This paper examines the various steps already taken, or currently planned, to build the basis of primary information for art documentaion. It presents the very informative examples of methods taken at the National Art Library, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the Witt Computer Index of the Courtauld Institute of Art.
It points out that there are variations in data describing each work of art in art history and considers what demands this fact poses on the data formats used at libraries. Some constructive examples of projects to computerize research in the fields of art history and collection management are presented.

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This article discusses the basic requirements for object documentation by summarizing Abell-Seddon's Museum Catalogues: A Foundation for Computer Processing (London, Clive Bingley, 1988, 224p.), centering on the first five chapters of this book.
The first chapter of the book deals with the characteristics of cataloguing at museums, and what problems it presents. Chapters Two and Three discuss the kinds of records used in object documentation through comparing the textual and structured records, stressing that structurization is crucial. Chapter Four covers the need for vocabulary management and presents an algorhithm for selecting the vocabulary. In Chapter Five, the problems in the conventions concerning syntax, dating, personal names, keywords, punctuation, and abbreviation and codes are discussed.

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The Japanese word "manga" stands for all kinds of cartoons and comics. Japan is unique among world's countries for the overwhelming predominance of manga in the publishing scene. Many works of manga have been adapted into TV animation series as well as films, both animated and acted by humans. Visual analysis of manga works is an effective way of studying their quality, theme, and influence on the readers and other artists. The Manga Department of the Kawasaki City Museum was conceived originally only as a museum of manga, but in order to contribute to the study of manga, it must acquire the functions of a library with a "visual database system" in addition to those of a museum.

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This second article in the series opens with brief discussions of the activities of the !FLA Section of Art Libraries and the different types of art libraries in India as well as the general situation with libraries and museums in that country.
The author observed the operations at art libraries in New Delhi which he visited on the occasion of the 1992 IFLA General Conference. He interviewed persons in charge and other members of the staff at the National Museum Library, the Slide Library of the National Museum Institute of History of Art, Conservation and Museology, the Art Reference Library of the National Gallery of Modern Art, and the Reference Library of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. One notable fact about these libraries is that, despite the relatively high social status endowed to the position and the advanced education boasted by those in head positions, there is an absolute shortage of qualified librarians.

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This essay first appeared in the original German exactly 40 years ago as the chapter on "Kunstliteratur" in the venerable Atlantisbuch der Kunst: eine Enzyklopädie der bildenden Künste [Zurich: Atlantis Verlag, 1952], pp. 665-679. It remains our most succinct historical survey of the "literature of art", and while the author modestly regards it as "prehistoric", informed students know it rather as a classic. The present translation, produced for the use of new students at the Institute of Fine Arts, has been revised by Professor Gombrich and appears here with his generous consent. No attempt has been made to bring the story - which ends with Andre Malraux at midcentury - up to the present; but, at the author's request, a selective list of sources available in English translation has been substituted for the summary bibliography that accompanied the original version of this essay. (From the note by Max Marmor)

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This eassay cites the notable events in the development of art documentation and art libraries in Japna since 1990, and some important articles in this field. Some important reference materials in art history, mainly old art magazines dating from the Meiji period up to the prewar Showa years (until 1945), have been made available in rapidly increasing varieties in microfilms and other media in the past few years. This is the result of the increase in demand for these materials from art libraries, and indicates that the art libraries are growing steadily. With more materials and information in art available in this way, the need for bibliographies and indexes, has become urgent. Japanese exhibition catalogues have grown rapidly both in their quality and in the number of titles published, but many problems have arisen concerning their distribution and collection, the task of making indexes of the works included and how to make them available at art libraries. Some of the problems involve the issue of copyright, and are particular to Japan with its copyright legislation that differs in many ways from those of the Western countries. Computers started to be introduced into art study in the mid-eighties, and recently pictorial data in addition to text data have started to be accumulated and processed, making various new uses of data possible. Though art documentation has but a short history here in Japan, many people in the related areas, such as archivists and the visual and audio staff members at libraries, have joined in the efforts. Its task for the coming years is to make the definition of the interdisciplinary phrase "art documentation" and its activities better known in Japan.

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