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Historical Background
Being the oldest and largest visual arts library in Greece, the ASFA Library has its origins in the “School For the Arts” (1837), whose evolution finally led to the creation of both the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and the Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA).

At the time of its foundation, the Athens School of Fine Arts received several donations consisting of backing educational material (books, models, prototypes, paintings), out of which the first collections were set-up.

On the 11th of November 1843 the first School For the Arts organization is established and published (on the Official Government Gazette No 38), according to which the School For the Arts is partitioned into three divisions:

1. The part-time school operating on Sundays and holidays only

2. The full-time “School of Industrial Arts”

3. The full-time higher educational “School for the Fine Arts”

In an article published by the same organization, it is stated that all book and image collections are to be placed under the supervision of the School for the Arts Director. The book and painting collection initially set-up to support the Arts Department educational process remained as it was right until 1910, under the supervision of a central management - as was the case with the School of Fine Arts for that matter - comprising a part of the unified library for all departments belonging to what was at the time known as the “School of Industrial Arts”.

In 1910, the School of Fine Arts is separated from the School of Industrial Arts and falls under the authority of the Ministry of Public Education (Hellenic Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs) (law ΓΧΙΑ/No.3611, about the “School of Fine Arts”).

At the same time, all book and painting collections, which were about to become the very basis for the establishment of the School of Fine Arts library, are detached from the School of Industrial Arts library. The school is now run by its own director, who is also responsible for the library supervision.

In Chapter VII of the aforementioned law, specifically in articles 53, 54, 55 and 56, there is a reference regarding the foundation of the library and how all matters related to financial backing, library management and operation are to be regulated. On the 3rd of July 1930, Law 4791 is published, under which the School is now recognized as a higher and independently managed educational institute. It is named the “Athens School of Fine Arts” and rendered equivalent to the National Technical University of Athens.

This new law, which remains in effect until this day, includes the re-foundation of the library and operates under the latest general legislation (Ν. 3404 No 16) for all Academic libraries.

The evolution path of the library has mainly been influenced by the same factors contributing to the School’s progress, such as study programs, the academic staff at the time and the available credit for library enrichment. The most decisive factor of all is, however, is believed to be the financial one.

A major leap in the library ‘s evolution was achieved through generous funding by the Ministry of Education development programs ((EPEAEK I) Operational Program for Education and Initial Vocational Training I or O.P. Education I), 1995 - 2000 and EPEAEK ΙΙ, 2000-2006), which in turn are funded 75% by European Community resource and 25% by national resources.

A quantity-based comparative report regarding the library collections proves the claim: In 1977 the library counted 10000 book volumes, 60 journal titles and 600 engravings. In 1997, 22000 book volumes, 183 journal titles and 600 engravings and 189 videos. In 2007 the count showed 42000 book volumes, 602 journal titles (394 imprinted, 43 CD ROM’s, 15 on microfilm and 150 electronic titles belonging to the JSTOR database)

The following are additionally allotted:

1. 12000 electronic journals from the Healink (Hellenic Academic Library Link) databases

2. A collection of audiovisual material consisting of 3640 titles (1860 videos and 1780 CD ROM’s, DVD’s and music CD’s)

3. 600 engravings

4. The A.S.F.A Digital collection consisting of 19 books and 12 journals.

Another 6 electronic databases are furthermore allotted by the library and 31 are allotted by HEALINK.

All aforementioned material has been catalogued and may be searched through the online library catalogue. You may also carry out an indexed search for 5 greek art journals

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Date: 10/12/2019
Document type: Announcements
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