Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 December 2017
The Fleet Library at Rhode Island School of Design is a successful reinvention of the art library through the adaptive re-use of an historic bank building in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. In addition to reviewing how the library's goals were met during its first decade, the most significant change, the transformation of the slide library into a material resource centre and the growth of a community of such collections and related initiatives, will be described.
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2. Further details of the project appear in Terry, Carol, “From Grand Banking Hall to the Art & Design School Library of the 21st Century,” Art Libraries Journal 32, no. 4 (2007): 11–16 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and in her chapter: “The Making of the 21st Century Art Library: Cultivating Vision, Collaboration and Support,” in The Handbook of Art and Design Librarianship, (London: Facet Publishing, 2010), 295–303 Google Scholar.
3. “Raid the Icebox I with Andy Warhol,” accessed February 28, 2017, http://digitalcommons.risd.edu/raidtheicebox/.
4. Gnecco, Flavia and Szermer, Stephen. Material Library, Summer 2009 Findings. Report. (Providence RI: Graduate Studies, Rhode Island School of Design, 2009)Google Scholar. An audit of existing material libraries at RISD and other institutions.
5. Blaine Brownell's Transmaterial series (2006, 2008, and 2010), while organized by material composition, enumerates seven broad classifications that cut across composition: 1) ultraperforming, 2) multidimensional, 3) repurposed, 4) recombinant, 5) intelligent, 6) transformational, and 7) interfacial.
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8. Art Libraries Society of North America. Material|Resource. Accessed February 28, 2017, https://materialresource.wordpress.com/. A blog for materials collections in art, architecture, and design environments.
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12. See Diana Wagner, “Material Potential | Recontextualizing Material Libraries” (2014), Masters Theses. 53, http://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/53. See also Diana Wagner, “Material | Adventure” (2014), Masters Theses. 54, http://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/54.
13. Pompelia, Mark, Materials Collection Creation and Administration: A New Role for Libraries (White Paper) (Providence, RI: Fleet Library, Rhode Island School of Design), 11–13. Digital Commons @ RISD. 2015, accessed February 28, 2017 Google Scholar, http://digitalcommons.risd.edu/materialseducationsymposium/Publications/Resources/1/.
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