Coming of age in the Antipodes

Abstract

Since the inception of ARLIS/ANZ, Australia and New Zealand have increasingly seen themselves as part of the Asia-Pacific region rather than as a distant outpost of Britain. The impact of post-War European immigrants from countries other than Britain has been felt and immigration from the Asia-Pacific region is now equally important. These developments have contributed to a confident, diverse culture, within which indigenous art has gained greater recognition. Art librarians are benefiting from worldwide electronic communications which have equally helped overcome the ‘tyranny of distance’ within the region itself. Thus, ARLISANZ-L now complements ARLIS/ANZ News. Because of the vast distance between members, ARLIS/ANZ bases its entire central executive within a single local chapter for two years at a time. Local chapters are flourishing, most particularly around major centres. Dispersal of members is also overcome by the all-important annual conferences and workshops. Like other ARLIS groups, ARLIS/ANZ engages in advocacy on behalf of art libraries and art librarians. A major concern for ARLIS/ANZ remains the documentation of the art of Australia and New Zealand both as a result of scholarship and publishing from within the region, and in major international bibliographies and indexes.