On Thu, 10 May 2001 10:28:38 EDT, Judy Donovan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Dear ARLIS Folks:
>
>I want to thank all of you who responded to my question about typical art
>reference questions.  My presentation at the graduate
>Library School went very well largely due to the information I received
>from ARLIS members.
>
>Several people suggested using Philip Pacey's "How Art Students Use
>Libraries" (Art Libraries Journal, Spring 1982, pp33-38)
>which I used as a springboard for my lecture.  How I wish Philip Pacey
>would write an update to this if only to prove that life
>in art libraries has changed very little!
>
>Also suggested was  Deirdre Stam's "How Art Historians Look for
>Information" (Art Documentation, Fall 1997, v16 #2, p.27-30).
>
>After looking at all the questions, I was able to categorize them for the
>students, then read examples of real questions.  Then I went into specific
>reference sources for handling each type.
>
>The categories are:
>IMAGE REQUESTS--or the I-need-a-picture-of questions
>REQUESTS FOR EXAMPLES OF  ARTIST/DESIGNER/ARCHITECT's WORK (a more
specific
>version of image requests)
>BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION REQUESTS for people in the arts
>BUILDING QUESTS: need for site plans, elevations interiors, photos,
history
>of buildings
>ART HISTORICAL QUESTIONS:  who painted x?  who were the impressionists?
>PROVENANCE QUESTIONS: what's this object worth? who made it? has it sold
at
>Auction for what price?
>
>Below I've excerpted the actual questions and listed what institution they
>came from. This was useful to the students in pointing out how museum
>questions might differ from academic library and public library
>questions.  There were also some hilarious anecdotes that I've included as
>well, and, were well received by the students.
>
>  So here goes:
>
>"TYPICAL" QUESTIONS ASKED IN ART LIBRARIES (from ARLIS listserve)
>
>FROM DARTMOUTH COLLEGE:
>"Where is your section on..." e.g. Michelangelo, or contemporary
sculptors,
>or Japanese art, etc. That is, something that is not made easy by the LC
>classification scheme. People want to be able to browse all their books on
>a subject, and not in several different places by artistic medium.
>*Why aren't all books on art in the Art Library? i.e. why don't
>non-Western/non-Asian art, ancient art, etc have N call numbers? (in a
>system with branch libraries).
>Why isn't the Library of Congress call number identical in all libraries
>for a particular book?
>
>FROM JACKSONVILLE STATE UNIVERSITY:
>"How do I look up books on an artist when I don't know
>the title or author? I get this one all the time from upperclassmen.
>
>FROM WOODRUFF ART CENTER:
>The usual one in an art and design school of course is "Do you have a
>picture of .....?/I need a picture of...". These have ranged from a man in
>a spacesuit to a line drawing of wood screw to a picture of a Conestoga
>wagon to 1960s fashion trends.
>
>Another common question is for information on a local or currently
>practicing artist about whom little has ever been written in major art
>magazines. We have an registry for Georgia artists in the same building and
>have resorted to referring students there or to contacting the artist
>directly.
>
>A typical undergraduate question is "I need some information on Picasso (or
>whomever)". This is truly an exercise in the reference interview since the
>student has grasped onto a name and knows very little if anything on the
>artist in question other than the name. Thanks goodness for Grove's
>Dictionary of Art as a starting point
>
>FROM UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN:
>I'm sure you'll get a lot of responses like this one, but when I was a
>reference assistant at Kohler Art Library at University of Wisconsin,
>Madison, my favorite questions always involved the general public. I
>got many calls about identifying artists, and giving past auction sale
>values (though I'd always refer them to the yellow pages "appraisals" if
>they wanted to know more about the value of their
>print/painting/ceramic.) My absolute favorite was the woman who had
>found a Gainsborough portrait in her local antiques store. I told her
>that the portrait was in London, and her response was "so you think it's
>stolen?!"
>
>FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART:
>I think the most typical question we get from non-Museum staff is a
>variation on "I found this painting/print/sculpture in my Aunt Annie's
>closet/attic/basement. Where can I find information on the artist? I can't
>quite make out the signature but I think it could be ...." This is usually
>followed by "can you tell me what it's worth?", which is a question we are
>not allowed to answer (Museum policy).
>
>FROM LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, Prints & Photographs Division
>Where is the bathroom?
>Do you have any photographs of the Titanic sinking, the hanging
>gardens of Babylon, Jesus, etc.
>If something takes place in 1865, why do we call it the 19th
>century?
>Why can't I xerox these fine prints by Durer and Rembrandt?
>Seriously, we do get a lot of very good reference collections, but
>they are all related to our division's collections (i.e. original
>prints, drawings, photographs, etc.), so they might be too narrow for
>your purposes.
>
>FROM FRICK FINE ARTS LIBRARY, PITTSBURGH
>Where can I find a list of exhibitions showing in London (insert other
>cities)?
>My great aunt recently died and we are cleaning out her house. We found a
>print (insert painting) by _______.Who was this artist? How valuable is
>the print (painting)?
