Art and art history
Statement of programs and library needs
Library acquisitions in art and art history reflect present and future needs of the following.
- Students and faculty in the Department of Art and Art History. This department offers four-year programs leading to a B.A. degree in either studio art or art history. In addition, the collection supports a five-year undergraduate program in fine arts leading to the B.F.A. in graphic design or studio art.
- Students and faculty in the Center for Programs in the Humanities and the School of the Arts. The majority of courses in the program have an art component.
- Faculty and students in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies. Students in the architecture and design programs depend on the art collections; for example, graphic arts, styles and movements in art, aesthetics, craft and industrial arts, and the modern period.
- General use by the university community and area. The Art and Architecture Library is the only fine arts library in the area and is used by other area colleges and universities and by the community at large.
I. Collection areas
A. Area: Art and Art History
B. Classes and Levels
N Fine Arts General Study NA Architecture Research NB Sculpture Study NC Drawing, Design Study ND Painting Study NE Graphic Arts Study NK Decorative Arts, Applied Arts, Crafts Research NX Arts in General Study TR Photography Study
C. Chronology
The department covers all periods of western artistic production. In addition, the library supports ancient to modern periods of non-western history.
D. Geographic Guidelines
American and European imprints.
E. Languages
The study of art and art history necessarily involves materials published in languages other than English. English is the most useful language for the undergraduate population, but materials in German, Italian, Spanish, and French are collected. The quality of illustration is often more important than language of the text. Translations of major works are acquired when available.
F. Treatment
Scholarly monographs, periodical titles indexed in major indexes and current exhibition catalogs from all over the world are high priority materials. Museum publications are sought. Expensive catalogue raisonnes are purchased selectively for major figures. Reprints and translations of major works are purchased when available. Important series, for example from university press, are acquired, but trade publishers such as Routledge, St. Martins, Abbeville, Abrams, Rizzoli and foreign houses must be monitored. Reference materials (bibliographies, periodical indexes, catalogs of major museum collections, directories, handbooks and encyclopedias) are kept up-to-date and timely. Limited editions, early imprints of classic works and artists' books are acquired selectively and cataloged for the office collection in the branch.
G. Formats
Primarily print for monographs and most journals, though electronic full-text is also of growing importance for journals. Bibliographic databases are available through the Internet. Videos and disks are purchased selectively, most often through faculty request. Art slides are low priority because of the Department of Art and Art History's slide library. Pictures, prints, and posters are not collected.
H. Multiple copies
Multiple copies are purchased selectively for heavily-used titles, and duplication is usually limited to two copies of the same title. When hold/recalls exceed three, a second copy is often purchased. When expense or other reasons dictate a single copy, reserve can hold high-demand items until demand decreases.
II. Acquisition Strategy
Materials are selected for purchase by the art and architecture librarian. The Department of Art and Art History faculty are encouraged to suggest materials and review the collection. Other faculty and student requests are encouraged. Criteria include demand, need, availability, price, reputation of author and publisher, and quality of reproduction, etc. Starting with 1982, most university press books come automatically. Presses such as Princeton Architectural Press (not a university press) and Rizzoli (excluding "coffee-table" books) are also included on blanket order. Periodicals are reviewed annually for additions and cancellations. Dealer and out-of-print catalogs are examined in order to fill in gaps and acquire classic titles.
Important guides to the literature are: Guide to the Literature of Art History, and Fine Arts: A Bibliographic Guide. Journals regularly routed to the librarian: Art History, The Art Bulletin, and Art Journal.
III. Collection Notes
Art students and faculty use publications in all areas of the humanities and selectively in the sciences. Studies in optics, perspective, mathematics, and history of science, for example, relate to the curriculum in medieval and renaissance studies. Students of earlier periods are sent to classical and archaeological books, articles and images, and for contemporary art developments, to a timely periodical and monographic collection in all areas.
The art and architecture librarian works closely with other bibliographers who collect in the humanities: architecture, classical studies, music, theatre, dance, graphic arts and printing, communications and photography are a few important areas of collaboration.
Elementary and secondary school textbooks are not collected. Lower division college textbooks are not ordinarily purchased; upper division textbooks are acquired selectively. Popular treatments are acquired selectively. Theses and dissertations from other institutions are generally not collected; when they are purchased, microfilm rather than paper copy is preferred.
Attention is paid to previously neglected areas of art production, for example that of Native Americans, women of all lands, Eastern, African and Latin cultures, and African Americans.
Revised 11/2000
