Art Libraries Society of North America 32nd Annual Conference
Roosevelt Hotel, New York, NY - April 15-21, 2004

Session III: Ancient Matter, Modern Practice: Acquiring, Interpreting, and Exploiting

Saturday, April 17, 2004, 10:30 – 12:00

Harrossowitz Booksellers generously sponsored this session.

Moderator: Kim Collins, Emory University

Speakers: Lucie Stylianopoulos, University of Virginia. Ancient Nights; or, a Dialogue on Resources in Classical Archaeology

Tyler Jo Smith, Assistant Professor, McIntire Department of Art, University of Virginia. Using the Beazley Archive, Inside and Out

David S. Sullivan, Classics Librarian, University of California, Berkeley. Modern Days; or, How To Be a Classics Librarian in Your Spare Time

Recorder: Hannah Bennett, Yale University

I. Ancient Nights; or, a Dialogue on Resources in Classical Archaeology – L. Stylianopoulos

To support and anticipate research needs within the classical archaeology discipline, one must understand its scope and interdisciplinary nature. Ms. Stylianopoulos provided a clear definition of classical archaeology within the context of librarians supporting said scholarship. Important questions the librarian must ask herself include what exactly is being researched (Greco-Roman Sculpture, Third Century Sicily, or iconography), who is her audience (undergraduate survey class or upper-level graduate seminar), what are her resources and how can they be taught? At the University of Virginia, Ms. Stylianopoulos discussed some of the resources she uses including reference pathfinders (general and/or specific depending on the audience), web guides, customized bibliographic instruction and for-credit courses (such as UVA’s Pompeii Class). Once the research query and strategy are defined, the librarian must then choose the right tools that make sense to both researcher and librarian. Ms. Stylianopoulos provided brief introductions to several important online resources including DYABOLA, Perseus, and the Beazley Archive. Among print resources, Ms. Stylianopoulos highlighted Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC), Der Neue Pauly, and the Oxford Classical Dictionary. Ms. Stylianopoulos pointed out that more and more web sites are emerging as valid and valued contributions to the field and reflect current or more progressive topics within the discipline. Examples included DIOTIMA (www.stoa.org/diotima) – a women and gender studies web site, TOCS-IN (www.chass.utoronto.ca/amphoras/tocs.html) – a table of contents resource covering approximately 1600 journals relating to Classics, L’Annee Philologique (www.aph.cnrs.fr), and Classics Collections (http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/cm/classics/). Most importantly, once the tools are laid out, the librarian must then add the final details to an inquiry, be it excavation reports, pictorial dictionaries, or maps. Ms. Stylianopoulos concluded with some suggestions on how one can monitor the development of the discipline.

II. Using the Beazley Archive, Inside and Out – T. Smith

Ms. Smith’s talk on the Beazley Archive (BA – beazley.co.uk) began with an introduction to its progenitor, Sir John Beazley. Beazley was born in 1885 in Scotland to a glass manufacturing family (who actually owned a glass factory in West Virginia), studied at Oxford University where he later taught Classical Archaeology and Art from 1925 until his retirement in 1956. He died in Oxford in 1970. During his career at Oxford, Beazley focused on Athenian vase painting and pottery – an area that up until that point received little recognition compared to the “larger arts”. Of monumental importance to the field were Beazley’s lists, e.g., Attic Red-figure Vase-painters, and Attic Black-figure Vase-painters. These lists classifed and assigned over 50,000 vases. The Beazley method of attribution invovled painstakingly detailed drawings from vase tracings as seen in Beazley’s drawing of the Berlin Painter. Beazley’s schoarly materials - his drawings, research, photographs, impressions, and notebooks – would later form the basis of the BA which, by the time of Beazley’s death, came to Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum. The Beazley lists formed the basis of the original database which, today, includes over 70,000 records for vases with over 30,000 accompanying digital images (many of which were photographs taken by Beazley). Ms. Smith explained how this database is used and what the standard record reveals about an object. She went on to discuss some of the newer, web additions to the BA including online bibliographies, essays, and dictionaries that pertain not only to classical archaeology but also architecture, sculpture, gems, pottery, coins, and the history of collections. Smith concluded her talk with the a brief discussion on the future directions of the archive including the digitization of the Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, the gem and sculpture databases, artists’ signatures and antiquarian books.

III. Modern Days; or, How To Be a Classics Librarian in Your Spare Time – D. Sullivan

David Sullivan began his talk with a brief overview of the Classics discipline, specifically the development of its research foundation. The first Classicist was considered to be F. A. Wolf who penned Studiosus Philolgiae in the early twentieth century. This work was soon followed by Edward Schröder’s Neue Jahrbücher für klassische Alterum (1913). For many years, the trend in Classics research materials grew more and more focused as Classics appealed to a very small audience. Even to this day, only a small number of titles are published each year and those that are (~ 2000 volumes per year), are expensive for both the publisher to produce and for the consumer to purchase. This is not to suggest that the discipline itself is becoming more finite; Mr. Sullivan noted that Classics is becoming more interdisciplinary and publishing patterns reflect more of an international coverage. With all this in mind, Mr. Sullivan then provided some suggestions on how the Classics librarian (nascent or not) can keep his/her pulse on the scholarship’s development while supporting its researchers. One suggestion was developing a specific approval plan for Classics materials. In addition, many publishers and universities issue journal and book lists each year including UC Berkeley’s new books list, Bryn Mawr’s Classical Review, and many societal lists. Finally, Mr. Sullivan concluded with reading suggestions that address future directions of the discipline. He provided the audience with an annotated bibliography of recommended resources.