The Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Kunst- und Museumsbibliotheken is an association of special libraries and related institutions of different sizes, structures, tasks and sponsors. Represented are libraries of art universities and art colleges, art history research institutes, museums, public institutions, but also archives and documentation centers. The members of the AKMB are mainly based in Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Austria and Switzerland and it sees itself as a representative association of art and museum libraries. The AKMB contributes to building a positive view of the professional field of librarians working at these institutions with cooperation, flexibility, and open-mindedness.
The beginnings
In the early 1990s, colleagues from art and museum libraries recognized an enormous need for advice on technical changes within their institutions. To fulfil this need, the library director of the Germanische Nationalmuseum (Nuremberg), Eberhard Slenczka, initiated a discussion about founding an association for art and museum libraries. At the annual German Library Congress, he invited people to the first meeting to discuss the need for such an association.
In 1995, the year AKMB was founded, the implementation of some form of electronic data processing was still a major challenge for libraries. The change from a card catalog to digital formats had to be prepared and completed. At this time, the shift from analog to computerized work was evident in art and museum libraries. Because of their diverse structures in terms of size, staff, accessibility, sponsorship, and the type of individual libraries (public/private, academic, research, university library, archives), this was a significant challenge. Adjustments to workflows and cataloging rules became increasingly important. New electronic services, such as OPACs, the setup of online inter-library loan in small and medium-sized institutions, the creation of newsletters and new acquisition lists, to support users were developed and implemented.
At that time, the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Spezialbibliotheken (ASpB) and the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Kunstbibliotheken (AKB) already existed.
The ASpB united mainly large scientific and university libraries in the field of natural sciences, economics and engineering. The AKB, in contrast, was an informal association of seven large art libraries whose purpose was to establish and maintain a national decentralized art library funded by the German Research Foundation with a focus on indexing international scholarly literature. In 1995, a working group consisting of representatives of art and museum libraries prepared a first meeting. During the annual librarians' meeting in Göttingen, the first AKMB board was elected and structural proposals for the working group and membership recruitment were made.
Shortly afterwards, the first issue of AKMB-news – the professional magazine for art and museum libraries – was publishedFootnote 1. The second issue was published as a bound booklet. The first specialist groups began work, dedicated to topics such as electronic document delivery, solo librarianship and acquisitions. Shortly after its founding, the AKMB had 80 member institutions already.
The AKMB today
Organizational structure
Today, the AKMB has about 260 members and represents their interests – and thus the interests of art and museum libraries.
The Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Kunst- und Museumsbibliotheken is run on a voluntary basis by a management board consisting of seven members. It is a non-profit association with no fixed location. The headquarters is linked to the first chairman and it changes with each successor to their corresponding federal state. Board members are elected for two years and are eligible for re-election once. The structure of the board is not hierarchical. The responsibilities are distributed within the management board. For this reason, all board members are on equal footing regarding their work.
All board members bring their own skills and experience to the community. The representation of the different types of institutions in the composition of the board is of great significance.
In mid-2019, the board set up a new communication structure through a digital working space on the intranet of the Saxon State and University Library DresdenFootnote 2.
Thus, the coordination and documentation of the work of the board has been structured digitally. The access to this working space is ensured for each board member during their term of office. With this system, information can be stored sustainably and at the same time it provides an archive of all activities of the association's work. This offers the advantage that an overview can be obtained more easily in the event of a change of the board.
In the heterogeneity of the typology of member institutions, museum libraries form the majority beside art college libraries, archives, documentation institutions, foundations, and other art and cultural studies institutions. OPLs are predominantly represented here.
The networking and exchange among the members is one of the central tasks of the AKMB. The basis for this is a range of regular educational courses on current specialist topics, study tours, specialist group workFootnote 3, the AKMB-news and the mailing list. In addition, the AKMB also focuses on the maintenance and exchange with international contacts.
For example, there are relationships with ARLIS UK & Ireland, ARLIS/Netherlands and colleagues in Belgium (Overleg Kunstbibliotheken Vlaanderen).
By means of various communication channels, AKMB has been building for years on network effects such as cooperation, peer support and exchange of experience, thus promoting discussions and further education among its members.
Within the membership, interest groups can be formed to address specific topics in greater depth. Currently there are three working groups:
Specialist Group Museum Libraries
This group was founded as early as 1996 and deals with the specific issues of this type of library. Despite great heterogeneity, both in terms of professional expertise as well as financial and staff resources, similar questions do exist: Does the library have the status within the institution that it needs and should have? Is there a clearly formulated mission? Is it anchored in the museum profile or in the consciousness of the staff? How can the library's reputation be raised both inside and outside the museum? One result of the work and exchanges of this expert group is the Wikipedia article on museum libraries, posted in 2020 (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museumsbibliothek).
Specialist Group Quality Management
The Quality Management Specialist Group was founded in 2004. The focus of this group is to develop a procedure for evaluating the work of libraries in art and museum libraries in the German-speaking countries, in order to be able to offer certifications for libraries on the basis of this. The specialist group is developing criteria in order to be able to present transparent information about the resources used to the responsible institution of an art and museum library. These criteria should be measurable and thus verifiable. They cover the following fields: Goals and target groups, organization, financing, collection, use of the collection and services, communication and marketing, cooperation and networking, personnel resources, space requirements, technical equipment.
Specialist Group Open Access (OA) in the arts
Open Access in the Arts is a moderated network with a mailing list, founded in 2019 and open to all artistic institutions and universities. In 2020, this network formed a specialist group within the AKMB. The focus is on libraries as a service institution that can promote and help to shape the establishment of OA structures at various levels. The aim is to provide a forum for exchange and discourse. At the same time, materials and information are to be shared in order to exploit synergy effects and to anchor and establish the Open Access idea in the arts.
