Refurbished in 2013, the Art School’s library sits in the centre of the Georgian terrace. Open five days a week, the library aims to support students’ studio practice and critical studies by providing visual resources, technical, contextual and art historical information resources, ranging from the historical to the contemporary. The library’s collection of books, DVDs and journals has been developed to support all areas of our student’s work: from anatomy to jewellery-making, ornament to philosophy, gilding to architecture, critical theory to natural history.
Special emphasis has been placed on the Art School’s key areas of study, with strengths in Conservation, Historic Carving, Fine Art and Design; as well as a substantial focus on Art History and Theory. The loan collection is made up of upwards of 7,000 books, exhibition catalogues and DVDs; complemented by a reference collection of magazines and journals including: Art Monthly, Cabinet, Crafts, Frieze, Journal of the Institute of Conservation, Modern Painters, Natural Stone Specialist, Selvedge, Stonexus, Studies in Conservation, Turps Banana and Wood Carving. New acquisitions can be seen on display in the library, including current exhibition catalogues from UK galleries, spanning the blockbuster London shows to those in smaller independent and commercial galleries.
The library catalogue allows students to search across these collections, also giving links to relevant open access e-books. Made up of three rooms, the library has a dedicated quiet study area, with a number of Macs available for use, enabling students to make use of online resources such as JSTOR and Oxford Art Online. An archive of BA and Diploma theses from Fine Art and Historic Carving is available for consultation; and a special collection of historical portfolios with architectural and sculptural images is due to be catalogued this year. The librarian is available for study support, and offers regular workshops on research skills, referencing and citations to all departments. Students are also encouraged to make use of the wealth of outstanding specialist art libraries in London, and are supported by the librarian in applying to use these external resources.