NEW YORK.-Art patron William S. Bartman, 58, died at Mount Sinai Hospital in Maniatan. William S. Bartman was born in Chicago. He founded Art Resources Transfer, or ART in 1987 and there he started the Distribution to Underserved Communities Program. This program distributes free books on art to rural and urban libraries all over the country. He also invited artists to interview other artists about their work for pocket-size books.

The Distribution to Underserved Communities (DUC) Program is an innovative project which distributes books on contemporary art and cultural issues free of charge to more than 1,600 public libraries, schools and community centers in 36 states, the District of Columbia and the US Territory of Saipan, making a rich diversity of voices, ideas and opinions accessible to literally tens of thousands of readers through their local libraries, community organizations or recreation centers. By expanding collections of materials concerning the arts and cultural issues in a variety of mainstream and alternative venues with a focus on rural and inner-city libraries, the DUC can help expand understanding and appreciation of the arts to a broad spectrum of the general public. DUC works to achieve these goals in a number of ways.

DUC helps libraries re-build collections decimated by years of budget cuts. Books on art, culture and contemporary literature, which had once been a fundamental component of public library collections, have become one of the lowest priorities for libraries struggling to survive. Phyllis Herskowitz, Volunteer Librarian of the Chico Public Library in Chico, Texas, wrote to request an order form for the DUC program.