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Dear Colleagues:

I am excited to announce that the ARLIS/NA Executive Board has approved development of a Handbook of Art Museum Librarianship (a working title) for publication in the Occasional Papers Series at the end of 2005.  It will be edited by me, in consultation with Paul Glassman, O.P. Editor, and an Advisory Group of colleagues representing large, medium, and small art museum libraries—as well as a diverse range of types of art and architecture museums and professional library specializations.    

I am writing now to solicit your participation as a writer or as a contributor of policy documents or forms.  This is a project that has been discussed several times in the past within the Museum Libraries Division.  I expect that most of the contributors will come from this division.  However, we are also looking for visual resources specialists, archivists, and catalogers who work in art museum settings.   Written by art museum librarians for art museum librarians (or anyone considering working in an art museum library), the Handbook will not be a book of standards per se.  It is expected that contributors will be experienced professionals, but it is also a given that museums often present challenges that require highly creative responses.  The prospectus approved by the Board presents the Handbook as an introduction to and a reference for the full scope of activities that take place in art museum libraries, focused as exclusively as possible on what it is that makes working in an art museum unique.  Each chapter will include short, signed essays written by 2-3 art museum librarians.  It will be illustrated, will have a number of appendices, a bibliography, and an index.  I will be glad to send a copy of the prospectus to anyone who is interested in participating.

As you probably know, there are no extant books specifically about art museum libraries.  And there are only a few general articles.  Books exist on museum libraries and on art libraries, but none on art museum libraries.  Books on special libraries probably give us the most practical help—but none exist that combine the challenges of working in a special library with the blend of professional art information and art museum expertise required of you who are working in art museum libraries.  The Handbook will be the first publication of its kind.

When I started to develop the Craft and Folk Art Museum Library in Los Angeles in 1976, I looked for publications to guide me.  Twenty-eight years later, I find that there is still a large gap in the literature.  I am hoping that our Handbook will be the (completely up-to-date) guide that I—and presumably many of you—were looking for when you took your first position in an art museum library.  I am hoping that it will also be a publication you can continue to turn to when you need specialized guidance within an art museum context (e.g., for archives, visual resources, cataloging).  This is your opportunity to share with others what you have learned from your experiences working with art museum administrators, curators, educators, board members, development officers, researchers—and from your connections with ARLIS colleagues in art museums across the country.

I hope to hear from you soon.  Many thanks in advance.  Please note (below) that my email address changed a few months ago.

Yours truly,

Joan M. Benedetti

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