Rain damage in Chan Chan, Peru

Heavy rains have recently damage the ancient city of Chan Chan, a city in Peru that was once the home of the Chimu people, who lived there from 1000 to 1470.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061223/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/peru_chan_chan_1

WebWise 2007

WebWise 2007
February 28-March 2
Hyatt Regency, Capitol Hill
Washington, DC

Sponsors: Institute of Museum and Library Services, OCLC, J. Paul Getty Trust.

2007 Theme: “Stewardship in the Digital Age: Managing Museum and Library Collections for Preservation and Use.”

From the news release:

The conference will feature presentations and panel discussions by library, museum, and other information experts who will address issues and emerging practices in the preservation of digital content from digitized text to “born-digital” art. It will also provide a forum for discussing the general state of preservation and “digital preservation readiness” in the nation’s museums and libraries and the potential for technology to improve the management of physical collections and the documentation of cultural heritage. Demonstrations will feature online tools for disaster planning, projects that are addressing challenges such as preserving audio and visual media, and projects to document and preserve tangible and intangible cultural heritage.

Direct to WebWise 2007 Web Site

A little self-promotion...

A little self-promotion is a good thing :)

It was a good week for Melissa and Erika. Both had book reviews published this week:

Aho, Melissa. Review of Marguerite Abouet and Clement Oubrerie (illus.), “Aya.” Library Journal- LJXpress Review, December 19, 2006. Electronic Document. http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6401099.html


Aho, Melissa. Review of Thomas K. Seligman and Kristyne Loughran, Editors, “Art of Being Tuareg: Sahara Nomads in a Modern World.” MultiCultural Review, Winter 2006, Vol. 15, No. 4, p55-56.


Bennett, Erika. Review of Steven T. Seagle (text) & Becky Cloonan & Jim Rugg (illus.).
American Virgin. Vol. 1: Head. Library Journal- LJXpress Review, December 19, 2006. Electronic Document. http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6401099.html

ACRL announcement - Arts section

From the ILI Listserv:

The Arts Section of ACRL has completed a pilot project to create an online guide to arts venues in ALA conference host cities. While this information may be available in a variety of other formats, including ALA's own wiki that links to online information on host cities, the Arts Section believes the guide that has been completed for Seattle, our Midwinter site, can still prove useful to those of us planning to attend. The Seattle guide has been created almost exclusively by librarians living in the area and can be found on the Arts Section webpage:

http://www.acrl.org/ala/acrl/aboutacrl/acrlsections/sections.htm

The Great Buildings Collection

Need information on a building? Check out The Great Buildings Collection website.


At this site you can search by the name of the building, architect and place/city. Among the information given on various Great Buidings are: “3D models, photographic images and architectural drawings, commentaries, bibliographies, web links, and more”. The site is also cross-linked with ArchitectureWeek and Archiplanet.

Art of the Deal at Italian Banks

In today’s (12/18/06) Wall Street Journal 'Money & Investing' section, there is an article on “Art of the Deal at Italian Banks: Lenders Mergers Accumulate Historic Paintings, Sculptures: Can Treasures be Leveraged?" p C1.

The article discusses how “a wave of mergers is sweeping through Italy’s staid banking sector, creating global powerhouses of fine art”. Its seems that the merger of Sanpaolo IMI and Banca Intesa, which will have a combined market capitalization of $89 billion, will also merge massive collections of fine art and historical properties, including paintings by Caravaggio, Max Ernst, etc.

Apocalypto and the Mayan

With the opening of Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto, there is a lot of discussion on the Mayan Empire and its collapse. While we know that the movie is not quite historically accurate, there have been some really interesting articles published in its wake.

National Geographic has some really fun articles, including an interview with a Mayan scholar
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/12/061208-apocalypto-mel.html

An artist's rendering shows the ancient Maya trading city of El Mirador
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/12/061207-apocalypto.html

And a video with of Maya expert Richard Hansen excavating a Mayan tomb
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/12/061205-apocalypto.html

Art Museum Image Gallery

This notice from Nov. 20 just caught my eye. So if an art database grows by 62,000 images, now that's impressive.

Drawn from over 1,800 distinguished sources worldwide, the new images include material from many of the most respected museums of Europe, Africa, South America, and Asia: Musée du Louvre, Paris; Museum der Stadt, Vienna; Bibliothèque des Arts Décoratifs, Paris; Musée du Château de Versailles; Museo del Prado, Madrid; National Anthropological Museum, Mexico; British Museum; Archaeological Museum, Istanbul; Archaeological Museum, Lima; Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg; Bardo Museum, Tunis; and others. Full bibliographic records accompany every image, and all images are rights-cleared for educational use.

Metropolitan Museum of Art's Timeline of Art History

This is a gorgeous art timeline from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. (Flash required?) The collection is also searchable by Artist, Accession Number, etc. via the tabs at the top.

The Timeline of Art History is a chronological, geographical, and thematic exploration of the history of art from around the world, as illustrated especially by the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection. The Museum's curatorial, conservation, and education staff—the largest team of art experts anywhere in the world—research and write the Timeline, which is an invaluable reference and research tool for students, educators, scholars, and anyone interested in the study of art history and related subjects. First launched in 2000, the Timeline now extends from prehistory to the present day. The Timeline will continue to expand in scope and depth, and also reflect the most up–to–date scholarship.

Thanks to ResourceShelf for the alert.

Bactrian Gold in Paris

The Bactrian Gold aka the 2,000-year-old gold treasure trove from the Afghan National Museum, which was saved and hidden from the Taliban is now on display at Paris' Guimet Museum http://www.guimet.fr/-English- .