Thomas J. Watson Library

June 2009

See also: Collection Development Policy – Electronic Resources

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
I. DEFINITION OF THE COLLECTION
II. DEFINITION OF AUDIENCE
III. COLLECTING GUIDELINES
IV. CATEGORIES AND FORMATS
V. SUBJECT SCOPE
VI. RELATION TO OTHER LIBRARY RESOURCES
VII. WITHDRAWAL
VIII. REPLACEMENT AND DESIDERATA

I. DEFINITION OF THE COLLECTION
The Thomas J. Watson Library is the central research library of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Its collection of printed, manuscript, and electronic materials on the history of art is one of the most comprehensive in the world. The Library’s holdings reflect the Museum’s encyclopedic collections, with particular emphasis on European and American art, including decorative arts, and with substantial holdings in art of the ancient world, Asia, Islamic countries, and the Americas; arms and armor; and musical instruments.
Particular categories of materials collected include: monographs on fine and decorative arts, monographs on artists; catalogues raisonnés; collection catalogs (both public and private); exhibition catalogs; museum and gallery catalogs; auction and sales catalogs; dealer catalogs; archeological reports; collected essays and festschriften; facsimiles, periodicals; pamphlets and ephemera; reference books; trade catalogs, artists’ manuals; microforms, and electronic resources. The Library does not actively collect archives, artist’s books, audiovisual materials or manuscripts.
Building on a broad base of materials collected since 1880, which includes holdings in the humanities, the Library now focuses more specifically on collecting publications to support research on the history of art. The Library collects in support of present and future scholarly needs.

II. DEFINITION OF AUDIENCE
The primary mission of the Library is to support the research activities of the Museum staff. In addition, the Library serves an international community of scholars, including museum, academic and commercial art professionals and college and graduate students.

III. COLLECTING GUIDELINES
Chronological Scope
The Library collects materials on art from all time periods, from the proto-historic era to art of the twenty-first century.

Geographic Scope
The Library reflects the encyclopedic scope of the Museum’s collections, including material from all cultures, excluding the indigenous art of Africa, Oceania and the Americas, which is collected by the Museum’s Robert Goldwater Library.

Gifts
Gifts to the collection are added using the same criteria with regard to their scholarly value as purchased materials. Gifts are accepted with the understanding that the Library has complete discretion over the option to retain. The Library does not rely extensively on exchange programs to acquire materials.

Imprint
The Library collects in-print publications extensively. In addition, antiquarian materials are actively collected.

Languages and Translations
The Library collects publications in all languages reflecting the international nature and encyclopedic scope of the Museum’s collection. The bulk of the material is in Western European languages. Asian subject matter is also collected in Chinese, Japanese or Korean languages.

The Library collects exhibition catalogs from multiple venues in various languages. English language publications are preferred where editions are published simultaneously in several languages. Acquisition will not be delayed, however, when a foreign language edition is published before an English language edition.

Multiple copies
In most instances the Library acquires only one copy of any given publication. Added copies of selected titles may be acquired where heavy use is expected. The Library acquires at least three copies of publications issued by the Museum or substantially about works of art in the Museum’s collection.

New Editions and Reprints
New editions are acquired when they reflect significant changes and additions in comparison to the previous edition(s). The Library acquires reprints only if the title is new to the collection or if acquiring a reprint better preserves the physical condition of the Library’s original.

IV. CATEGORIES AND FORMATS
Monographs
The Library makes every effort to acquire all current monographic titles that fall within the parameters of its collecting scope. Books are selected for their scholarly content.

Oeuvre catalogs
Catalogues raisonnés and corpora are collected extensively.

Collection Catalogs
The Library acquires extensively catalogs of both public and private collections.

Exhibition Catalogs
Exhibition catalogs from museums, art galleries, foundations and other venues are collected extensively. No exhibition is too small to be included in the Library’s collection. Even small exhibition catalogs are cataloged.

