LOS ANGELES, CA.- The J. Paul Getty Trust will return ownership of the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals to Columbia University effective July 1, 2009. One of the preeminent research tools in architecture, the Index offers a comprehensive listing of journal articles published worldwide on architecture and design, city planning, interior design, landscape architecture and historic preservation.

The Avery Index covers not only the international scholarly and popular periodical literature but also the publications of professional associations as well as U.S. state and regional periodicals.

For the past 26 years, the Avery Index has been a joint project between the J. Paul Getty Trust and Columbia University, with the Getty providing funding as well as technical and administrative support, while Columbia University managed its production. Last spring, in connection with Getty-wide budget reductions, the GRI announced its intention to transfer the Index back to Columbia.

Over the years, the Avery Index has migrated from print to electronic to Internet distribution, and it has vastly increased its subscription base. At present, there are approximately 225 institutional subscribers, which comprise nearly all the major academic institutions internationally who support research in architecture.

“Now that the Avery Index is increasingly self-supporting, it seemed the opportune moment to return it to its producers at Columbia,” says Thomas Gaehtgens, director of the Getty Research Institute.

“We are delighted to reacquire the Avery Index,” says Jim Neal, Vice President for Information Services and University Librarian at Columbia University. “We have profited greatly from our partnership over the past 26 years, and we hope to continue to make advances in production and distribution of this important reference tool.”

Columbia and Getty will ensure a seamless transition for users of the Index, coordinating continuing distribution agreements as they have in the past. The Getty will continue to provide administrative and technical support during the transition period from July 1, 2009 until December 31, 2009.

The Avery Index has been produced since 1934 at the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University, one of the finest libraries in the country for research in architecture.