One way to ensure the prolonged access, visibility and use of art collections in universities ("When old masters battle with new mistresses", October 28), would be to make them available via the web. The Council for National Academic Awards Art Collection Trust, together with Arts and Humanities Data Service's Visual Arts, attempted to take an inventory and assemble art held within art schools in 2003 and found institutions struggling with the expense of housing, insuring and preserving those collections. Digitisation was a solution, and fineart.ac.uk catalogued, digitised and licensed the art for learning, teaching and research, in perpetuity.
Polly Christie
University College for the Creative Arts at Farnham