Dear Margaret and all ARLIS Colleagues,
I am puzzled by the lack of formal announcement by the Getty Foundation
regarding their eventual withdrawal of support for the BHA & Avery.
Terence Ford as Head of Research Databases did send two emails that I
saved - Jan. 22, 2009 and April 30. This may be as formal as it gets. I
will forward Mr. Ford's 1/22/09 email to ARLIS-L for ease of access for
those who deleted it. Please read his email - it explains some of the
difficulties of maintaining databases. I think both emails slipped under
the radar of extremely busy librarians coping with budget and personnel
cuts. Or perhaps we figured there was nothing we can do about the
situation. But I urge the Executive Board of ARLIS to at least state our
professional concern and encourage the executive boards of CAA, CAAH,
SAH, AASL, to inform the Getty how crucial these databases are to
research. I am surprised that the membership has not heard any comments
from our Executive Board besides that of Ted Goodman, general editor of
the Avery Index, in regards to Columbia University supporting the Avery
(5/6/09).
The is NOTHING which is comparable to the BHA database: the database
contains more than 590,000 records drawn from 1,400 journals, as well as
books, conference proceedings, essays, exhibition catalogues, selected
art dealers’ catalogues, doctoral dissertations and microform
publications. Records feature detailed abstracts in English or French.
As I pointed out in my email of 5/28/09: JSTOR regularly indexes only 26
architecture titles (as opposed to Avery's 700 journals including
several American architecture journals from their inception in the 19th
century), 106 Art & Art History journals, and 37 archaeology titles. Art
Abstracts states it covers 506 art publications. In 2008, the Arts &
Humanities Citation Index (ISI Web of Knowledge) covered only 3 journals
in Greco-Roman Archaeology, 66 art history journals, and 22 architecture
journals.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Ford for all of his
contributions to the Bibliography of the History of Art and the Avery
Index as the Head of Research Databases, Getty Research Institute and
express the sincere hope that the BHA (International Bibliography of
Art) will survive.
Sincerely,
Jet M. Prendeville, Art/Architecture Librarian
Rice University
[log in to unmask]
Margaret Ericson wrote:
> Hello All.
>
> I'm wondering if there has been any attempt to find out if BHA will be
> archived in any way at all in electronic form. What about all the
> collaborators (editors) in the enterprise of creating BHA? Will the
> entire project be dismantled? Given all the money we've given to the
> database vendors of BHA over the years...we should have something to
> show for this. Many of us have purged our print indexes based on the
> stability of this database. ARLIS, CAA, and other scholarly art
> societies should put their heads together to find a solution to this
> problem. There have been many initiatives to electronically archive
> e-journals. What about the databases that access these e-journals?
>
> Maybe I am misunderstanding the way that the markets work however.
> Has anyone contacted CSA, for example, to find out if there is any
> possibility of taking over the database...currently they vend it
> (along with Artbibliographies Modern).
>
> Perplexed in Maine.
>
> Margaret Ericson, Art and Music Librarian, Colby College.
>
>
> At 02:49 PM 5/29/2009, Ruth Thomas wrote:
>> As I begin drastic weeding of our print reference collection (the
>> reference area is metamorphosizing into an information commons--read
>> computers), the news of the possible demise of BHA and maybe Avery as
>> well gives me pause: how many of the electronic counterparts of major
>> indexes, encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc. can I count on being
>> around for future scholars and students? And I thought my project was
>> a piece of cake!
>>
>>
>>
>> Ruth S. Thomas
>> Archaeology, Art, Art History, Classics Bibliographer
>> Mugar Memorial Library
>> Boston University
>> 771 Commonwealth Ave.
>> Boston, MA 02215
>> (617)353-3770
>>
>> On Fri, 29 May 2009, ARLIS-L automatic digest system wrote:
>>
>>
>> [NON-Text Body part not included]
>>
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>
__________________________________________________________________
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:
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