AAT UPDATEAuthor(s): Patricia BarnettSource: Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America, Vol. 6,No. 1 (Spring 1987), pp. 37-38Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Art Libraries Society of NorthAmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27947721 .

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Art Documentation, Spring 1987 37

Smith which opened at the Minneapolis American Indian Center. Many other local museums and galleries mounted exhibitions of women artists at the urging of the conference organizers.

For information on WARM and/or its publications (including exhibition catalogs), contact: WARM, 414 First Avenue North, Minneapolis, MN 55401.

The Contemporary Woman in the Visual Arts Since my report of the conference would fill many times

the amount of space I have alloted, NI report only on the first plenary session. Further reports will appear in later columns.

The conference opened with a talk by artist June Wayne, in which she chronicled the dramatic changes in women's par ticipation in the art world observed over the course of her long career. In the 1930s there was virtually no market for living American artists, no money until the WPA?which paid

men and women artists the same. With no market there was no "art scene" and no one to shape one's ideas except other artists. It was impossible to be sellout because no one was buying. Among the artists, men dominated the discussions of art and women were "typecast as sexual opportunities"?girl friends, wives, groupies?and audience. After World War II there was a drastic change. While women reverted to pre

WPA obscurity, men used the Gl Bill to go to art school. That gave them free studio space and later jobs as studio art teachers, a process that helped create the overwhelming male majority on university faculties.

In the 1960s, burgeoning art lovers and consequent markets distracted artists from the work. What artists of the thirties thought of as a calling, today's artists see as a profession, trying to combine creativity with commerce. Wayne pointed out that however glamorous the art market appears, it's very conservative when "a niche in history beckons." Marketers carefully weigh risks against potential profit when deciding to attempt creation of an "art star." The great fear among the artists is that their work will go out of fashion, leading to an increasing tendency of artists to set up their own mu seums or foundations in an attempt to ensure perpetuation of their work.

Markets influence who gets famous and remembered, for reasons which may have little to do with aesthetic signifi cance. Artists are part innovators, part consolidators. A con

solidator may complete the work done by an innovator who couldn't quite pull it off; although the latter's work may be more creative, the former may get the credit. Since "the famil iar dilutes the new," an artist who rings a life of variations on a small innovation (making the innovation increasingly more

acceptable and therefore marketable) can be more succesful but less courageous. Indeed, given the pressure to do work which fits the needs of the art market, to be an outsider may be "conducive to creative advance." Currently, fame of the sort which increases the likelihood of entering art history books requires financial backing to absorb the costs of launching an artist, senior critic and museum connections, and a publicist of great influence and connections. Some times a new aesthetic won't take off despite all this effort, and all that can be hoped for is eventual "rediscovery," at which point the artists will more than likely be too deceased to benefit.

News A The National Museum of Women in the Arts is planning for its 1987 inaugural. The public opening is scheduled for

April 9 or 10, 1987. A concert to celebrate completion of the

building renovation will take place March 28. Chris Petteys, author of the International Dictionary of Women Artists, is do

nating royalties from the sale of autographed copies of her book to the museum, and will also offer her extensive library and files on women artists to the museum library. Those interested in obtaining autographed copies contact: Chris Petteys, 309 Delmar Street, Sterling, CO 80751. A Washington Women's Arts Center has moved to a new, larger space for offices and individual one-person gallery space. While they will retain "Washington Women's Art Cen

ter" as a secondary name, they hope to become known as the New Art Center. They will continue to publish their monthly, The New Art Center Bulletin. The new address is 6925 Willow St., N.W., Washington, DC 20012; (202) 291-2999. A The International Registry for Religious Women Artists was founded in March, 1978, under the name North Ameri can Registry for Religious Women Artists. Founder Sister Veronica Brutosky intended it to be a network supporting Catholic religious which would allow them mutually to affirm their existence as visual artists. As of 1986, IRRWA had 900 names in its files and 265 active members. It serves as an educational, informational support group not only for Cath olic religious, but also associated men and women who are or aspire to be serious artists, writers, poets, and danc ers. IRRWA circulates slide shows and publications around the world. Contact: Sister Veronica Brutosky, 2530 W. Alamos #114, Fresno, CA 93705; (609) 225-1333.

