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