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Dear Linda: I can't tell from your email address where you are located, but if there is an art museum library in the area--or a college or art school art library--I would call to make an appointment with the art librarian and see if it's possible to arrange an internship. If an internship (during which you would do some professional or paraprofessional work under the librarian's supervision) isn't available, you might be able to simply volunteer--but be sure that you let the librarian know what your career interests are so that he or she will see to it that you experience a variety of art-library specific jobs so that you get a taste of what it would be like to actually work professionally in such a setting. An internship will have somewhat more value on the resume, but volunteering is good too, especially if you can work on some interesting projects. Many art libraries have backlogs of artists' ephemera to file--and more often now they are planning on putting their artists' files online in some manner. You might be able to assist with something like that. If I had to pick just one or two library courses of importance to art librarianship, I would say that cataloging, especially subject cataloging, is most important to the understanding of issues in art librarianship. This is true even if you never work as a cataloger in a library, as a knowledge of cataloging will also assist you in reference work. The whole area of cataloging is somewhat in flux right now and it will be important, no matter what type of library job you land, to understand what is going on in that area. Let all of your teachers know that you have a special interest in art librarianship and work with them to choose special projects and research papers for your courses that are within the area of art history. Become familiar with the bibliography of the history of art as well as the electronic resources. Hopefully, your required bibliography courses will expose you to basic art historical resources--journals as well as books. If you have access to them, familiarize yourself with auction catalogs. (There is really no substitute here for working in an art library or a library that has a strong art collection so that you will have everyday access to and experience with these resources.) Learn as much about (and practice using) electronic resources and technology, especially imaging and database technologies. And yes, take more art history courses. An actual degree in art history will make you more competitive in this job market. Become a student member of ARLIS/NA. Find out if there is a local ARLIS chapter that you can join and go to as many meetings as you can--even if it means driving out of your local area to get there, at least occasionally. There's a new student group within ARLIS that is beginning to be active. One of the best things you can do for yourself is to attend a national conference. The next one is in Banff and the one after that is in Atlanta. They are in a different city every year and one is bound to turn up eventually near you. You may have to stretch your student dollars to participate in some of these things but it will be an excellent investment in your career--and you'll have fun too! (There are numerous ARLIS travel scholarships available at the national and the chapter level.) These activities will expose you to all kinds of resources, not the least of which will be art librarians who can mentor you throughout the process. This last may be the best advice I can give you. Of course subscribing to ARLIS-L (which is free) will automatically expose you to a lot of these things--so stay tuned in! Good luck! Joan Benedetti [log in to unmask] ----- Original Message ----- From: Linda Gorney To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Friday, April 08, 2005 8:38 AM Subject: [ARLIS-L] Request for advice to an aspiring art librarian Hi List - I am a new student in a library science program. I would like to get into art librarianship and I have done some primary research - google searches, the ALA and Arlis websites. I also have a masters degree in printmaking, so I have an o.k. art history background. (Although I would like more) My question is a bit general for the art librarians out there: Since I just started my program (this semester), can anyone give me suggestions on how to make my MLS experience more art-centric. My major concern is that this program is so SHORT and I want to make the most of it! What aspects of Library Science are NEEDED in an art library? Thanks so much in advance for the advice! -Linda Gorney [log in to unmask] __________________________________________________________________ Mail submissions to [log in to unmask] For information about joining ARLIS/NA see: http://www.arlisna.org//membership.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 (Kerri Scannell) at: [log in to unmask] __________________________________________________________________ Mail submissions to [log in to unmask] For information about joining ARLIS/NA see: http://www.arlisna.org//membership.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 (Kerri Scannell) at: [log in to unmask]