LISNews: Librarian News

Anonymous Patron writes "Insteresting Idea: See a picture you like but cannot remember the original? Or want to use a motif within a design and need to know its source? Or curious who painted that masterpiece? Thanks to new search and retrieval techniques developed by ARTISTE, you can now find out.
European museums and galleries are rich in cultural treasures, but if you are unable to visit the premises then gaining information on their collections can be a challenge. Many of these institutions have online information facilities, however a lack of standardised systems and techniques has often made access more difficult than need be.

The IST project ARTISTE aimed to tackle this problem by developing content-based search and retrieval systems that could be used by major art institutions. Project participants included several leading galleries across Europe, such as the Uffizi in Florence, the National Gallery and the Victoria and Albert (the V&A) museum in London and Centre de Recherché et de Restauration des Musées de France (C2RMF), the restoration centre for French museums including the Louvre. By the close of the project in 2002, the project partners had developed several new and useful ways of accessing information online on major art collections."

Anonymous Patron writes
"'A giant art database offering thousands of photos of paintings, sculptures and architecture throughout history began accepting clients Monday. ARTstor, which currently offers 300,000 of the most famous art images used in the enjoyment and teaching of art, is planned to hold more than 500,000 images when the database is accessible in July.'

Before you think about googling it, 'The cost for access to ARTstor's services varies depending on the size of the institution, from "Very Large Institutions" to "Very Small Institutions" and community colleges.' Very Large Universities will have to pony up about 60 grand for access. The rest o' the story here at the Badger Herald.
"

Charles Davis writes "Beginning September 13,2003,
visitors to the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art will have the opportunity to see
over 250 priceless treasures from the
private collection of the Duke and
Duchess of Devonshire. Amassed over five
centuries, the collection includes old
master paintings and drawings,
sculptures, masterpieces of gold and
silver, porcelain, gems, jewellery,
furniture, early photographs, and rare
books and manuscripts from Chatsworth's private library, considered the greatest in the world.
More at
Yahoo! News. "

Klaus Graf writes "The city government of Cologne in Germany is planning to close down the renowned 'Kunst- und
Museumsbibliothek' (KMB) in the very near future! On the 22nd of May 2003 the city council will decide
what will happen with one of the biggest art libraries in Germany. The Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Kunst- und
Museumsbibliotheken (AKMB) has set up a German focus-webpage on their site to give more information
about all this, The Art Library Society of Flanders/Belgium
(OKBV) took the initiative to set up a temporary support-site so that people can also react individually to
these plans. By signing the on-line petition, you can support this art library and send some
encouragement to the people working there."