Publications A Manuscript and photographs for Selections from The Na tional Museum of Women in the Arts were delivered August 1. Publication is expected to coincide with the official opening in April, 1987. A A new research tool is available for artists and administra tors which profiles organizations, programs, and government agencies that disseminate information about nonprofit arts. Music, dance, video, film, and theatre are covered as well as the visual arts and crafts. Entries include information about size and subject matter of collections of resource materials available from centers listed. For More Information: A Guide to Arts Management Information Centers is published by the Cen ter for Arts Information, 625 Broadway, New York, NY 10012; or contact Rebecca Lewis, (212) 677-7548. The 89-page guide is $13.95.

AAT UPDATE edited by Patricia Barnett

AAT Offices: A new computerized thesaurus maintenance system was installed at the AAT offices during the first two weeks of December. The system consists of IBM-ATs net worked to a Britton-Lee IDM (Intelligent Data Machine) utiliz ing a thesaurus construction program developed at Getty

AHIP (Art History Information Program). The IDM enhances the previous system, providing for numerous additional fea tures, such as the ability to access any term across all of the hierarchies. A term authority record, containing full informa tion on an AAT term ? its definition, sources, variant parts of

speech (e.g., "Etching" and its variant use, "Etched"), and fields for scope notes and related terms are also provided for.

Work is underway to add both scope notes and related terms to all existing hierarchies. After special training by AHIP staff, the AAT files will be transferred to the new system. The next project for AAT is the design of an improved display format for AAT terminology, and an online user system which "looks ahead to direct access to the AAT online by outside users." A New AAT staff: Alison Chipman, recipient of ARLIS/NAs 1986 Gerd Muehsam Award, has been added to the AAT staff as Authority Editor; Daniel Williamson has also been added as Architecture Editor; and Sandi Brookner, as Administrative Assistant.

Hierarchies Status: Four hierarchies have been issued since the last update. PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS, TOOLS AND TOOL COMPONENTS, DESIGN ELEMENTS AND AT TRIBUTES, AND PROCESSES AND TECHNIQUES. These hier archies were distributed to a small group of AAT test users.

With the release of the completed architecture package, new work on the hierarchies for Fine Arts and Decorative Arts can now take place. A The RLG Art and Architecture Program's Taskforce on AAT Application Protocol met with Toni Petersen in November in

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38 Art Documentation, Spring 1987

New York to continue work on the application protocol. A finalized version being prepared by AAT will be presented at a Taskforce meeting planned for the ARLIS conference. A AAT Director, Toni Petersen, was part of a group of the saurus builders convened by the Society of American Archi vists at the Library of Congress in December to discuss the use of controlled vocabularies in the MARC format. The aim of the group is to collaborate on efforts to produce standard thesauri for special MARC fields, and to work with the Library of Congress and bibliographic networks such as RLG's Re search Libraries Information Network (RLIN) to achieve recog nition for these developing standards. The AATs online term record structure, which is compatible with the MARC Format for Authorities, was hailed as a model for online thesaurus development, and its mounting on RLIN, the RLG database, was urged. A For 1987 the AAT Advisory Committee will continue to work closely with VRSIG in their efforts to establish visual resources guidelines in the area of vocabulary control.

A With the issuing of the remainder of the architecture pack age, the AAT vocabularies increased by about 4,000 main terms. The total count of main terms to data is approximately 24,000. A Reminder: The AAT offices have moved from Bennington, VT, to the following address: Art and Architecture Thesaurus Project, 62 Stratton Road, Williamstown, MA 01267; (413-458-2151).

I I BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTES Librarianship A Research Publications and the American Library Associa tion announced a joint venture to publish a biographical di rectory of information professionals in North America. It is scheduled for publication in spring 1988 as a compact disc as well as in a three-volume reference set. Library associations, including ARLIS/NA, have been asked to contribute their

