A Report on Painting with words - the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) Library

This report is based on my own notes and memory and as result may have factual inaccuracies. Please keep this in mind and if you wish to learn more about NGA Library I suggest you contact their staff at http://www.nga.gov.au/Research/Access.cfm

A talk courtesy of the ALIA University and Research Libraries (URLs) group http://alia.org.au/groups/urlsact/

“Wednesday Oct 17 12:30 - National Gallery of Australia Collection Study Room

How does a library support the varied needs of today's artists and curators? Come and hear National Gallery of Australia Chief Librarian, Joye Volker, and Special Collections Archivist, Jennifer Coombes, talk about the Library's role in supporting the Gallery and the range of special collection materials in the Gallery Library's collection. This presentation, to be held at the Gallery, will include a display of several items in the collection, including artists' letters and other interesting ephemera.”—Provided by Annette McGuiness (Group Convenor) prior to attendance of the event

Information provided by

Joye Volker NGA Chief Librarian

Jennifer Coombes Special Collections Archivist

Anna Documentations Officer

And the Cataloguing and Reference Librarian who name escapes me.

Collection Scope

Strengths

Obviously Australian art and artists and items by or about the NGA are the core of the NGA library’s collection. Andy Warhol is strongly represented in the collection. The early 20^th century is well represented and the NGA library also focuses on Asia and the Pacific.

The NGA library also has a significant collection of photography literature. The NGA library also collects many art gallery and auction house catalogues which are often the only source for photographs of items now held in private collections.

Ongoing areas which the NGA library will focus on include information on the decorative arts (including manuscripts), glass works, and regional Australian artworks and artists not currently represented elsewhere.

General Comments

Ephemera

Ephemera is extensive. They have over 38,000 Australian artist files and 1.3 km of shelving filled with international artists. In the NGA library ephemera can mean really mean anything not intended for ongoing use and storage. One interesting example is an ice cream wrapper with Andy Warhol art featured in the Andy Warhol Ephemera. Another is a musical piece which was written about the response to the purchase of ‘blue poles’ by the NGA.

These ephemeral materials when collected together provide an important resource for art scholars and are much more valuable as an ‘accumulation’ than as single items. Art scholars are often very interested in these ‘physical objects’ which help provide more contextual information and ultimately lead to better understanding of an artist’s work.

The NGA also undertook a large oral recording project and got James Gleeson (a prominent figure in the Australian art scene and working as an art critic at the time) to interview approx. 100 artists about their works at the NGA. These recordings were originally intended as an internal resource for staff at the NGA, however, as many of the artists spoke more broadly about their lives on these recordings they may have much value to art researchers.

The collection was recently valued at approx. $30 million dollars (2007) and has approx 2000 current art-related serials. Including several rare visual arts serials.

Collection Arrangement

The collection is generally arranged so that materials are collected by artist and/or by work.

Cataloguing and Access

Generally archives are not indexed to the item level. Special collection materials are stored in a warehouse. As the material is kept in a closed stack the materials are in very good physical condition. As such the NGA library plays an important preservation role.

NGA art Collection vs. NGA library collection

Sometimes there may be some conflict as where items should be placed. Sketchbooks showing the creative process etc. are generally kept in the NGA art collection i.e separate from the library collection.

Reference

They get many questions regarding valuations.

Conclusion

It was fascinating to gain insight into a Special Collections library. The NGA library collection’s scope was much larger than I was suspected and they also play an important preservation role which I hadn’t considered before.

I have previously visited the National Gallery of Victoria’s (NGV) library in 2006. It is open by appointment to the public if I remember correctly. I couldn’t find any information on the NGV website which makes it difficult to use remotely. In the future I hope to find out more about the NGV library and how it compares and contrasts to the NGA library.

Links

http://www.nga.gov.au/Research/Access.cfm -Home Page

http://www.nga.gov.au/Research/Collection.cfm - Collections Strengths