2026 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Art Libraries Journal – the journal of the Art Libraries Society of the UK and Ireland. ALJ has consistently explored the boundaries of art librarianship across Europe, North and South America, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Though the articles in ALJ attract special collection librarians, arts and museum professionals, connoisseurs, and artists, at its heart the journal was created for art librarians and remains so today. Gustavo Grandal Montero, Editor of ALJ, adds his thoughts on the 50th anniversary and the legacy of Art Libraries Journal in the editor’s note that follows but in many ways this issue exemplifies the historic pluralistic nature of the journal and contains articles that will resonate with readers across the entire spectrum of art librarianship. Tess Colwell presents her efforts to engage fine art students through embedded librarianship, Lisa Duffy-Zeballos and Theresa Kutasz Christensen look at the International Foundation for Art Research’s (IFAR) groundbreaking provenance research education program launched in the final year of the Foundation’s 55 years of provenance guidance, John Latour shows how the library space and its collections can be the impetus for artistic intervention with the sensorial MANUAL performance by the artists: Adam Kinner and Christopher Willes, Shannon Marie Robinson illuminates how library instruction can incorporate book object-based learning to increase patron competency and satisfaction, Elizabeth Ashley Fox-Jensen shines a bright light on the Ted Stamm Slide Archives representing 500 artists of New York’s art scene from 1968 to 1984. Ashley Fox examines how slide archives such as Stamm’s are essential repositories of feminist art history preserving evidence of feminist and marginalized artistic practices. Finally, Matthew Rhoades reviews the essential title: Nazi-Era provenance of museum collections: a research guide by Jacques Schuhmacher.
