Art Documentation

Art Documentation is the official journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America, 1982–present. It includes articles and information relevant to art librarianship and visual resources curatorship. Since 1996, it has been published twice yearly (spring and fall). Art Documentation is published for ARLIS/NA by University of Chicago Press, which supports green open access for all of its journals. Subscription to Art Documentation is included as part of ARLIS/NA membership.

Members-only Access

ARLIS/NA members may access Art Documentation electronically via a controlled access site:

Members-only access to Art Documentation

Authors

Authors who wish to publish their work in Art Documentation should consult the Contributor Guidelines.

Authors may self-archive their own articles and make them freely available through institutional repositories after a one-year embargo. Authors may also post their articles in their published form on their personal or departmental web pages or personal social media pages, use the article in teaching or research presentations, provide single copies in print or electronic form to their colleagues, or republish the article in a subsequent work, subject to giving proper credit to the original publication of the article in Art Documentation, including reproducing the exact copyright notice as it appears in the journal.

Non-member Access to Journal

To purchase individual issues please contact University of Chicago Press customer service online; by email at subscriptions@press.uchicago.edu; or via phone at +1 877-705-1878 (toll-free, U.S. & Canada), or +1 773-753-3347 (International).

Tables of Contents

To search Art Documentation contents 1982–present, visit the journal home page with the University of Chicago Press.

Current Issue Abstracts

Art Documentation Vol. 44, No. 1 (Spring 2025)

Navigating New Realities: Supporting Immersive Technologies in Academic Libraries 

Hélène Brousseau, David Somiah Clark, Melissa Rivosecchi, and Ezra J. Teboul

This article explores the role of academic libraries in supporting immersive technologies for teaching, learning and research, with a focus on initiatives at the library system of Concordia University in Montreal, Québec. It highlights how the library’s state-of-the-art facilities foster learning, research, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Immersive scholarship is defined here as using technologies including extended reality (XR), large-format video, spatial audio, and volumetric video capture. These technologies redefine how digital content is accessed, created, and manipulated. The library supports a broad range of faculty and student activities by promoting user autonomy. The case studies demonstrate how these technologies have been integrated into curricula and research projects, ranging from immersive storytelling to AI-driven interactive art installations. Challenges related to accessibility, usability, and the need for robust support systems are examined through feedback from professors and students, with attention to technical barriers and pedagogical outcomes.

By documenting the use of immersive technologies in libraries and universities, this article contributes to the growing body of work that demonstrates how multimedia content finds multiple lives as both art and educational material. It also highlights the craft and expertise developed and required to make immersive technologies accessible. The findings emphasize the potential of libraries to serve as equitable access points for cutting-edge technologies, offering vital support for immersive learning. Through design-thinking methodologies and community building, Concordia Library has created an inclusive, interdisciplinary environment that enhances both traditional and immersive learning experiences.

[This article is an expansion of a paper presented at the 52nd annual ARLIS/NA conference held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in April 2024 as part of the session “Innovation in Action in Academic Libraries: Guided Looking, Immersive Technologies, and Visualization Spaces.”]

Visualization Spaces: Updating and Repurposing the North Carolina State University Libraries’ High-Tech Spaces

Karen DeWitt, Hannah Rainey, and Courtney Hewett

Immersive and large-scale visualization display technology has been in use for teaching, learning, and research on North Carolina State University’s campus since 2013, with the opening of the James B. Hunt Jr. Library. Often referred to by the shorthand phrase “visualization spaces,” these technology-enhanced rooms provide cutting-edge display technology that inspire and broaden student and faculty scholarship and creativity. All of the visualization spaces on campus have been heavily used by students and faculty in NC State’s College of Design. However, technologies are always supplanted by newer versions. Beginning in 2018, the technology in these visualization spaces has been regularly upgraded; in some cases, the spaces themselves have been renovated and/or repurposed to meet new campus needs and priorities. This article describes how the College of Design faculty and students continue to take advantage of these spectacular spaces.

[This article is an expansion of a paper presented at the 52nd annual ARLIS/NA conference held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in April 2024 as part of the session “Innovation in Action in Academic Libraries.”]