membership mailing lists for a mailing by the publisher of biographical data forms. For more information on the bio graphical directory, please write to Joel M. Lee, ALA, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. A "The One-Person Library: A Newsletter for Librarians and Management" is an eight-page monthly publication created specifically for the librarian who works alone. Regular fea tures include interviews with librarians and their managers; book reviews of reference and information science titles of interest to librarians working alone; and a time-management column. It also provides detailed coverage of selected meet ings and conferences. The regular annual subscription rate is $45.00. A special rate of $35.00 is available to first-time sub scribers. Prepaid orders to: OPL Resources, Ltd., Dept. PR1, P.O. Box 948, Murray Hill Station, New York, NY 10156. A A Reader in Art Librarianship collects twenty-nine articles dating back to the early 1900s. Editor Philip Pacey has grouped the essays into four sections devoted to the history and nature of art librarianship; the users of art libraries; the challenge of dealing with art publications; and cooperation among art libraries and associations. (K. G. Saur, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010, ISBN 3-598-20398-5; $20.00) A Contemporary Art Documentation and Fine Arts Libraries views the art world as an information network similar to those found in the sciences. Author and ARLIS/NA member Sydney Starr Keaveney details the interactions among the people and institutions in this network and shows its influ ence upon which materials are collected by libraries. (Scare crow Press, P.O. Box 4167, Metuchen, NJ 08840, ISBN 0-8108-1859-0; $17.50) A Museum Archivist, Newsletter for the Museum Archives Roundtable, Society of American Archivists, has issued its first number. It includes a calendar, a list of publications, re cent museum archive grants, meetings and workshops, and facilities and collections. Contact Kathleen Robinson, Editor, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, P.O. Box 6826, Houston, TX 77625.

Library Education A The Fall 1986 issue of Special Libraries (v. 77, #4) features "Library Education in the U.S., 100 Years." Articles include "Graduate Education for Special Librarians" by Miriam Tees, pp. 190-197; "Developments in Special Library Education" by Edwin M. Cortez, pp. 198-206. A "Financial Assistance for Library Education, Academic Year 1987 - 88" is now available from the American Library Association Standing Committee on Library Education. The annual directory gives information on scholarships, fellow ships, grants, and assistantships from state library agencies and associations, educational institutions and local libraries. Copies of the booklet are available upon request from SCOLE, ALA, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611; 1-800-545-2433. Send $1 to cover postage and handling.

Reference Services A "Coaching: Practice Makes Perfect," a 16-minute video tape, explains how a peer-to-peer coaching program can be implemented to aid skills transference from workshop to on the-job performance. It is the third in a three-part series on the reference interview, following "Does This Answer Your Question?" (Sally Florian, Library Video Network, 1811 Wood lawn Drive, Baltimore, MD 21207; 301-265-6983)

A Managing Online Reference Services, edited by Ethel Aus ter, has articles ranging from 1975 through 1984. The book is divided into eight sections covering the following topics: planning for online reference, choosing services and databases, staff selection and training, promotion and mar keting, financial considerations, measurement and evaluation, microcomputers and online reference, and impact of online services. (Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., New York, ISBN 0-918212-93-6; $35.00)

Automation/Technology A "Automated Access to Multi-Lingual and Multi-Script Li brary Materials: Problems and Solutions" by Mohammed M. Aman appeared on pp. 35

- 36 of Library Times International 3 (November 1986).

A Microcomputer Software Policies in ARL Libraries (SPEC Kit no. 123) is a 114-page report on a survey of 105 Association of Research Libraries member institutions conducted in Decem ber 1985. It covers policy issues such as copyright, selection, funding, cataloging, facilities and services, and the library's relationship with the campus computer center. It also in cludes examples of acquisition and collection development and use and circulation policies, plus a brief bibliography. (SPEC, Office of Management Studies, 1527 New Hampshire

Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20036; $10 ARL members/$20 non-members, checks payable to ARL Office of Management Studies) A Public Access Microcomputers in Academic Libraries is an insightful study about the process of integrating a sophisti cated public-access microcomputer facility into academic library programs of instruction in information literacy, online service, and collection development. (ALA, ISBN 0-8389-0464-5; $14.95) A Proposals and Contracts for Library Automation discusses each step in developing proposals and contracts. The first section of this book by Edwin M. Cortez discusses the de velopment of requests for proposal and contracts; the second section is devoted to critical case-study analyses. (ALA, ISBN 0-8389-2043-8; $29.00) A Audiocassettes of papers given at the Library and Informa tion Technology Association institute in June on "Optical In formation Systems in Libraries" are now available. Institute topics include an overview of optical information systems, compatibility of equipment, individual products, expected fu ture developments, and applications using optical systems. (Information Yield, 311 Stonecrest Dr., Syracuse, NY 13214; $85 for all seventeen, $9.95 each)

Preservation A The Research Libraries Group News #11 is devoted to "Pre

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