From: Sandy Thatcher <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mon, 1 Feb 2016 22:39:44 -0600

This is especially good news for publishers of art history.

Sandy Thatcher

> From: Kevin Guthrie <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Thursday, January 28, 2016
>
> To our creators, partners, and users:
>
> We are writing to you as a valued member of our community to share the
> good news that Artstor, the nonprofit provider of the Artstor Digital
> Library of images and the Shared Shelf platform for cataloguing and
> digital asset management, will now operate under the umbrella of its
> fellow nonprofit ITHAKA, the organization that currently operates
> three other services: JSTOR, Portico and Ithaka S+R.  As you may know,
> Artstor, ITHAKA and JSTOR were all created as mission-driven nonprofit
> organizations with the initial support of The Andrew W. Mellon
> Foundation and with similar aims. This strategic alignment is a
> natural fit for us all.
>
> Artstor and JSTOR both work with libraries and museums, content
> partners and researchers to build and preserve shared academic
> resources. Now, with Artstor and JSTOR both under the umbrella of
> ITHAKA, a recognized leader in advancing technologies that strengthen
> the work of educational institutions while lowering their costs, the
> two will be better able to collaborate in developing new tools and
> sharing resources.
>
> Where JSTOR has emphasized textual materials, Artstor has supported
> the visual. Where JSTOR has had its greatest impact as a resource for
> research, Artstor has served the field primarily as a teaching and
> learning resource. Together, we have wonderful opportunities for
> combining our capabilities and collections, so they can be discovered,
> contextualized, and advanced in ways that further empower researchers,
> teachers, and students.
>
> Moreover, the relationships that are central to Artstor's work as a
> trusted third party, bridging the interests of those who create images
> and those who use images, will remain intact in this new strategic
> alliance with ITHAKA, which shares Artstor's focus and history of
> balancing the needs of various constituents.
>
> In this time of great change for educational and cultural
> institutions, we have a duty to make the most of our resources to
> benefit research and learning everywhere. The strategic alliance of
> Artstor with ITHAKA allows us to do just that, strengthening our
> organizations while benefiting the thousands of institutions we serve.
> We look forward to continuing to work with you as we have done to
> date-only better.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> James and Kevin
>
> James Shulman
> President, Artstor
>
> Kevin Guthrie
> President, ITHAKA