Dear
Colleagues in Art Museums,
A dream is coming true here in Santa
Barbara! Both our Director & Chief Curator
are interested in committing money to beefing up our library collection, and
have asked me for a realistic budget estimate to begin the process of
acquiring books, especially monographs, including catalogs raisonné, to
support information on artists held in our museum collection. (Until now our
budget has been miniscule—a $300-400 dollars). Building an improved
collection of this kind will take place over years, of course, but I’d like to
get started with some significant purchases over the next 3 + years which
would make a good start.
Would any of you librarians in medium size art museums (total operating
expenses in the $4 to 7 million range) be willing to share with me some of
your budget information? IT WOULD BE KEPT CONFIDENTIAL, of course.* I realize
that the Association of Art Museum Directors prepares a statistical survey
each year, but the budget data given is only “total library budget”. What I’d
love to have is your:
·
Total
museum budget (example: Approx. $6 million).
·
Total
library budget.
·
Percentage
or amount for book acquisitions.
We hold 50,000 volumes, but many are redundant. This move will allow the
collection to be morphed into more relevance and
importance.
*I
would be happy to post the results (no museums/libraries identified) if
there is an interest in such information.
May
you all receive an equivalent boost to your morale in the coming year!
With
thanks,
Heather
Brodhead
Librarian
Constance
& George Fearing Library
Santa
Barbara Museum of
Art
www.sbma.net
1130
State Street
Santa
Barbara,
CA 93101
(805)
884-6451
Library
is open to the public Tues., Wed, Thu. 1-5 PM;
Librarian's hours 10-noon; 1-5:30 on those days.
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