Framing Responsible Creativity in the Age of Text-to-Image Generators

Gabriella Karl-Johnson

This paper focuses on an instance of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) of particular interest to visually oriented fields: text-to-image generators. This technology has evolved out of decades of work in computer science to create widely accessible tools that novices and experts alike in a range of disciplines can utilize to produce visual output, for both novelty and serious creative use. Every year, the number of published materials on GenAI increases exponentially, but the implications of visual GenAI tools have not been sufficiently examined within the field of art librarianship. This article is the product of one architecture librarian’s endeavor to understand visual GenAI, starting with the history of computer-aided art to the mechanisms behind image generators and the ethical and legal implications of these sophisticated tools. The purpose of the article is threefold: to provide contextual and historical information about generative AI in the visual and creative arts, to describe some of the current thinking around copyright and fair use in visual GenAI, and to propose ways that librarians can help their constituents understand, contextualize, and think critically about these tools—both as creators and as users of AI-generated images. This article seeks to answer the evolving and recurrent question of how best to support the research processes and creative practices of library patrons as they engage with the generative disruptions delivered by new technology.

Innovation Catalysts: Digital Humanities at The Frick Art Research Library

Samantha Deutch

In support of the digital humanities, the Frick Art Research Library collaborates in creating research platforms, publishing datasets, digitizing library materials, supporting fellowships, offering lectures, workshops, and symposia, and has dedicated a position to encourage and catalyze digital art history projects and practices. These undertakings employ diverse methodologies, ranging from computer vision and artificial intelligence to text analysis, digital publications, and data visualizations. This article surveys several examples of how the Frick Art Research Library supports the digital humanities, and more specifically, digital art history—a subset of the field.

[This article is an expansion of paper presented at the 52nd annual ARLIS/NA conference held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in April 2024 as part of the session “In Support of Digital Humanities.”]

À la recherche du catalogue perdu: Collaborating to Acquire, Catalog, and Provide Access to Digital Auction Catalogs

Sonia Agnew, Mark Bresnan, Scott R. Davis, Charlotte DonVito, Tina Lidogoster, and Eric M. Wolf

Over the last decade, and accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic, many auction houses have reduced the number of sales catalogs they have printed and distributed. As the information in these catalogs is vital to art historians, collectors, and the art trade, art libraries have begun to look for other ways to capture this important data before it is lost. As often is the case, collaboration between libraries has been an essential and effective means to make this work possible. This article explores what five libraries have done and invites others to participate.

The ArQuives: A Case Study in Activating 2SLGBTQ+ Spaces of Memory

Daniel Payne

The ArQuives: Canada’s LGBTQ2+ Archives is one of the world’s largest and longest standing 2SLGBTQ+ community archives. A case-study exploration of its history shows how the act of preserving queer and trans histories builds cultural capital, while its location in Toronto offered the potential of leveraging independent print media outlets as a forum for negotiating the creation of 2SLGBTQ+ spaces of memory. A recent collection analysis, however, demonstrated a striking imbalance in its representation of Canada’s diversity. To address these historical inequities, The ArQuives launched a multi-pronged strategy to guide the revitalization and diversification of its institutional values, collections, and mandate providing a template for engaging in liberatory memory work.

[This article is an expansion of a paper presented at the 52nd annual ARLIS/NA conference held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in April 2024 as part of the session “Queer Pasts & Futures: Exploring Queer Identity in Art Librarianship.”]

Thinking Outside of the (Acid-Free) Box: Processing the Terry and Jo Harvey Allen Collection
Katelin Dixon

The article uses the Terry and Jo Harvey Allen Collection housed at the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library at Texas Tech University as a case study to explore the complexities of mixed-media archival collections containing hybrid artworks. It identifies the need to reframe how archivists, artists, and researchers approach artist collections and calls for greater collaboration between artists and archivists. It examines the challenges of working with these collections and assesses the methodologies and strategies employed by archivists at the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library at three phases of the archival process: appraisal and acquisition, the development of processing plans and creation of finding aids, and the use of outreach and engagement to address possible limitations of descriptive practices. This article also touches on the complexity of creative partnerships and the added challenges of documenting collaboration within artist records.

[This article is a revised version of a paper presented at the 52nd annual ARLIS/NA conference held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in April 2024 as part of the session “Artworld Networks: Perspectives on Artist and Gallery Records.”]

Does Cultural Heritage Information Want to be Free? A New Discourse on Access
Lesley A. Langa

Cultural heritage access is a complex system of traditions, legalities, and gatekeeping. The inaccessibility of collections has been shielded by uneven and unequal institutional policies, from information policy to inaccessible digital systems to opaque metadata and high costs for reproductions. Institutional policies equally confuse cultural heritage professionals, the research community, and the public, making it difficult to know what is available, in what form, at what cost, and for whom. This article considers the multifaceted challenge of access to the information that memory institutions are holding and explores why there is no compendium body of literature about access in a field of study that has always asserted control over it and wrestled with how to provide it.

[This article is a revised version of a paper presented at the 52nd annual ARLIS/NA conference held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in April 2024 as part of the session “Sharing New Approaches to Inclusive Collections Access.”]