Auction and Sales Catalogs
The Library acquires through gift, purchase or download auction catalogs from all major market auction houses worldwide, and to selected secondary market arts auction houses. In addition the Library acquires through gifts individual sales catalogs from other auction houses. No comparable effort is made to be comprehensive for these houses. Retrospective catalogs are also selectively purchased to support specific provenance research and new fields of research; to supply missing holdings; or when the individual catalog contents warrant. Auction catalogs collected include all areas covered by the Museum’s curatorial departments. The Library makes every effort to include sales results for all current sales catalogs.

Collected Essays and Festschriften
Collected essays and festschriften, and the proceedings of congresses and symposia are acquired if the general scope of the work falls within the Library’s collecting parameters.

Facsimiles
Facsimiles of important books, such as illuminated manuscripts, are acquired selectively in direct consultation with curatorial staff.

Periodicals
The Library contains over 13,000 periodical titles and maintains subscriptions to approximately 2,000 titles, including annuals and yearbooks that conform to the stated scope of the collection policy. The Library collects serial institutional materials of enduring scholarly value. With few exceptions, the Library does not collect museum annual reports that are predominantly financial reports or calendars of events. The Library subscribes to selected related interdisciplinary journals. The Library subscribes to journals in both print and electronic format.

Reference Materials
The reference collection of research tools and basic materials that complement the core collection are located in the Reference Room and Reading Room for access by all users.

Art reference materials collected may include:
o Art reference books
o Biographical reference tools on artists
o Indexes to periodical literature (Preference is usually given to online formats. See further below under “Electronic Resources.”).
o Indexes to auction sale results. (Preference is usually given to online formats.)
o Reference books, indexes, and finding aids for research of the auction and
o exhibition histories of works of art
o Bibliographies on art
o Guides to artists’ monograms and signatures, hallmarks and other decorative arts identifying marks
o Reference books on artists’ techniques and materials
o Indexes to art reproductions
o Directories of museums, galleries, libraries and art professionals

General reference materials collected may include:
o Biographical dictionaries and encyclopedias
o Historical and current atlases and gazetteers
o Foreign language dictionaries
o European encyclopedias standard to most important reference libraries
o Indexes to dissertations
o Standard reference sources for monuments, buildings, churches, sculpture, and museums
o Standard reference sources for emblems, heraldry, iconography, and genealogy
o Selected basic reference works on religion, mythology, literature, performing arts and humanities

Electronic Resources
The library subscribes to and purchases electronic resources accessible via the Web. Electronic resources are collected based on their scholarly value, anticipated widespread use, and cost per use. The availability of existing print resources is also considered when selecting these resources. CD-ROMs are collected highly selectively, although they are added to the collection when they accompany a printed publication. DVDs are collected selectively. Other video formats are generally not collected.

Electronic resources collected may include:
o Auction sale and provenance research tools
o Bibliographic indexes
o Biographical resources
o Dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other reference works
o Full-text electronic books
o Full-text journals and newspapers
o Image databases

Dissertations
Unpublished dissertations are acquired when they directly relate to the current research of Museum staff.

Travel Guidebooks
The Library collects travel guidebooks that assist art scholars in their research.

Microforms
While the Library prefers print publications, it acquires microforms if the publications are not available in any other format.

Offprints
Offprints are generally not collected from publications owned by the Watson Library, with the exception of articles written or edited by MMA staff, or devoted entirely to objects in the MMA collection. Offprints from publications not held by the Library are added highly selectively.

Pamphlets and Ephemera
The Vertical File contains ephemeral information on more than 20,000 artists. Included are articles from selected newspapers and magazines, as well as exhibition invitations, pamphlets and small catalogs. Mailings are received internationally from various sources including other museums, galleries and artists, and the majority of these are retained if they are of a professional level. Also included in the Vertical File are extensive holdings of press clippings, brochures, and other ephemeral material relating to the history of the Museum.

Special Collections
The library actively collects rare books, periodicals, and antiquarian materials. Most of these are acquired through the generous funding provided by donors including the Friends of the Thomas J. Watson Library. Special emphasis is given to collecting artists monographs, exhibition catalogs, artists’ manuals, publications on world expositions, and trade catalogs.

Archives
The Thomas J. Watson Library does not seek to acquire unique or rare archival material per se. In the past, the Library’s archival collections have usually been acquired through gifts. These collections include more than 5,000 manuscript items such as Samuel Putnam Avery’s European travel diary, letters to and from Sir Richard Westmacott, numerous other autograph letters and papers relating to prominent artists, the Steinway & Sons collection, 1853-1997, and the papers of Claude Marks.