Tasks of the AKMB
The AKMB promotes the discussion of current topics and projects in the fields of art museums, museums, archives, universities and memory institutions. Its core competencies are advanced education (public lectures, impulses for expert groups, digital education) and thus the promotion of professional development. It also supports professional exchange and transparency of the work of the association and members by publishing the professional magazine AKMB-news.
Main interests of the AKMB are mainly in:
– the exchange of expertise and the development of innovations in the library context
– active preparation and constructive shaping of digital change in art and museum libraries
– the design and positive changes of libraries, archives, documentation centers and special libraries
In this way, current developments can be reliably met and competencies can be actively formed in order to be able to live up to the claim of being a contact partner for art and museum libraries.
Forms of communication
The communication strategy of the board with the members of the AKMB is based on three main elements: the website of the AKMB, AKMB-news and the educational courses.
Since 1995, the editorial team has published the magazine AKMB-news twice a year in cooperation with the board. It reports, presents and discusses innovative projects from member institutions and other colleagues. The magazine has been the most important communication organ since its foundation and is an important professional journal especially for German-speaking art and museum libraries [Ed. Note: see article by Margret Schild in this issue]
In addition, the AKMB presents itself on a website (www.akmb.de) within the framework of www.arthistoricum.net and offers a mailing list as a platform through which the members can exchange information.
At the beginning of 2020, the first articles were published via the AKMB blog installed on the website. This invites members to make their work processes transparent, to publish projects, to report on their everyday work and to present relevant information.
AKMB header
AKMB blog
This direct invitation to participate actively increases networking and exchange among members.
The AKMB also uses social media channels and is currently subscribed to by almost 500 subscribers. Interesting, current, as well as humorous, information from the library sector, about exhibitions and current news from the working environment of members are posted here.
Considering the heterogeneity of its members in the various communication formats at all times is an important issue in AKMB's work.
Another important element in the exchange with its members are various educational courses on current topics, educational trips and the annual events at the Librarians' Days.
Once a year, an internal meeting of members is held, usually within the framework of the annual German Librarians' DayFootnote 4, combined with a working session open to the public. This year, the general meeting was hosted digitally for the first time. The presentations are afterwards published either as an article in the magazine or on the AKMB website.
In addition to the annual conference, the AKMB has organized workshops and seminars in cooperation with the Initiative Fortbildung für wissenschaftliche Bibliotheken under the direction of Evelin Morgenstern. For years, the format of a two-day advanced education has been established. In 2019, this educational session took place in Erfurt and focused on making special collections visible in art and museum libraries - specifically collections of ephemera. Other workshops discussed the idea of Embedded Librarianship (2017 in Mannheim) and the concept of Smart Libraries (2018 in Dresden). A further education course is planned, together with the Initiative Fortbildung, on the topic ‘From Open Science to Citizen Science: Openess and Art and Museum Libraries’ at the University of Applied Arts Vienna in December this year. This may be the first face-to- face event since the pandemic.
Since February 2021, the previously analog formats of continuing education have been expanded by the AKMB Fortbildung digital Footnote 5 program. Current topics can be presented digitally with lectures, workshops and webinars. So far this year, two lectures could be published in this form for our members. In addition to the lecture ‘Ausstellung digital archivieren'Footnote 6, members had access to the presentation ‘Postcard collection digital'.
AKMB members are invited to actively participate in this format and exchange.
A quarter of a century of AKMB
In 2020, the Working Group for Art and Museum Libraries celebrated its 25th anniversary. Everything turned out differently than planned. This affected all plans to celebrate the anniversary within the framework of the Librarians’ Day in Hanover, to organize a public working session and the annual general meeting. Also, the educational session in the fall with the topic ‘What's in for me? Introductions to the Visualization of Cultural Collections’ had to be delayed and then finally cancelled.
In addition, the corporate design that was newly developed on the occasion of the anniversary was presented to the members of the AKMB. In cooperation with a graphics office, central questions were discussed for this purpose, such as:
– Presentation possibilities of an association of art and museum libraries between tradition and progressive development in the analog as well as digital space
– Questions of formal design to attract new members as well as to present innovation potentials and activities
A milestone in this collaboration was the development of the logo and word mark.
An analog and digital flyer was created to become more effective in membership acquisition. The request for a poster was followed up so that the association could be more visible to interested parties at external events such as the German Librarians’ Day. The website was relaunched in October 2020 and presented with the new design. For future work and equipment, a style guide was developed by the design office, which summarizes all important design and layout rules.
AKMB poster
AKMB website
A double issue of AKMB-news was published for members and sent out along with the new design equipped giveaways, such as a memo pad, flyer, seed bag, pen and sticky notes for the anniversary.
Anniversary Package
Since 2020, the Working Group for Art and Museum Libraries has been listed as a provider of internships at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Interns have the opportunity to gain insights into the work processes of the AKMB, to develop ideas for finding a working career, to get to know actors of art and museum libraries. Furthermore, insights into the structures and institutions of the art and museum context and into voluntary board work can be given.
Despite of some surprising challenges in the anniversary year, AKMB can look back on many implemented innovations. For example, the work of the board was intensified through monthly digital meetings instead of biannual face-to-face meetings. At the same time, the expansion of digital continuing education offerings was conceptualized and driven forward. As a basis and, at the same time, as an opportunity, AKMB has proven in the past that as a community that it is able to bundle forces, enhance competencies and thus meet the challenges of the digital transformation. It is a platform that stands for the sharing of knowledge. As an interest group, it promotes cooperation between art and museum libraries. It manifests the intention and willingness to openly shape the future with its members and to enter into a relationship with one another, to make and exchange experiences and to witness what emerges from them. It invites to participate in the creation of mutual relationships, to react to changes and to fill the community with life.
