In Sweden picture lending is not new but has been most successful in hospitals. Developments in the 1950s and 1960s involving some 70 municipal libraries were followed by withdrawal into the traditional book-centred role of libraries. Future development of artotheques must be based on the principles of quantity and renewal (ensuring ample choice), and of quality (achieved by professional selection of original prints). A campaign to foster art appreciation and visual literacy, paralleling efforts in the field of literacy, would nourish the role of artotheques. (Originally published in the Scandinavian Public Library Quarterly v.18 n.4 1985).