Tsukuba University Japanese Fine Arts Thesaurus Database Preparation Project made the "Database of Japan Arts Thesaurus: Paintings" under the auspices of "Grant-in-Aid Scientific Research, Ministry of Education, Science and Culture". State various problems and a solution plan by this thesis based on the experience that we made. First, we report about the present state of the fine arts database. Next, we argue the preparation of the standard thesaurus in the Japanese fine arts history in comparison with AAT and other thesauruses. Furthermore, the way of making the personal computer data to include into the UTOPIA (University of Tsukuba Online Processing InformAtion) information retrieval system and information sending through World Wide Web.

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In 1995, an exhibition entitled Shiba Kokan-His Versatile Life was held in Tokyo and Kobe. While working for the project in many aspects, I directed the major part of my efforts toward the production of the exhibition catalogue. By introducing DTP technology, I tried to create a catalogue at a minimum of time and cost, while presenting texts and plates effectively. With no full-fledged DTP system available at the museum, we had to accomplish the task using the minimal equipment of personal computers and desktop-publishing software.
Under such environment, the success of the project depends on fine teamwork between the curators and the staff at the editing company who are responsible for final platemaking and printing processes. Matters to be considered by the curators include: the choice of a DTP application; decision on page layouts and fonts; dealing with photo reproductions; and the procedure of exchanging data. This article tries to illustrate the advantages of and hints on using desktop-publishing technology in producing exhibition catalogues.

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A Buddhist fable known as "A Monkey Reaching for the Moon" became a popular subject of suibokuga (Japanese ink painting) since the Kamakura period (1185-1333), when Chinese monochrome paintings of the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1279-1368) dynasties dealing with this theme were much sought after. The ways in which Japanese artists rendered the subject varied widely with time and school. I conducted researches into plates in uritate mokuroku (auction catalogues) in the hope that they would provide a clue to the history of these paintings. Since 1992 thus far, I have examined 19,789 catalogues housed in fifty-seven organizations, identifying 4,134 different catalogues. Among these, I have found 1,907 plates presenting monkey images in 1,281 catalogues, including 329 plates reproducing 275 different pieces dealing with the above-mentioned subject. These plates will serve as a basis for the bibliographical researches into the sources and history of the saying "A Monkey Reaching for the Moon".
During the research, examination of these organizations' lists of uritate mokuroku revealed that no version of the Nippon Cataloging Rules provided the necessary and sufficient standards for accurate description and identification of the auction catalogues. In order to compensate for this, I decided to compile an accurate record of the names (catalog titles) and dates of auction gatherings, as well as to use some other attributes for identifying the catalogues. These attributes were: the number of pages listing auctioned pieces; the number of items listed in a catalogue; and the number of plates. The result of such identification work lead me to conceive a plan for a union catalogue of Japanese auctions.

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The National Palace Museum Library collects bookform materials on humanities, mainly Chinese visual arts, archaeology, bibliographies, culture, history; and also provides inhouse loan services for Chinese rare books and Ch'ing government documents. However, the Museum Library has not yet compiled reference tools for these materials, actually useful reference materials in the fields of Chinese humanities are still not enough.
The Museum Library is trying to establish computerized systems for various fields, such as bibliographies and indexes for bookform materials as well as visual materials (image and text databases) in order to search materials more efficiently and to make the Humanities study more scientific. These works could be the foundation for the future electronic library.

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Opportunities for specialized education for art librarians and visual resource (VR) professionals are more prevalent in the United States today than in past years. In 1995 the Art Libraries Society/North America (ARLIS/NA) published staffing standards for art librarians that address educational qualifications for art librarians and VR professionals in the United States and Canada. In addition, the Joint Task Force on Professional Issues recently published "Criteria for the Hiring and Retention of Visual Resources Professionals," which addresses and recommends educational preparation for careers in this field.
Beyond having a formal, advanced education in librarianship, being knowledgeable about the principles and practices of the field, and having training in the visual arts, art librarians and VR professionals are expected to be proficient in administration, strategic planning, electronic technologies, preservation, conservation, and other pertinent aspects of collection management. In an age of rapid technological advancements and therefore rapid technological obsolescence, even recent academic degrees quickly become outdated or inadequate. Further, many art librarians practicing today attended library school before automation of collections and electronic access were standard elements in the curriculum. Maintaining an up-to-date awareness of emerging technologies, management techniques, preservation of materials, and other topics is of utmost importance and is achieved through a growing number of continuing education opportunities in the U.S. professional societies such as ARLIS/NA and the Visual Resources Association (VRA), which cater to the needs of art information professionals, have taken a significant leadership role in providing continuing education to their members. These professional societies, as well as professional literature, specialized workshops, and electronic bulletin boards play an important role in providing continuing education opportunities for American art information professionals. This article provides an overview of the current status of continuing education for art information professionals in the U.S. and describes a number of specific opportunities currently available.

