The IRIS Consortium is able to accommodate in its union catalogue RDA records derived from two authoritative sources, The Library of Congress and the Berenson Library (The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies). The consortium's position at this time, however, is to integrate into our original cataloguing some of the most useful aspects of RDA without taking the full ‘plunge’ into RDA (toolkit subscription, retraining, etc.). In Italy we may very well be, for varying reasons, in a not uncommon situation.

The Mediathek of the Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz Basel (FHNW) is a remarkable place. It's shaped, on the one hand, by the demands it must meet in functioning as the central information hub of the Faculty of Art and Design (Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst - HGK). On the other hand its exposed location on the Campus der Künste (art campus) and its specific spatial plan determine the everyday work. Positioned between research and education, the Mediathek HGK functions as an intermediary, with the character of a laboratory: it provides access to important knowledge bases and makes content available in a way which enables experimental, creative and yet also systematic forms of research. Knowledge, in the sense of classified information, becomes a resource and raw material for the arts and design. New, digital contents must be made as available and accessible as archived (post-research) or historical material. A creative work cycle is enabled, which continually questions, implements, refines and forgets materials and resources.1

Both the dynamic agility of the university itself and the focus on always questioning the adequacy, timeliness, relevance, potential, etc. of the theme of information service, results in continuous developments at the Mediathek (bibliotheca semper reformanda est).

The Library of Sir Charles Eastlake (1793–1865), the first Director of the National Gallery, London, became the founding collection of the National Gallery Library. It is now being catalogued to rare book standards, and the records will be made available to researchers as part of a wider retrospective conversion and online access project. A few highlights from the Eastlake Library are described in order to illustrate the range and depth of the collection.

How can we entice adolescents into a “behind- the- scenes” world of an art library? The internship project at the Prints and Drawings Library is now in its 7th successful year. Young Florentine students are introduced to the working of the bibliographic research done by the librarians and are given the opportunity to carry out their own projects. At the end of the week they visit the masterpieces on show in the Uffizi Gallery.