Journals!

Journals are an invaluable resource for information for scholars - they are consistently relevant and provide great insight into current intellectual trends, new discoveries, or ongoing debates within the field. While monographs can offer an overview of a subject or issue, periodicals can offer detailed analyses or snapshots of a particular subject.

There are thousands of different publications in a variety of languages that cater to a host of different interests, societies and associations, and specific areas of scholarship (White, 26). With the aid of technology we now have access to publications ranging from the mid-19th century to the present. Early examples of publications include The Crayon, which featured commentary by critic John Ruskin, and the Bulletin of the American Art Union which can both be found through JSTOR.  Due to the large number of journals it is challenging to get an overall index of what is available.

Depending on the needs of a particular institution or because of a lack of financial resources, access to art periodicals may be difficult to access both in print and electronically. A smaller institution may not have the same number of resources that a larger research institution may have the money to purchase.

It is easy to locate information about surveys on indexing periodicals, but there is very little scholarship on collection development, and what art libraries are doing to keep their collections relevant. I was about to locate one interesting article on the development of e-journals, but there is very little scholarship on the ways open access resources play a role in 21st century collections.

After assessing the literature (which was difficult to locate) I found two major discussions going on in regards to art or visual resources periodicals in academic libraries:

1. Libraries should move from using print resources and rely on electronic databases and publications.
2. The need for scholarly resources in non-traditional or previously ignored subjects is still very high.

The push to rely on electronic resources is a part of a greater trend for libraries to save money and have access to more physical space to use for other purposes. Unfortunately, not every print journal has their entire collection available online, especially recent issues of the publication (Robinson, 10). How are libraries dealing with this issue, and is there a way for academic libraries to rely on other institutions for materials they do not provide? In class we've also discussed the important of image quality, and a 2008 study at the University of Kansas goes into greater detail about how library users feel about the quality of digital images.

I may need to tailor my research, but hopefully I can find more articles about libraries making a conscious effort to diversify their collections and respond to expanding. There's a fascinating article on efforts at Northwestern to develop and organize their items in their collection related to fashion and material culture. It would be great to find more articles that go into depth about maintaining diverse collections.

Please check out this interesting article on Avant-Garde and underused publications: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/669986!

Boudewyns, Deborah K. Ultan. 2010. "Scholarly Electronic Publishing in Art History: Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide." Art Documentation: Bulletin Of The Art Libraries Society Of North America 29, no. 2: 21-25.

King, Lindsay M.1, lindsay.king@yale.edu, and Russell T.2, r-clement@northwestern.edu Clement. 2012. "Style and Substance: Fashion in Twenty-First-Century Research Libraries." Art Documentation: Bulletin Of The Art Libraries Society Of North America 31, no. 1: 93-107.

Robinson, Adam. 2010. "University of Kansas Print and Electronic Journal Comparison Study." Art Documentation: Bulletin Of The Art Libraries Society Of North America 29, no. 1: 37-40.

White, Tony. 2005. "Journal Title Overlap Study of Four Major Online Art Indexes." Art Documentation: Bulletin Of The Art Libraries Society Of North America 24, no. 1: 26-28.