BOOKHAD – an emerging RSLP project

Co-operation, collaboration and interoperability meet in BOOKHAD to deliver a research resource which offers a new arrangement of key material through the use of modern technology. The essence of BOOKHAD is sharing a range of material to support scholars of book history and book design, in a focused, illustrated and subject-orientated way. The vision of the project is to provide richer access to selected resources for a community of book historians and designers than was available to them before this nationally-funded project was undertaken

Creating the new university archives and special collections centre at University of the Arts London

When the family of a major film maker offers you his archive, what do you do? University of the Arts London rose to this challenge, and achieved a major strategic goal -creation of a state-of-the-art Archives and Special Collections Centre, which would be a fitting demonstration of the University's mission and aspirations and of Stanley Kubrick's legacy. Through project management and collaboration, in less than two years, the flagship Centre was established. It will be a beacon of good practice and inspiration for future creative practitioners in the arts

The birth of an exhibition

The recent-exhibition James Joyce's typewriter and other stories: books at the London Institute was jointly curated by a librarian and an academic tutor. The aim was to demonstrate how six special collections in the London Institutes's Libraries and Learning Resources were relevant to the courses the students follow. In parallel, students from the Institutes's Book Arts MA created artists' books influenced by one of the collections, and these were displayed in the exhibition alongside work by bookbinding and print media students

Inspirational encounters: the management and use of archives and special collections in the art and design library

Archives and special collections are an essential element in the documentation of the history and practice of art and design. They play a major role in the collections of academic libraries, supporting teaching, learning and research. These collections have never been in more demand—in an age of superabundant information we are experiencing ‘a material turn,’ a return to the physical and the idea of the authentic and unique. Institutions value and promote them as strategic assets, and their academic use is both increasingly popular and wide-ranging. This chapter presents a general overview of current best practices in the development and management of archives and special collections within the specific context of art and design academic institutions, primarily in the UK and USA. There is a general consensus in the professional literature about the definition of archives: ‘documents in any medium that have been created by an individual, family, business or organisation during its existence and have been chosen to be kept permanently because they are considered to be of continuing value. These documents are unique and irreplaceable’ (National Archives). Definitions for special collection(s) are more varied. An elastic term, it often comprises rare books and manuscripts and also a range of other formats (ephemera, rare periodicals, artists’ publications, zines, etc.). The Association of College and Research Libraries uses the following definition: ‘The entire range of textual, graphic and artefact primary source materials in analog and digital formats, including printed books, manuscripts, photographs, maps, artworks, audio-visual materials and realia’(ACRL Code of Ethics for Special Collections Librarians, 2003). About the Handbook of Art and Design Librarianship: The Handbook of Art and Design Librarianship integrates theory and practice to offer guidelines for information professionals working in art and design environments who need to support and anticipate the information needs of artists, designers, architects and the historians who study those disciplines. Since the first edition of this title, the world of art and design libraries has been transformed by rapid advances in technology, an explosion in social media and the release of new standards and guidelines. This new edition, offering mostly entirely new chapters, provides an accessible, fully updated, guide to the world of academic art and design libraries from a range of international experts who reflect current practice at a global level. Coverage includes: case studies and library profiles, providing benchmarks for developing facilities teaching and learning, including the ACRL Framework, teaching with special collections, meta-literacies, instructional design and cultural differences developments in institutional repositories, digital humanities and makerspaces contemporary library design, spaces for collaboration and sustainability

Into the Archive. Re-Viewing Kubrick

Published in the conference proceedings of the Hyundai Cultural Project 19 - Stanley Kubrick Symposiu