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Art & Architecture Collection

New Books in the Art and Architecture Collection

The Art & Architecture Collection -- located within Norlin Library -- houses one of the most comprehensive art collections in the West. Its resources support the educational and research goals of the Department of Art and Art History (formerly known as the Fine Arts Department) and of the College of Architecture and Planning (Boulder campus), the academic community at large, as well as the general public.

The Art & Architecture Librarian along with the Reference and Instructional Services staff provide informational, reference and instructional services and assists in the retrieval of books and journals from the collection's closed stacks. Reference, Instruction, Collection Assistance, and Research Assistance is available in the Art & Architecture Research Office located in the Art & Architecture stacks. In-depth research consultations are available by appointment by contacting Jennifer Parker at 303-492-3966 or Jennifer.Parker@Colorado.edu.

The Art & Architecture collection houses approximately 100,000 volumes of reference works, monographs, exhibition catalogues, and bound journals and serials. We subscribe to well over 500 journals and serials. The strengths of individual subject areas reflect the research interests of the faculty as well as the range of courses taught locally over the past decades.

Subject Areas

The collection covers all aspects of the visual arts, including painting, drawing, print making, ornament, sculpture, performance art, arts and crafts, photography, and other interdisciplinary areas, such as artists books, art and theater, art and literature, feminist art, and electronic media arts. Subject areas reflecting the scope of the architectural planning and design collection range from architectural history, architectural rendering, and building construction to landscape architecture and urban planning and design.

 

Particularly well-developed subject areas include the art and architecture of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Baroque, and the modern period. Most recently, resources in American and Asian art and architecture have been the target for intensive development.

Reference Materials

An extensive reference collection of subject guides, encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, and print indices supports the collection in all areas. Most recent acquisitions reflect the inroads of technological advances in the field of art and architecture. A notable example is The Grove Dictionary of Art, available online and as a printed 34 volume set.

 

Periodical indices (many available online) that provide access a variety of articles in the journal literature include:

• Architectural Index on the Web
• Art Index
• ARTbibliographies Modern
• Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals
• BHA: Bibliography of the History of Art
• Design and Applied Arts Index
• Grove Dictionary of Art

Access to the Collection

Most research materials are accessible in the open stacks of the Art & Architecture Collection during the hours that Norlin Library is open. Other materials, such as cd-roms, artists books, folios, and a substantial microfiche collection, are available for in-house use only and can be requested from Art & Architecture Librarian or from the librarians at the reference desk in the Reference and Instructional Services department. Original works of art, facsimile editions of manuscripts, and works such as Christian Zervos' Pablo Picasso are housed in the Special Collections Department.