New audiences in art libraries; new skills for professionals?

Abstract

Art librarians face many changes in the professional relationship with their users. Technological and cultural evolutions lead us to learn new skills to adapt ourselves to these new audiences. But are these changes really so new to librarians? Librarians have always had to embrace new technological expertise for library catalogues, databases and digital libraries. We know that librarianship is a profession where communication is primordial; communication with library users, and also with the general public – there's not much new here vis-à-vis the traditional missions of librarians. Still, librarians must become more competent than ever at conversing with patrons, to better understand their needs and their ways of expressing those needs, particularly their need to interact with our libraries and collections. Diverse examples from French art libraries illustrate how library professionals tend to use new media, technologies, and cultural trends to enable their institutions to disseminate knowledge and contribute to a more open society that can partake freely of the riches and learning history that art libraries have to offer.