Library Briefings

A new haven for art scholars

Art Research Center opens in Deering

In December 2006, the Art Collection opened a new Art Research Center, located off the large Deering third-floor mezzanine, a few steps to the northeast of the main Art reading room. It has a glass facade, chairs, tables, and a sofa, and is ideal for small group discussions and collaborative work, as well as for graduate-undergraduate consultations. The Center accommodates shelf carrels for art history graduate students, as well as Northwestern faculty who regularly use Art Collection materials. Table-top carrels formerly in the Art reading rooms have been relocated to the new secure space. Access to the Center is carefully monitored; graduate students and faculty who are assigned shelf space in the Center are also issued keys.

We're looking into the possibility of installing a computer workstation with a large plasma display screen for image viewing and manipulation. Please stop by for a look. And while you're here, check out the newly installed "The Art of the Scandal" exhibit by Jessica Thomson, the Art Collection's Evening Reading Room Supervisor. It highlights examples of controversial art from Pompeii to Michelangelo, the Impressionists, and Robert Mapplethorpe.

Russ Clement
Head, Art Collection
r-clement@northwestern.edu