This new collection of essays in art and design librarianship comes at an opportune time. It has now been 25 years since the publication of Philip Pacey's seminal A Reader in Art Librarianship (Saur, 1985), during which time there has been huge change and innovation across the sector. In the extent and depth of this change, art and design librarianship shares much with other areas of the profession. Although Art Museum Libraries and Librarianship, issued in 2007 by the Art Libraries Society of North America, was a welcome addition to the professional literature, this publication takes a deliberately cross‐sectoral look at the challenges and opportunities facing art and design librarianship today. As such, it is potentially of use to practitioners working in art schools, higher and tertiary education, museums, galleries, and professional institutions. Those working in public, state, or school libraries, however, may not be best served by this publication.
The contributors, many of them respected names within the sector, bring a diverse set of viewpoints and ideas to the book, meaning that most practitioners will find at least something of use here. A slight criticism is that a very high percentage of the contributors practice in North America, creating an undue emphasis on American and Canadian perspectives – there are many references to entities such as “senate” or “president's council” that for most outside the US will have little resonance. Dyki's chapter on accreditation will also have little relevance to those working outside of US statutory frameworks. The North American emphasis may indeed reflect the highly developed nature of art and design librarianship in the Americas, which generally holds a higher profile (and higher funding) than in many other countries; still, a more balanced mix of American, European, Asian, and African perspectives would have made for a more fully rounded publication, and better reflected the internationalism of art and design practice.
Because each contributor writes, for the most part, from their own experience on the ground, the book is full of useful tips and examples of good practice. Most practitioners will find one or two ideas they can adapt to their own audiences. The structure and organisation is clear and logical, with sections for roles and governance, materials and collection management, teaching and learning, and learning spaces and promotion. The third section is particularly apposite, coming at a time when greater emphasis is being placed on the librarian as teacher‐practitioner, and many professionals are updating their skills from an instructional outlook to a pedagogical one. There is much discussion within the book, for example, on how to teach information literacy skills to an audience that is primarily visual, rather than textual, in its thinking.
As one reads across the essays, key themes begin to emerge. Carpenter and Essinger's evidence‐based essay successfully maps the shift from specialism to generalism and the attendant expectations for the information professional. Elsewhere, the stark move from what art libraries traditionally collect (art, design, architecture, media and so forth) to today's host of interdisciplinary subjects (feminism, queer theory, and digital culture) is brought sharply into focus, along with its attendant challenges (budget, space, and resources). The particular emphasis on blended service provision within art librarianship is touched upon – the way in which the primacy of images and interaction with the physical object militates against wholesale digital delivery. King provides a useful discussion on how deaccessioning is more complex, and potentially fraught, than in science, mathematics, or technology subjects. There are good examples of original thinking – Clarke's deft dissection of the drawbacks of traditional classification schema for art students is, for example, something that all art school librarians have found themselves struggling with.
There is a slight tendency throughout the book to present art and design librarianship as a homogenous entity, a sector across which challenges and opportunities are non‐variable. Yet, there are huge differences between an art history library for example (with its emphasis on scholarly research and text/image analysis) and an art school library (with its altogether different emphasis on providing visual stimuli and inspiration for studio practice). However, as a general and wide‐ranging snapshot of where art librarianship stands today, this book will no doubt prove a useful addition to any practitioner's bookshelf.
