To follow up on Ray Anne and Moira's postings:
Worldwide does indeed cover many of the biennials and triennials that
appear on Ray Anne's list, including titles from Echigo-Tsumari,
Guangzhou, Gwangju, Prague, Quebec, Seville, Taipei, Thessaloniki,
Valencia and Yokohama. In some cases we have been able to offer
comprehensive coverage, whereas in other cases our coverage has
admittedly been somewhat spotty.
Acquiring these publications can be particularly difficult, as Ray
Anne points out, in part because the organizers are not always
experienced in filling international orders nor willing or prepared
to take the steps necessary to do so -- and in some cases the offices
we are dealing with are only in place during the run of each
exhibition. We devote a large amount of staff time to negotiating
favorable terms and economical shipping for the benefit of our
clients (so we can keep our prices as low as possible), and must
often provide the exhibition organizers with detailed instructions
and guidance on how to pack, ship, complete customs paperwork, etc.
But even then, things can go horribly wrong.
Just this week we received (partially) a bulk shipment of the 7th
Gwangju Biennale and its companion volume. This particular publisher
requires all orders to be pre-paid, and unfortunately, despite our
careful instructions, the books were poorly packed and the boxes
broke open en route. We are now in receipt of several boxes of
severely damaged books, as well as a large number of Korean
children's books (not part of our order) that were apparently picked
off the mail-room floor and thrown together with our books. Several
parcels remain unaccounted for, and it's not clear if the publisher
will be willing or able to supply replacement copies. Unfortunately,
this experience is not unusual when trying to obtain these sorts of
biennial publications from exhibition organizers who are not
experienced in selling books, and who are not necessarily concerned
about getting their titles into library collections.
Nonetheless, we understand how important this sort of material is to
our library clients, and we do our best to offer thorough coverage as
best we can, and to investigate and pursue new biennials as they
appear (e.g., the new CAPE Biennale). However, we also recognize our
role in helping libraries separate the wheat from the chaff. Some of
the biennial catalogues we review each year are poorly produced
and/or overpriced. There are a few titles on Ray Anne's list that we
have examined and rejected from our approval plan program simply
because we did not feel confident in recommending them to our clients
at large, especially at a time when so many libraries must be
especially careful about what they purchase given the budget cuts
that many institutions are facing.
Worldwide is also working to develop a new feature on our Web site
that will allow clients to easily search our database for specific
biennials, triennials, etc., without having to enter title key words,
ISBNs or even the city of publication. We hope to have this feature
available within the next several weeks.
Sincerely,
Kelly Fiske
Worldwide Books
At 12:50 PM 4/28/2009, Moira Steven wrote:
>Hi Ray Anne:
>
>I'd work with Worldwide Books for catalogs. They often have things that
>no one else does or can search for them for you.
>
>They're at http://www.worldwide-artbooks.com/ and usually can tailor an
>approval plan that would suit your needs.
>
>Best of luck,
>Moira
>_______________________________________
>Moira Steven
>Library Director
>Joanne Waxman Library
>Maine College of Art
>522 Congress Street
>Portland, ME 04101
>207-775-5153 / [log in to unmask]
>
>"Art is never finished, only abandoned." - Leonardo da Vinci
>
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Mr. Kelly M. Fiske, President
Worldwide Books
1001 West Seneca Street
Ithaca, NY 14850 USA
Phone (607) 272-9200, ext. 16
Fax (607) 272-0239
US & Canadian orders 1-800-473-8146
www.worldwide-artbooks.com
__________________________________________________________________
Mail submissions to [log in to unmask]
For information about joining ARLIS/NA see:
http://www.arlisna.org/join.html
Send administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc)
to [log in to unmask]
ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance:
http://lsv.uky.edu/archives/arlis-l.html
Questions may be addressed to list owner (Judy Dyki) at: [log in to unmask]
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