Overview

ADAM, the Art, Design, Architecture & Media Information Gateway, is funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee of the Higher Education Funding Councils to evaluate, select, catalogue to approved standards and provide access to art, design, architecture and media resources on the Internet. This Collections Policy describes the types of resources that are suitable for inclusion in the ADAM catalogue.

What ADAM covers

ADAM includes Internet resources in the following subject areas:

• Fine Art, including painting, prints and drawings, sculpture and other contemporary media and practices, including fine art using technology and performance art
• Design, including industrial, product, fashion, graphic, packaging and interior design
• Architecture, including town planning and landscape design, but excluding building construction
• Applied Arts, including textiles, ceramics, glass, metals, jewellery and furniture
• Media, including film, television, broadcasting, photography and animation
• Theory: relevant historical, philosophical and contextual studies
• Museum studies and conservation
• Professional practice related to any of the above

ADAM does not attempt to include all Internet resources in the above areas but it identifies appropriate high-quality resources using the ADAM Guidelines for Resource Selection.

Target audience and collection emphasis

ADAM is a JISC funded initiative and as such is designed to serve the needs of the UK Higher Education art, design, architecture and media community. The service will reflect this in its collecting policy and prominence will be given to collecting appropriate UK resources. European and worldwide resources will also be included but on a more selective basis. While maintaining a UK Higher Education focus, the Service will also hope to be of benefit to a wide range of individuals, groups and organisations.