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

Session 6

The Road Not Taken: Art Librarians Outside the Art Library

Organizer, Moderator: Kathleen Adrian, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Session leaders:

Nancy Allen, Director of Museum Relations, ArtSTOR

Alison Dickey, Director of the Westchester Program, Palmer School of Library and Information Science

Layna White, Collections Information Manager, Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, UCLA Hammer Museum

Richard McElroy, Antiquarian Bookdealer, F.A. Bernett, Inc.

Kathleen Adrian opened the session by proposing that art librarians who deal with a wide range of patrons and apply a variety of skill sets in their daily professional lives are well suited for many positions outside of the art library setting.

Nancy Allen sees a great deal of value in the opportunities for professional development that she had during her 26 years at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Participating in organizations such as IFLA and ARLIS taught her about strategic planning, leadership, and the opportunity to collaborate with museum and library professionals from around the world. In a local organization, Fenway Libraries Online, she tackled the realm of the non-profit, working with budgets and networking. She stated that it was natural for librarians to function in different roles and be able to manage information in a variety of settings.

Layna White feels that expectations for art librarians has changed and that the role of art librarians is adapting to meet new demands. The provision of both physical and intellectual access and serving as an intermediary between the user and the object requires her to work from many different angles. Her traditional library background in non-book cataloging allows her to understand standards of description and to manage information about museum collections. But she must serve as an advocate for those information standards to both the public and the museum staff who use them at different levels of understanding and for different purposes. Flexibility is a key attribute in dealing with education about collections and collection information and in adapting that information from the curatorial staff that creates it into a manageable standard.

Richard McElroy’s experience outside of the art library was made more profound by his physical departure from the library in which he had worked for 25 years. Realizing that he was no longer meeting his original career goals, he took a step back and tried to determine what skills he had, what interests he had, and how he could move on. With the help of a career counselor, he determined that librarianship was indeed a good match to his personality. But he was finding that it was a field with few jobs that met his needs at that point in his career. He responded to an advertisement for a book dealer with an antiquarian book firm and found that this was a position where he could apply many of the skill sets he had developed over the years as a librarian. He was still able to work with the types of materials he enjoyed, use the expertise he had cultivated, and in many cases, utilize many of the same professional contacts he had. He has been very pleased with his career change. In conclusion, McElroy states that a career change is not always positive and that there are some instances where unpleasant job circumstances have to be met. But a career counselor can offer a different perspective on one’s identity as a professional as well as an individual. This process reinforces and allows rediscovery key elements of one’s personality that may have not been well addressed in a particular career choice.

Alison Dickey spoke about being on the outside of the library, but having a hand in shaping the future of libraries. Serving as Assistant Dean for a library science program, she sees art librarians as her clients, training future professionals and placing current students in professional environments. She has an understanding of needs in the field and tries to address them by nurturing students’ interests. She also helps in course development with the professional community’s needs in mind. Coming to the library world after serving as an editor with the Art Index, she sees the easy transference of skills between librarianship and other areas. She especially sees librarians well situated to enter popular fields of database design and management, publishing, and web architecture.

Through questions and answers to the panel, it was discussed that art librarians are perfectly suited to play a powerful role in collaborative efforts between libraries and cultural institutions such as museums. Librarians have already infiltrated many professional organizations (such as AAM, MCN) and have the skills and relationships to take an active role. The stereotyping of librarians in different work environments was discussed as well. Nancy Allen stated that when she was appointed to a museum committee after having worked in the library for many years, she was able to easily display many leadership and communication abilities that others may not expected from her or possessed themselves. They were skills she had learned through professional development. Richard McElroy said that working with others in an academic environment didn’t involve much of the library stereotypes, but that motivation to act was always an issue. Alison Dickey expressed that there is no prejudice in her experience as assistant dean. Many of the people she works with are librarians. Finally, the “ideal background” for art librarians was discussed, since many skills seem to be learned on the job or in specialized environments. All agreed that internships are invaluable, as well as participation in professional organizations. Layna White emphasized making relationships with others in your institution, at many different professional levels. Nancy Allen suggested a balanced experience of both art and technical skills.