Art Libraries Society of North America 31st Annual Conference

Art Libraries Society of North America 31^st Annual Conference
Wyndham Baltimore Inner Harbor, Baltimore, Maryland – March 20-26, 2003

Session 16

Nordic Expeditions: Exploring Art Information Resources for Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden

Organizer, Moderator:
Susana Tejada, Head Librarian, Albright-Knox Art Gallery.
ARLIS/NA International Relations Committee.
ARLIS/NA Art & Design School Division.

Speakers:
Kerstin Assarsson-Rizzi, Chief Librarian, Library of the Royal Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities (Sweden) and National Heritage Board and Current Chair, IFLA’s Section of Art Libraries.
Frances Clymer, Librarian, McCracken Research Library, Buffalo Bill Historical Center.
Anja Lollesgaard, Librarian, Danish Museum of Decorative Art.
Lena Torslow Hansen, Owner, ART CONSULTING: SCANDINAVIA Books on Art & Architecture.

Recorder:
Jing Liao, Assistant Librarian, Architecture and Art Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The Program:

The International Relations Committee invited a panel of three librarians and one book dealer to participate in a special session focusing on art, architecture, and design resources, both print and online, from and about the Nordic region. The session was held Tuesday, March 25^th, from 10:30 am-12:00 noon in Carroll Room, Wyndham Inner Harbor Hotel, Baltimore, Maryland.

Susana Tejada, the current chair of the Committee, began the session with warm welcoming remarks, and enthusiastically introduced the four speakers, Anja Lollesgaard from Denmark, Kerstin Assarsson-Rizzi from Sweden, Frances Clymer from the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, and Lena Torslow Hansen from the ART CONSULTING: SCANDINAVIA firm. Susana also addressed the importance of knowing the visual and textual resources on Nordic culture. The speakers in sequence gave inspirational presentations about various resources related to the Nordic region.

Anja Lollesgaard, Librarian at the Danish Museum of Decorative Art and an officer in different art librarian organizations in Denmark and IFLA, presented to the audience the gateways to Danish websites. She mentioned briefly the history of the Internet in Denmark, and then concentrated on different sites, covering the subjects of art libraries’ online catalogs, art and architecture online resources, and periodicals with English texts. Anja specifically emphasized those sites with English text or interface, and those sites containing biographical information in English on Danish artists.

Kerstin Assarsson-Rizzi, the Chief Librarian of the Library of the Royal Academy of Letters, and current chair of IFLA’s Section of Art Libraries, discussed major and authorized art online resources to Nordic art. According to Kerstin, there are several online catalogs that can be used for research on Nordic art and humanities, such as the online catalog in the Royal Library, the union catalog for Swedish research libraries, and various databases on Swedish web resources. Kerstin also divided web resources into categories, such as Swedish art bibliography, online resources in the art and humanities, Internet resources on different subject matters, guides to Nordic archaeology, and specific resources on national, regional, county museums, and art education in Sweden.

Frances Clymer, a librarian with an art history background and living experience in the Nordic region, shared her opinions on how to access and evaluate resources on Nordic culture via the Internet. She pointed out that it was important to know: whether a site was available in English; whether a site was supported by national and international organizations, national libraries, or national museums; and whether a site can be linked to other sites. Frances also provided a handout, listing some useful Internet links to Nordic art resources.

The last speaker, Lena Torslow Hansen, promoted her firm, ART CONSULTING: SCANDINAVIA Books on Art & Architecture, by briefing the history of the firm, and by introducing the function of the firm. Lena also distributed the catalogs of her firm to the audience.

After the presentations, Susana invited open questions from the audience. Lively individual interactions among presenters and audiences followed the question section. Approximately forty people attended the session.