Exclusions
The Library does not actively collect artists books, audiovisual materials, slides, photographic collections, original prints or other works of art.

V. SUBJECT SCOPE
The Library’s holdings reflect the Museum’s encyclopedic collections. Publications on art in all media including all areas of the decorative arts are included.
The following topics are collected comprehensively:
o American art: painting, sculpture, decorative arts and interior decoration
o Ancient Near East art and archeology
o Arms and armor
o Asian art
o Egyptian art and archeology
o European art (Renaissance, Baroque, and 18th century): painting, sculpture, decorative arts, and graphic arts
o Greek and Roman art and archeology
o Islamic art
o Medieval art
o Musical instruments worldwide
o Nineteenth-century, modern and contemporary art
o Photography
o Post-contact art of the Americas

Publications on all areas of the decorative arts and design are collected, including ceramics, glass, furniture, jewelry, metalwork, textiles and woodwork. Contemporary art publications are collected intensively on a global scale including those of commercial art galleries. Archaeological publications are collected as they relate to objects in the Museum.
The following subjects are collected selectively: art law; museology and museum studies; stage and theatre design; gardens and garden history; advertising design; folk art; and conservation. Publications on architecture are collected when they include discussion of the decorative programs in painting and sculpture or when they aid in research on the history of decorative art and interior design. Two specific topics on architecture are collected extensively: Frank Lloyd Wright and museum architecture.
Subjects that pertain to the collecting or creation of art are routinely added to the collection. Peripheral areas such as social history, biography, literature, performing arts and religion are added on a highly selective basis. Items of a purely scientific nature are generally not added. The Library collects costume only as it relates to iconography, style or interdisciplinary approaches to the study of objects in the Museum’s collection. It does not actively collect books dealing with fashion. The Library collects materials on numismatics when their focus is on iconography.

VI. RELATION TO OTHER LIBRARY RESOURCES
As the central research library of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Thomas J. Watson Library is the library of record for the Museum and supports research for nearly all of the departments of the museum. Exceptions where the Watson Library does not collect include: materials on pre-twentieth century indigenous art from sub-Saharan Africa, Oceania, pre-contact Americas, and Native American art, which are collected by the Robert Goldwater Library; materials on fashion and costume, which are collected by the Irene Lewisohn Costume Reference Library; and materials collected by the Nolen Library in the Uris Center for Education on art education and books on art for children. Other departmental libraries in the Museum complement the holdings of Watson Library and may make added copies of books available to the staff in their departments.
Columbia University’s comprehensive research library system also complements that of the Library. An arrangement made with the Columbia University Libraries, allowing Museum curatorial and research staff to borrow materials onsite from CUL circulating libraries, is especially useful for access to humanities and interdisciplinary materials outside of the Watson Library’s collecting scope. Access to Columbia’s Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, a non-circulating collection with a rich collection of architectural publications complementing the collection of the Watson Library, is also made available onsite to Museum researchers.
New York City is also rich in other research libraries that supplement the Library’s resources including the New York Public Library and those of many other museums. In addition to libraries in the New York metropolitan area, Watson Library offers Interlibrary Services whereby materials can be borrowed from other libraries for Museum research staff.

VII. WITHDRAWAL
Decisions to withdraw specific items, like decisions to acquire new titles, are made within the context of the total collection policy, in order to maintain overall integrity of the collection. The nature of a special research library, such as the Watson Library, precludes the approach to weeding taken by academic or public libraries. The importance of art historiography as a research focus obliges the Library to retain superseded editions of art historical texts.

VIII: REPLACEMENT AND DESIDERATA
Before printed material which has been lost or damaged is considered for replacement, a thorough search is done in the Library and in the Museum’s departments. The criteria to be considered for replacement include long-term value and demand, alternative coverage of the topic in the existing collection and availability of an electronic version. Replacement copies are ordered for badly damaged books when conservation is determined not to be appropriate. Desiderata are acquired when found during routine searching of out-of-print dealers’ catalogs or when a researcher requests the title.