[OpenGLAM] e-artexte: Open Access and visual arts publishing in Canada

Wed Jun 26 15:03:06 UTC 2013

Hi there,

I wanted to post something to the list about a project that I am involved
with that I think would be of interest to the OpenGLAM community (
http://e-artexte.ca/).

I’m going to be doing outreach and training activities in the coming year
related to this project and would be interested in collaborating with any
GLAM related organizations that are doing work in Open Access or digital
publishing in the arts, especially if there are any Canadians on this list
(?)

If anyone wants more details about Artexte and e-artexte, don’t hesitate to
email me.

*Some background*

*
*

Artexte is a non-profit arts organization that was founded in 1981. Our
mandate is to document contemporary art from 1965 to the present with
special emphasis on Canadian art. We also facilitate research in this area
by offering reference services, by making our collection accessible to the
public, and by developing rigorous information resources. The collection of
Artexte includes over 23,000 items such as monographs, exhibition
catalogues, periodicals and artists’ books as well as 7,000 artists’ files
and 3,000 files on arts organizations (including museums, artist-run
centres and art galleries).

*What is e-artexte?*

*
*

e-artexte is an Open Access digital repository that was developed in part
to replace the existing bibliographic database at Artexte, and to provide a
self-archiving service to our publishing and writing community. The service
was launched in February 2013, and so far we have received a small
selection of digital publications, many of which complement printed
materials that exist in our collection. Digital publications are made
available through Creative Commons licensing, and our metadata is open for
re-use for non-commercial purposes, although we are looking at removing all
restrictions on re-use.

e-artexte uses the open source repository software EPrints (
http://www.eprints.org/), but this software was significantly customized to
respond to the specialized needs of Artexte metadata and cataloguing
practices. In fact, we wrote an article about it!

Neugebauer, Tomasz and MacDonald, Corina and Tayler, Felicity (2012)
Artexte metadata conversion to EPrints: adaptation of digital repository
software to visual and media arts documentation. International Journal on
Digital Libraries, 11 (4). pp. 263-277. ISSN 1432-5012
http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/973566/

*Who uses it?*

*
*

The concepts and practices around Open Access, self-archiving, and Creative
Commons licensing are new to most of our community of publishers who
deposit their print publications with Artexte. Our aim is to promote this
access model from scholarly publishing as one that can bring together and
contextualize contemporary art writing from across the country. The types
of publishers we will be working with include artists, curators, critics,
museums, galleries, artist-run centres and other arts organizations or
collectives.

One of the issues raised by many publishers in this community is the need
for better distribution, access and visibility of their work. While many of
them do sell their publications, revenues from publishing are generally
quite small. They seem to be very interested in Open Access and e-artexte
as an avenue for providing long term access and wider visibility.

*What’s next?*

*
*

Our focus now is on outreach and training activities. In April I did an
e-artexte workshop for a small group of publishers in Montreal; more of
these workshops are planned in Montreal over 2013-2014. I also just
presented e-artexte at a forum in Saint John, New Brunswick on independent
publishing organized by the Artist-run Centres and Collectives Conference (
http://www.arccc-cccaa.org/en/arca/), a national umbrella organization.

I’m hoping to meet with more visual arts publishers in the coming year to
promote Creative Commons licensing and Open Access as tools that will
increase the visibility and dissemination of publications over the
internet. I will also be developing online training materials on these
subjects.

On another note, we are also doing some data visualization work with
e-artexte metadata. Tomasz Neugebauer, our colleague at Concordia
University, has developed for example a timeline visualization of
exhibition catalogues in photography:
http://www.photographymedia.com/visualizations/artexte/e-artexte-1.html

Now we have started working on a new visualization project to see what
social network analysis can tell us about the history of conceptual art in
Canada. More details on that in the fall!

*Some cool stuff*

* *

I thought I would just point out a few artists’ books that we have received
digital copies of that you might find interesting:

Anon. *All the Names of In Search of Lost Time : Marcel
Proust.*<http://e-artexte.ca/23700/> Toronto,
Ont.: Parasitic Ventures Press, 2006.

Anon. *The Three Critiques of Immanuel Kant.* <http://e-artexte.ca/23701/> Open
ed. Toronto, Ont.: Parasitic Ventures Press.

Eyland, Cliff. *Cliff Eyland 2012 : National Gallery of Canada, Library and
Archives = Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, Bibliothèque et
archives.*<http://e-artexte.ca/23661/> Ottawa,
On: Cliff Eyland, 2012.

Eyland, Cliff. *Venetian Proposal.* <http://e-artexte.ca/23710/> Winnipeg,
Man.: Cliff Eyland, 2012.

Maranda, Michael. *Good & Evil.* <http://e-artexte.ca/23698/> Toronto,
Ont.: Parasitic Ventures Press, 2010.

Maranda, Michael. *Twentysix Gasoline Stations,
2.0.*<http://e-artexte.ca/23702/> Toronto,
Ont.: Parasitic Ventures Press, 2010.

Scholes, Douglas and Canty, Daniel. *The Condition of
Things.*<http://e-artexte.ca/23709/> London,
England: Space, 2012.

Trepanier, Peter. *Not to be Opened 'till on the
Lake.*<http://e-artexte.ca/23940/> Montréal,
Qc: Peter Trepanier, 1979.

Corina MacDonald
Project Manager, e-artexte

-- 
data > information > design
www.corinamacdonald.net
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