Getting to Grips with NTROs (visual arts data)- The Role of Repositories and Libraries in Their Management

This essay will comment on NTROs and visual arts data and the role of repositories and libraries in their management; examples will be cited from the literature. By its very nature, research in the visual arts is highly complex and varied, often comprising a wide variety of outputs and formats that present researchers, libraries, and technology teams with many discipline-specific issues. Examples include sketch books, paintings, architectural plans, physical artifacts, and modelling algorithms. Additionally, the methods and processes that generate this type of research information are just as varied and complex. Research in the visual arts relies heavily on sketchbooks, logbooks, journals, and workbooks. The physical nature of research in the arts presents researchers and curators with significant problems with security and preservation issues while also greatly increasing the risk of data loss and deterioration. Appropriate curation and management of research objects/data in the visual arts is essential to satisfy funding requirements and demands for open access; reduce its lack of discoverability or loss; enable other researchers to test the reliability and validity of the data and the research method; enable greater impact of research and make tracking more accurate; and extend collaborative opportunities between researchers and teams working on similar and related projects to create new research opportunities.