Survey       

*Description of Survey Results

Building on previous investigations into the information-seeking behavior of artists, particularly William Hemmig's (2009) empirical study, the current study extended those earlier efforts with a sample of Canadian artists. A survey was designed to expand our understanding of the community of practice for a group of creative professionals by assessing local needs. Artists were asked to describe their creative process and the resources employed for that process, including the relevance of online sources and libraries. It was decided to distribute the survey online only, since most artists in the local community are computer users.

To connect with artists, several approaches were taken. As the first author has ties to the arts community, she was able to connect with several individuals personally. She has a Facebook network of colleagues to whom she sent a link to the survey. She is also a member of two local artists groups, the Guelph Arts Council, and Art-in-Guelph, a website where local artists show their work. They were willing to post announcements and links to the survey on their sites. Finally she attended the recent ‘Art in the Street’ event in Guelph where various participants were invited to fill out the survey. A total of twenty-five artists participated.

Artists in this sample work in a broad range of mediums. Painting, drawing, graphic arts, mixed media, digital/electronic, printmaking and photography were all represented in this sample of professionals. Even with this diverse group of practicing artists, the patterns of survey responses were remarkably similar across all artist groups. Current responses for many of the items support earlier findings. For example, images found in print (books, magazines, journals, newspapers) and mass media sources (television, film, and video) were all cited as important to the creative process.

Similar to work by Hemmig (2009), all artist groups in this sample cited personal living experiences, including seeing works of art in person, as critical sources of inspiration for their work. In support of findings by Cowan (2004), objects and forms from the natural environment served as important sources of inspiration for almost three quarters of this Canadian sample.

The five classes of information needs as described by Cobbledick (1996, 347) were included in the design of the current survey; "Need for inspiration,” need for "specific visual information,” information on "various techniques and media,” awareness of "current developments in the visual arts” and the business of art, "shows, commissions, and sales,” etc.

As found in previous research, other artists and colleagues were consistently cited as the most important resource to support these professional artists. For those working with new materials or learning new techniques, almost all (84%) respondents preferred consulting colleagues. Earlier findings on the importance of experimentation as a method of learning were also supported by the present study. Within this Canadian sample, all artist groups relied on classes and workshops to develop necessary skills and knowledge. This is yet another example of the social networking approach to learning as described by Hemmig (2008).

Other colleagues were also the most important support in staying current with the art world and with employment and funding opportunities. More than half (59%) of this sample also relied on art associations to meet these professional information needs. Most respondents found information on studio space, equipment and educational opportunities through these same two social networking sources. These results suggest most of this sample of professional artists took full advantage of their community of practice.

Survey Items Related to Online Sources

Following the lead of previous studies (Hemmig, 2009; Visick, Hendrickson, and Bowman, 2006), the survey included a number of items to assess their level of reliance for online sources. This sample used computerized sources to meet many of their needs as practicing artists. Across all artist groups, a general search with the search engine Google was the most common approach. There was variability across groups for using the more refined search strategies with this search engine. Half of the digital/electronic artists, half of the graphic artists and 80% of printmakers took advantage of the advanced search option. Artists self-assigned to the painting and the drawing group were the only respondents familiar with Google Scholar.

As anticipated, visual resources were critical for these professionals. All artists surveyed maintained some sort of image source file. For all groups, searching or accessing images was the most frequently cited purpose for online searches in support of their work. This need for visual sources was often met through art sites such as ArtSource (32% of the entire sample). Image sites such as Getty Images and Corbis were also consulted by 12% of this sample of artists. Bookmarking images online was another alternative for one third of all respondents.

Previous work on classes of information needs (Cobbledick, 1996) was supported by current survey results. This sample of artists also relied on the web for specific information needs. Manufacturers’ web sites (28% of respondents), electronic discussion groups (20%) and other websites (44%) were consulted by this sample for information on unfamiliar materials and techniques. When queried on types of helpful web sites, with no regard for specific need, artists’ web sites were important resources for 80% of the artists surveyed.

Social networking sites were also useful to these professionals. Almost all respondents (83%) had an e-mail account. More than half (56%) of these practicing artists used Facebook and some stayed current with blogs (22%) and RSS feeds (9%).

Survey Items Related to Libraries and Their Resources

The current survey also assessed the relevance of libraries and their services for this sample of Canadian working artists. As found in earlier studies, almost all of the respondents (96%) currently rely on their public library system to meet their needs. Two thirds of those surveyed also maintain their own personal library. Though almost half of the entire sample was eligible as alumni or community borrowers of academic libraries, less than 25% took advantage of this resource.

When asked to rank the importance of resources and services found in an academic library, responses were consistent for the majority of artists who had attended college or university. Borrowing books, accessing relevant magazines, journals and sources for images were all rated as very desirable for this sample. Respondents were also interested in utilizing alert services (52% of sample) and being provided assistance learning new information technologies (48%). As well, 43% of this sample acknowledged the benefits of instruction on web and database searching. This result is coupled with the fact that only 12% of this sample described themselves as very satisfied with the availability and quality of information they presently find to support their work. These results strongly suggested the need for further investigation into possible outreach opportunities to support these working professionals to bridge this gap between their need for resources and their ability to find it.

At the same time, Cowan (2004) presented a strong argument on the limitations of studying the creative process as a need for information. This deficit model can place undue emphasis on the seeking of information merely as a method of solving a problem or filling a specific need. Creativity is a form of personal expression that is a unique and individualized process. Cowan cautioned against the delimited perspective of information seeking behavior as an adequate description of the qualitative experiences involved in creating art.

References

Cobbledick, S. (1996) "The information-seeking behavior of artists: Exploratory interviews." Library Quarterly, 66 (4), 343-72.

Cowan, S. (2004) "Informing visual poetry: Information needs and sources of artists." Art Documentation, 23 (2), 14-20.

Hemmig, W.S. (2008) "The information-seeking behaviour of visual artists: A literature review." Journal of Documentation ,64 (3), 343-362.

Hemmig, W. S. (2009) "An empirical study of the information-seeking behavior of practising visual artists." Journal of Documentation, 65 (4), 24-7. 

Visick, R., Hendrickson, J. and Bowman, C. (2006) "Seeking information during the creative process - a pilot study of artists. " http://staff.washington.edu/jath/portfolio/570final.pdf

*"This is a preprint of a chapter accepted for publication by Facet Publishing and should provide an electronic link to the publisher’s website (www.facetpublishing.co.uk). The author agrees not to update the preprint or replace it with the published version of the chapter.” Excerpt from "Beyond the Ivied Walls" by Pat Eaves-Brown, Linda Graburn and Judy Wanner. In Paul Glassman and Amanda Gluibizzi eds. Handbook of Art and Design Librarianship, Facet Publishing UK, forthcoming 2010.