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Fleet Library at Rhode Island School of Design: A decade of success and change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 December 2017

Mark Pompelia
Affiliation:
Visual + Material Resource Librarian, Rhode Island School of Design, 2 College Street, Providence RI 02903, USA Email: [email protected]
Carol Terry
Affiliation:
Director of Library Services (1987–2016), Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI 02903, USA Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © ARLIS/UK&Ireland 2017 

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References

1. See Terry, Carol, “Eliza Buffington and the Early Years of the Library at the Rhode Island School of Design 1878–1911,” in Infinite radius: founding Rhode Island School of Design, (Providence, RI: RISD, 2008): 304310 Google Scholar. (Based on a paper for the 2003 IFLA conference).

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): 1116 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), 295303 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.

6. “Inventables,” accessed February 28, 2017, https://www.inventables.com/.

7. “Corporate – Academic Access,” Material ConneXion 2017, Accessed February 28, 2017, https://www.materialconnexion.com/access/corporate_academic/.

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.

9. RISD Library. “Materials Education and Research in Art and Design: A New Role for Libraries,” Digital Commons @ RISD. 2015, accessed February 28, 2017, http://digitalcommons.risd.edu/materialseducationsymposium/.

10. See Karen Munro, “Material Libraries Report,” in Scholars' Bank Home. August 11, 2016, accessed February 28, 2017, https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/handle/1794/20041. See also Kai Alexia Smith, “Materials Library Research Report,” in CurateND, accessed February 28, 2017, https://curate.nd.edu/show/ms35t724v8w.

11. Materials Collection Creation and Administration: A New Role for Libraries (White Paper) (Providence, RI: Fleet Library, Rhode Island School of Design) Digital Commons @ RISD. 2015, accessed February 28, 2017, http://digitalcommons.risd.edu/materialseducationsymposium/Publications/Resources/1/.

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), 1113. Digital Commons @ RISD. 2015, accessed February 28, 2017 Google Scholar, http://digitalcommons.risd.edu/materialseducationsymposium/Publications/Resources/1/.

14. Somerson, Rosanne and Hermano, Mara L., eds. The Art of Critical Making: Rhode Island School of Design on Creative Practice (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2013)Google Scholar.