The present paper explores the impact that the information age has had on the information practices of art historians. As the rapid technological advancements and the proliferation of digital resources in recent years have greatly affected scholarly practices in the Arts & Humanities, there is a rising need to study the informational and methodological behaviour of scholars, in order to create functional information systems that enhance scholarship in the area (e.g. Palmer et al. 2009; Kamposiori 2012). Thus, our goal is to focus on the behaviour of art historians with regards to the way they handle information; in other words, how they gather, use and manage information in their daily work routine. In addition, we will elaborate on the digital tools and services scholars in the field use for these purposes and discuss the issues and challenges they face.
Art historians’ personal collections of resources will serve as the departure point for examining the what, where and how of their information practices nowadays. This study used semi-structured, in-depth interviews with twenty art historians at different career stages, as well as observation of their physical and digital personal collections in order to identify the particular needs they have when they build them. What can we learn from examining the practices and needs as well as the challenges a group of scholars like art historians face at the various stages of the research lifecycle? Moreover, how can we apply those lessons in building digital infrastructure that truly support research and teaching in the digital age? By presenting our results related to these questions, we aspire that our paper will stimulate discussion around user requirements in art history and, thus, it will be of particular interest to researchers or other professionals building tools and services for scholars in the Arts & Humanities.
Keywords: art history, user behaviour, digital infrastructure
References:
Kamposiori, C. (2012). Digital Infrastructure for Art Historical Research: thinking about user needs. Proceedings from Electronic Visualisation and the Arts (EVA 2012). London, UK, 10 - 12 July 2012. Retrieved from http://ewic.bcs.org/content/ConWebDoc/46142 (accessed 10 Aug. 2012)
Palmer, C. L., Teffeau, L. C., & Pirmann, C. M. (2009). Scholarly Information Practices in the Online Environment. Themes from the Literature and Implications for Library Service Development. Graduate School of Library & Information Science (GSLIS), Center for Informatics Research in Science & Scholarship (CIRSS). Dublin: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, OCLC Research. Retrieved from www.oclc.org/programs/publications/reports/2009-02.pdf (accessed 16 Dec. 2009)