Abstract
Founded in 1923, the Library of the Freer Gallery of Art serves the Smithsonian Institution's two Asian art museums' research activities. The other museum is the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, which was founded in 1987. The library collection, a half of which is in Far Eastern language materials, focuses on Asian art and culture.
In addition to the museum staff, the library also serves a wide range of outside users. They include scholars, students, picture researchers and individuals who are personally interested in Asian art and culture. The librarians assist users according to the level of their needs.
The American public in recent years has shown an increasing interest in Japanese art and culture. Accordingly, there is a growing demand for more detailed information on the subject, and currently available resources are no longer enough to fulfill the needs. It would be desirable, to establish, utilizing computer technologies, some communication lines between Japan and United States to provide access library users updated information in a timely manner.
