnote.
The Museum of Modern Art is interested in acquiring research software to
allow researchers to output entries from its OPAC into bibliographic form.
Endnote allows users to compile bibliographies and search using Z39.50
software.  Sherman Clarke mentioned that Procite could also be used to
compile bibliographies.  Deborah Vincelli mentioned that some researchers
use the software Filemaker Pro to compile bibliographic information.  Wolff
talked about Endnote costing $169 per user and that it takes some time to
set up to make sure it is compatible with existing computer systems.  One
last point that was brought up on the discussion was that Thompson ISI
Researchsoft now owns both Endnote and Procite.  Clarke also mentioned a
web-based bibliographic tool called Refworks.

Endnote
http://www.endnote.com

Procite
http://www.procite.com

Filemaker Pro
http://www.filemaker.com

Refworks
http://www.refworks.com

Future of the ERDG

A consensus among participants was to meet quarterly [seasonally] to discuss
electronic resources.  Each meeting will be hosted by a different
institution and will have a specific topic of discussion announced prior to
the meeting.  Angela Graven volunteered to host the next meeting at
Christie's.  She wants to discuss auction resources in depth.  The meeting
is tentatively scheduled for February or March of 2003.  Deborah Vincelli,
Evalyn Stone, and Renee Watson volunteered to host the following meeting at
the Thomas J. Watson Library of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in April or
May of 2003.  The tentative topic is digital imaging, digital image
databases, and digital image projects.  Sherman Clarke suggested that for
the meeting on digital imaging that the Visual Resources Association local
chapter be notified.  He also mentioned possible running a joint discussion
group in the future with the Catalogers Discussion Group.  Finally, the
topics fielded from interested participants in September were reviewed and
additions to the list were made.

ERDG Topics List

- cataloging websites

- comparison of the electronic resources different libraries find useful

- library consortiums for accessing and purchasing electronic resources

- comparison of vendor interfaces

- negotiating contracts with vendors

- how to communicate library needs to vendors

- technology issues - software and hardware

- auction research using electronic resources

- user education

- new and updated electronic resources

- what electronic resources do users request and find helpful

- electronic resources access issues

- image databases

- cross-disciplinary electronic resources

- digitization of collections


Angela Graven will be emailing everyone soon about the next ERDG meeting to
be held in February or March

If you are interested in being added to the ERDG email list and/or attending
upcoming meetings, email Suz Massen at [log in to unmask]

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