The Visual Arts Library is proud to have a growing collection of books illustrated and/or written by SVA alumni. This collection exemplifies the caliber of work done by SVA alumni in all fields and will be of special interest to those in the Illustration Department. These books are kept behind the circulation desk and may not be taken out of the library. The Visual Arts Library appreciates, and welcomes, all donations by alumni.

The Milton Glaser Design Study Center and Archives is dedicated to preserving and making accessible design works of significant artistic, cultural, and historical value by preeminent designers, illustrators, and art directors who have close ties to the School of Visual Arts. The collections represent the artistic and intellectual vitality of the SVA community and provide an invaluable resource to students, designers, and researchers who wish to study the breadth of a designer's work.  The Archives acquires materials in many formats with the intent of documenting the design process from conception to completion. Among the media held by the Archives are posters, works of art on paper, printed samples and ephemera, photographs, audio and videotapes, publications, scrapbooks, slides, and personal papers

The School of Visual Arts Archives serves as the final repository for the historical records of the School of Visual Arts. Its primary purpose is to document the history of the School and to provide source material for administrators, faculty, students, alumni, and other members of the School community, as well as scholars, authors, and other interested persons who seek to evaluate the impact of the School’s activities on the history of American artistic, social, and cultural development.  Materials in the Archives' collections include posters, announcements, departmental and student publications, and other printed ephemera and artifacts, dating back to its founding in 1947. The Archives also collects administrative and departmental records, photographs, and the papers of important individuals associated with the College.

Artists' Works File is a vertical file collection of reproductions of works by more than 300 artists.

Please be aware that pictures in the collection are for educational purposes only. The Visual Arts Library does not hold copyright permissions for any of the pictures; therefore, they may not be used commercially.

All CDs, cassettes and reserve LP records are kept at the circulation desk. Of the audio materials, only books on tape may be checked out of the library. 

Most of the 60,000 books in the library are located in the Main Stacks (Circulating Books). Reference books, which contain concise, thorough information on a variety of subjects include: encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, almanacs, bibliographies and atlases.

This collection of more than 1,600 comic books contains DC Comics, and an expanding collection of underground comics, foreign comics and graphic novels. Graphic novels are also found in the circulating book collection and can be searched in VISION. 

Now numbering more than 2,000 videos, the DVD/Video collection contains experimental and feature films, animation videos, documentaries about artists, filmed musical and theater performances, demonstrations of artistic techniques and examples of performance and video art. Circulating DVD/Videos may be checked out of the library. Non-circulating DVD/Videos may only be viewed in the library. Viewing stations are available. 

The exhibition catalog collection consists of more than 2,000 exhibition catalogs, artists’ books, pamphlets and other specialized publications relating to the visual arts. This collection is an invaluable resource for researching contemporary and emerging artists about whom there is little or no other written or visual information available. It can also provide additional and alternative information about well-known, well-documented artists. Most exhibition catalogs may be borrowed from the library. 

The library maintains a collection of more than 700 film scripts, ranging from such classics as Rear Window and The Searchers to more recent films like No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood and Inception. Film scripts may be taken out of the library.

The Visual Arts Library’s outstanding selection of periodicals, including both standards (Art in America, Print, etc.) and more specialized and unusual titles (Eye, Leonardo, etc.), provides regional, national and international coverage of all fields of art. The library also subscribes to many general-interest periodicals such as Entertainment Weekly, New York, Spin, Sports Illustrated, Time, Vibe and Vogue, as well as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Village Voice.

This collection of rare, signed and out-of-print materials includes many important art and design books as well as artists' books. See the policy for more information on viewing these materials.
Link to policy

Books on reserve are those assigned by instructors. Reserve books are kept at the circulation desk and must be requested by call number. Reserve photocopies are assigned readings that have been photocopied from books and other sources. Reserve books and photocopies must be used in the library. 

The picture collection contains more than 100,000 images clipped from magazines and other sources and filed alphabetically according to subject. Up to 50 pictures (10 per subject) may be checked out of the library.

The library houses a selection of master’s theses from the Fine Arts, Photography and Computer Art departments. Theses may not be taken out of the library (for exceptions see the Policy section).

Welcome!
Welcome to the Visual Resources Collection! The following contains information about our collections and services, as well as information about how to access our on-line resources.

The Visual Resources Collection is located in the Visual Arts Library, 380 Second Avenue—2^nd floor.  The VRC is staffed M-F 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. If you are a faculty member and currently teaching a course, you may gain access to the VRC anytime the library is open (check the main library page for a list of operating hours).

Collections
The collections include close to 52,000 local digital records in our in-house database MDID2 (Madison Digital Image Database), 150,000 35mm slides, as well as access to online databases of images such as ARTstor and Art Museum Image Gallery.

Services
The Visual Resources Collection is the central resource for images and imaging technologies used by instructors and students at the college for teaching and study purposes. The staff offers a variety of services to the SVA community, including maintenance of our online collection of images, and training and technical support for MDID (our in-house image database) and ARTstor (a subscription image service). We provide information on scanning and storing images, as well as assistance in converting lectures based on analog images to digital images. One on one instruction in the use of our image databases is available by Todd Kelly (tkelly@sva.edu) 212-592-2666  or Lorraine Gerety (lgerety@sva.edu) 212-592-2667. We also make available to faculty a quiet space (equipped with workstations for internet access, WiFi, an Epson GT 20000 scanner, and a photocopier) for preparing lectures, meeting with students, or conducting research.

The VRC maintains a list of on-line image resources. If you find a site that you find particularly useful, please let us know so we can add it to the list!

Help and Links:
-MDID - Getting started
-ARTstor Information
-YouTube tutorials - MDID & ARTstor
-Web Image Resources