Information systems with a visual focus in the arts describe museum and library catalogues, digital libraries, image databases and search engines, all of which have unique requirements that set the visually focused systems apart from their more textually focused counterparts. For users who seek out and examine visual information in the arts as primary sources, the performance of these systems can mean the difference between the success and failure of searching for, assessing, and analyzing visual content. This roundtable seeks to explore visual information systems’ user experiences through the thoughts of visual-information seekers and the information professionals who support them.
Dr. Joan E. Beaudoin, Associate Professor, School of Information Sciences, Wayne State University Dr. Rachel Harris, Scholarly Publishing Librarian, Concordia University Library, Montreal, Quebec