>Requests for information on local artists, buildings, architects. In Pgh
>people have to go to the Penna. Room or Art and Music Dept of the Carnegie
>Library of Pittsburgh where they have clippings files that we do not have
>the staff resources to create or duplicate.
>Where can I find an image of ---------?
>
>FROM UNIVERSITY OF MANOA, HAWAII:
>Message left on the phone machine of a colleague at 11:30am:
>
>"Please call me back before noon with all the information you have about
>the following artists: Smith, Jones, Johnson, Baker."
>[can't remember the actual artists' names, but they were far from
>distinctive names such as Picasso, and no first names, countries or time
>periods were given.]  Typical are as follows:
>
>Floor plans AND ELEVATIONS of modern houses, such as, Villa Mairea
>(Aalto), Kaufmann Desert House (Neutra), Robie House (Wright), Tugendhat
>House (Mies), etc.
>
>Information on curtain wall construction WITH WALL SECTIONS
>
>Illustrations of specific, ordinary, non-art objects, such as, baby
>carriages, barber chairs, keys
>
>Furniture from specific countries, such as, Philippines, Brazil, Kenya
>
>Construction details for water towers
>(New York School of Interior Design)
>
>FROM DELAWARE ART MUSEUM
>Ican definitely tell you what one of the most common questions I get in a
>museum library is the "I have a painting in my attic, its kind of a
>landscape with trees and houses, has some cattle in the lower right,
signed
>by CD or CB - do you have any information about it? i.e. what is it
worth?"
>I don't know if we can thank the Antiques Road Show for this but everyone
>seems to be picking through their basements and attics for any hidden
relics.
>
>FROM ONTARIO COLLEGE OF ART & DESIGN
>A reference librarian in an art & design school must be good at
>"conceptualization" and "visualization" -- asking the student to describe
>what they see in their head and then trying to put a name, a word, or an
>image to it.
>
>The most typical request is "I need a picture of...." Art & design students
>are interested in literally everything. Odd-ball questions are the norm.
>Last semester, one student wanted a picture of a fetus's ovaries for a
>painting series. We found images in our own library and in the UofT medical
>library. Another student was doing a video on rape. We sent him to the
local
>rape-crisis centre to interview counselors. Just last week a graduate
>student, who has produced large colour photographs of fishing flies, was
>looking for critical perspectives on inanimate objects and gender
>identification. In cases such as this one, neither the student nor the
>reference librarian, knows exactly what they are looking for until they see
>it or find it. Often we will show a student an article or a book and they
>will say -- "I never thought of that - it's not exactly what I wanted but
it
>will do."
>
>One of OCAD first year assignments is to find opposing viewpoints on an
>artist, an artwork, or an art movement....ie. two conflicting critical
>perspectives. The purpose of the assignment is to force students to use the
>library, the indexes, and to read a lot.
>
>I find design-related requests the most problematic. A typical request is
>for "examples" of commercial illustration by xxxxx. Unlike "fine" artists
>who exhibit and produce exhibition catalogues, commercial illustrators are
>commissioned to produce work which is not exhibited in a gallery. Unless a
>commercial illustrator is extremely well known, or at the end of his/her
>career, it is unlikely there will be a monograph on his/her work. The only
>way to locate examples is if, by chance, their work was entered in a design
>competition and appears in one of the design award annuals -- OR if they
>have a good website, or have purchased their own advertising space in
>annuals like the Blackbook or Workbook. Specialized art & design schools
>cannot afford to licence all the general-interest periodical indexes
>required to thoroughly search for a commercial illustrator's production
>
>
>FROM UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS:
>
>"I'm looking for a plan, cross-section, and elevation of XYZ building."
>"I'm trying to find information about my house. When was it built and for
>whom, who is the architect, what else has he/she done?"
>"I'm working on a historic designation nomination for my church (town hall,
>etc.). I need to know everything there is about XYX architect."
>"I'm designing a XYZ (building type) and need to see precedents. I also
>need standards, local building codes, and cost estimating information."
>"I'm researching neo-traditional neighborhoods (or XYZ urban design topic)
>and need to read about successes and failures of such neighborhoods. I
>also want to see exemplary master plans."
>"I need a scholarly article on XYZ building."
>"I'm doing a research paper about XYZ (can be a specific monument, a style,
>a time period, a construction method, a building type, an architect, a
>place, a piece of furniture, etc.). Where do I start?"
>"I'm having a house built. I'd like to see examples of "French Provincial"
>homes (or whatever style....).'
>(Once the wife of one of our Regents wanted a book about all the possible
>variations in brick laying designs so she could show her builder what she
>liked!)
>"I'm redoing my kitchen (bathroom, etc.)---can you help me find sources of
>inspiration? How about product catalogs?"
>"What is the style of the buildings on campus?"
>"Who built XYZ?"
>"I'm looking for design competitions."
>"Can you help me date this piece (furniture, lamp, etc.)?"
>
>Again, thanks to all those who contributed their questions.
>
>Judy
>
>
>
>Judy Donovan
>Design Arts Librarian
>Hagerty Library
>Drexel University
>33rd and Market Streets
>Philadelphia PA 19104
>phone: 215-895-2768
>fax:  215-895-2070
>email: [log in to unmask]
>
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