Managing Works of Art in Non-Art Research Libraries in the United Kingdom

Abstract

This article considers the distinct challenges that works of art pose for those managing non-art specialist research libraries across the United Kingdom. Using analysis of survey and case-study interview data, the article demonstrates that current approaches to the management of art in non-art specialist research libraries are uneven in such key areas as collection management; cataloguing; storage and access; and librarianship and training. This article seeks to build consensus on best practices with respect to the management of art in libraries and proposes practical recommendations for libraries seeking to improve the care and use of the art in their collections.

Keywords:

• Cataloguing art
• managing art collections
• storing and accessing art
• works of art in libraries

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my gratitude to my University College London dissertation supervisor Dr Deborah Lee for providing expert advice, guidance, and enthusiasm throughout this research. Many thanks also to the numerous librarians who have discussed art in libraries with me over the past few years and supported my research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 For the purposes of this research, the term “art” most often refers to paintings, sculptures, prints, and drawings. However, many library collections, including some of those who participated in this study, contain works such as jewellery, clocks, and furniture which blur distinctions between “art” and “artefact.”

2 This study focuses on art collections held in libraries that do not specialize in art as its goal is to uncover practices and provide useful suggestions for institutions who do not have art at the forefront of their collections management policies, hiring decisions, and management choices, and do not have the benefit of art specialists or adjoining galleries at their disposal. Despite this decision in regard to scope, however, there is potential for application of this research in art libraries as well.

3 Refer to Appendix A for survey questions and Appendix B for interview questions.

4 As Lisa M. Given and Lianne McTavish note, historically libraries, archives, and museums were not definitively separated. The transformative potential of collaborative work between institutions that is frequently framed as a new phenomenon is therefore best understood as a “reconvergence.” See "What’s Old Is New Again: The Reconvergence of Libraries, Archives, and Museums in the Digital Age," The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy 80, no. 1 (2010): 8.