Bad News: Bibliography of the History of Art discontinued

ProQuest reports:

Discontinuation of the Bibliography of the History of Art: please note that the Bibliography of the History of Art is being withdrawn from distribution, and will no longer be available after 31st March 2010. As distributors of the resource, it is our understanding that the Getty Research Institute is no longer able to support the database and has not yet been able to reach an agreement with a new publisher. Further details will be forthcoming at the Getty Research Institute’s website, www.getty.edu. Subscribing institutions will be credited on a pro-rated basis, and should contact their ProQuest sales or customer services representatives with any queries...

The Getty Research Institute gives background:

In response to current economic conditions, the J. Paul Getty Trust recently announced it will significantly reduce its 2010 fiscal year budget. This will have an impact on all of the Getty's operations, including the Getty Research Institute (GRI). Since news of the Getty's budget reduction became public, including information about the Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA), we have received some inquiries about the BHA's future. We thought it would be helpful to review the history of the Getty's involvement with the BHA, the current status of the database, and our expectations for its future.

From 1990, when the International Repertory of the Literature of Art (RILA) and the Répertoire d'Art et d'Archéologie (RAA) came together to form BHA, it was a joint project between the Getty and the major database producer, the Institut de l'Information Scientifique et Technique-CNRS. At the end of 2007, this collaboration ceased and BHA formally came to an end. Since January 2008, the GRI has continued production of the database on its own, under the name of the International Bibliography of Art (IBA), and over the last sixteen months, the GRI has made an effort to forge collaborative partnerships on the IBA both nationally and internationally.

While there is interest in seeing the database continue, there have been no formal partnership commitments and no guarantees of outside funding for the project. Unfortunately, with the GRI facing severe budget challenges and without strong and committed partners to share the work, it has become impossible for the Getty to maintain the IBA on its own. Nevertheless, the GRI continues to be interested in seeing the IBA continue its service to the art historical field...