One of the MAK Library and Works on Paper Collection’s central tasks is the rigorous scholarly processing and digitalisation of the collection’s inventory. At sammlung.MAK.at more than 160 000 image and data records can thus be accessed by researchers and the broader public. The exceptionally high number of page views and a constantly increasing volume of requests for object loans and reproduction rights bear witness to the positive reception of these efforts, fostering dialogue between the collection and its users.
Numerous research projects, some of them supported by outside funding, place the collection’s holdings in ever-new contexts, the results of these projects eventually finding their way into exhibitions and publications.
In 2001, the museum’s tradition of regular publishing was successfully revived: MAK Studies, a series of publications initiated by the Library and Works on Paper Collection, casts an interdisciplinary light as well as opens up new perspectives on the MAK Collection. To date, 28 MAK Studies have been published. Special mention should be made of the 2017 publication Ephemera, that reproduces from a range of scholarly perspectives the unique body of commercial graphic works in the MAK Library and Works on Paper Collection. The publication received the European Design Award.
Starting in 2012, the Journals published by the MAK—Mittheilungen des k. k. Österreichischen Museums für Kunst und Industrie (1863–1897), Kunst und Kunsthandwerk (1898–1926) and Alte und Moderne Kunst (1956–1985)—have been scanned and indexed and their full text made available online. This abundant resource for researchers has been further enriched since 2018 by the successive digitalization of the MAK in-house catalogs, providing a comprehensive history of the museum’s exhibitions.
Through its projects, the MAK Library and Works on Paper Collection underscores the MAK’s prominent position in the world of museum scholarship.
Catalogues of books
MAK catalogue of booksJournals published by the MAK
MAK Collection online
Austrian Library Association
Graphikportal