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I. The Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte (Zl) was founded in Munich in November 1946 and started its work on 1st March 1947. As an independent public institution of the federal state of Bavaria it directly answers to the Bavarian Ministry of Cultural Affairs. Being comparable as a research institute on art history to the German foreign institutes in Florence and Rome, its scope is unique in Germany. Its main purpose is to foster and do research on European art history from Early Christianity to the present. This article introduces some publications by the Institute and its individual departments, for instance the photo collection and the library, which holds 335,000 volumes. A major part of the art literature published after 1949 has been recorded in a unique classified catalogue now comprising 990,000 cards with multiple and differentiated entries which in precision by far exceed the well-known international bibliographies (RAA, RILA, BHA). (Similar to the descriptive catalogue of the Zentralinstitut, at the beginning of 1997 this catalogue was discontinued in favour of an electronic subject catalogue network in collaboration with the above-mentioned institutes in Florence and Rome).
II. Unlike other European countries (e.g. France, United Kingdom), the organization of cultural affairs in Germany is strongly determined by federalism. So there is no national library, nor is there a particular national art library. In 1964, the six bigger (West) German art libraries of supra-regional importance formed a loose association called Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Kunstbibliotheken (AKB). The purpose of the AKB is to foster co-operation on different levels (acquisition, cataloguing, etc). A co-operative acquisitions programme has been operated by the participating libraries in Berlin, Florence, Cologne, Munich, Nuremberg, Rome since 1972; it is mainly financed by the German Research Society (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft). Thanks to this co-operation the (meanwhile seven) member institutions of the AKB function in some way as a decentralized national art library. Not all of them are endowed with equal personnel and funds, having to fulfil different tasks, and being subject to different authorities. Nevertheless, as a library user the art historian gains from the result of co-operative collection agreements. In 1996, co-operation was also enhanced in the fields of descriptive and subject cataloguing by electronically linking the libraries in Florence, Munich and Rome (Bibliotheca Hertziana). As the collections of the AKB Libraries are not for loan, two university libraries (Heidelberg and Dresden) are responsible for inter-library loan. For this purpose, they are supported by the German Research Society as well, which means that its library enhancement programme not only aims at a close collaboration of the big special libraries on art history but also seeks as best as possible to guarantee literature supply within Germany in the field of art history by the collaboration of two corresponding library types or systems. The author concludes with a view on future tasks of the AKB.

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In March 1996, the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (NMMA) invited Dr. Thomas Lersch, Head of Collection Development and Acquisitions, Library, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte (ZI) in Munich, Germany. During his stay, he gave a lecture at the NMMA titled "Documentation at the Zentralinstitut fiir Kunstgeschichte and the Role of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Kunstbibliotheken in the German Library Community". Beginning with a briefing on the history and the organization of ZI, Dr. Lersch minutely elaborated on the collection development and documentation at ZI's library, particularly on the compilation and use of the subject catalogue. He further explained the closely organized Arbeitsgemeinschaft of German art libraries as an organization not merely for cooperative acquisition and interlibrary loan, in this sense different from the Art Libraries Societies in the Western countries or the JADS.
Today, when art libraries in Japan are in acute need of a systematic methodology for creating subject catalogues, and of a cooperative organization based on an established collection-development policy, Dr. Lersch's lecture is of special significance. We are profoundly grateful for his generous efforts to prepare a well-organized text grounded on his extensive learning and experience.
In addition, Dr. Lersch reported the present status of his country after the Berlin Wall was dismantled, as well as activities of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Kunst-und Museumsbibliotheken (AKMB), a great contribution to the future exchange between German and Japanese art documentation specialists.

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Originally appeared in Terminology for museums: proceedings of an International Conference held in Cambridge, England, 21-24 September 1988/ the second conference of the Museum Documentation Association; edited by D. Andrew Roberts. Cambridge: Museum Documentation Association with the assisitance of the Getty Grant Program, 1990, p. 233-244.

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