Now in its third year, The Artists' Yearbook should now be firmly established as the standard comprehensive annual reference guide to information on, and contacts details for, the more than 3,000 visual arts businesses and organizations it lists. Brief essays, which “top and tail” the main sections, enhance the value of the work by offering advice and inspiration.
New to the 2008/09 edition are full listings for the UK and Irish art libraries, advice on starting your own art gallery, an expanded internet section, and six new essays (Why be an Artist?, Commercial Galleries, Studying Abroad, The Internet, Your Gallery and You and Being an Artist Outside London). The supporting publicity stresses the book's value for “getting ahead in today's art world” (flyer) and “required reading for every aspiring artist or student” (cover and title‐page). For these groups and purposes, it is, and artists and students will surely be seeking the book in UK libraries. But since the book is a comprehensive guide to UK art resources, many other users will need and seek the information the book carries; it is therefore an important source of information for all general libraries as well as just art‐focussed ones.
The purpose and organization of The Artists' Yearbook will be familiar to users of another long‐standing “must‐have” book, The Writers' and Artists' Yearbook. The book is divided into ten sections plus an introduction, with the eye‐catching styling 00 to 09 and 10, with each starting on a black page with the adjacent prefatory and concluding essays on grey pages. After a three‐essay Introduction, the 01 section covers commercial galleries, dealers and exhibition spaces; and 02 lists public museums and galleries. Both these large sections are sub‐divided by region. Section 03 lists internet sources and 04 suppliers and services (divided into 12 sections). Art education is the subject of Section 05, divided into (i) Further, higher and adult education, and (ii) Foundation studies in art and design. Art fairs and festivals are listed in Section 06; competitions, residencies, awards and prizes in 07; and art boards, councils, funding and commissioning organizations in 08. The final sections cover societies and other artists' organizations, and art magazines and public relations.
The detail for the entries is excellent, with full contact details, nature of collections and policy statements where appropriate; exemplary directory material. Like any directory, one needs to learn the geographical divisions used (Is Yorkshire part of England‐North East or is it its own place?), and I was caught out by the distinction between “commercial” and “public”, looking for the Salford Art Gallery in Section 01 (it is, of course in 02; I would have found it quicker using the General Index!).
Coverage is good: Bridgeman Art Library, Harewood House, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, BALTIC Exchange and Salts Mill are all in. David Hockney, though noted at Salts Mill, was missing from the indexes, but it was nice to see that the recent change of name from the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television to the National Media Museum had been picked up (but does not the earlier title merit an index entry – some reviewers are never satisfied!).
There are two indexes, general and subject. Both are excellent, though the subject index, while providing good detail and coverage, is not easy to use. It provides selected entries by category: Abstract Art, Applied and Decorated Art, Art Book Publishers, and Art Bookshops, through to Video see Digital, Video and Film Art, and Wood Art. The concept is good, but there is no listing of the categories used and the category headings are hard to find in the body of the index – I had to use the alphabetical arrangements to find where one category changed into another. If the publishers can improve navigation here, then the contents of the directory will be more accessible, and useful.
