ARLIS/NA 46th Annual Conference

Note: This session will be recorded and made accessible after the conference in the ARLIS/NA Learning Portal.


E-journals have existed for about three decades. They were pioneered by the sciences and social sciences, but for various reasons, some more valid than others, the arts and humanities were slower to catch on. In the field of art history, in particular, a major retardant was the need to establish protocols governing permissions and licenses for reproducing high-quality color images in perpetuity on the internet.


Today, the e-publishing of art history journals has become an accepted practice, yet it is certainly not the standard. Key challenges remain: how to adapt traditional print journals to digital formats, and how to take full advantage of the possibilities the digital medium has to offer; how to index and archive e-journals, and how to fund them, especially open-access journals that are born digital.


This round-table brings together art historians, editors, and librarians involved in different aspects of journal e-publishing. Interactive in format, the session will address questions about content, format, access, archiving, and new possibilities in the digital publishing realm. The session will begin with short presentations by the panelists about their experiences in e-publishing, highlighting lessons learned and future challenges to be addressed. The second half of the panel will open the floor to the audience for comments, questions, ideas, and information sharing, so a larger cooperative experience can be shared by all.


Presentations:
Elizabeth L. Block, “The Art History Journal Unbound: An Editor’s Perspective on an Evolving Readership”
Martina Droth, “Creating a Born-digital Journal for Art History: Objectives, Challenges, and Lessons”
Alexandra Provo, “Indexing for Access: How Librarians Can Help Situate E-journals Online”
Isabel L. Taube, “Preservation Management in E-journals: What Are We Doing to Fix Links and Archive Resources and Are We Doing Enough?”