The Herron Art Library: A Century in the Making
Sonja Staum, Director and Team Leader
Herron School of Art Library
MFA, University of Georgia (1986)
Master of Library Science, Indiana University (1989)
The Herron Art Library has a brand new face and new location on the IUPUI campus. The Herron Art Library formally began in 1909 with the hiring of the first full time librarian, Anna Turrell and as the first special department of the John Herron Art Institute. The library continues its century long tradition of providing access to materials in all formats focused on modern and contemporary art. Despite the library's dissolution in the late 60's due to the separation of the art museum from the art school, the Herron library located at 16th street continued to develop and respond with services to patrons that earned the library the reputation as central Indiana's primary lending library for the study of modern and contemporary art.
The Herron Art Library Collections: A Gateway to Learning
The remaining branch library of IUPUI University Library, the Herron Art Library's mission is to support instruction and research in the study of art and art history at the Herron School of Art and Design by collecting, preserving, and disseminating recorded knowledge in print, multi media, and digital formats. In addition to serving the IUPUI community, the library is tied closely with the local cultural and educational communities in many ways. Most prominently by its service to many metropolitan area K-12 teachers who regularly visit the library for its unique collections and use of electronic resources available on site.
The Herron Library's holdings include traditional print and non-print materials as well as Internet access. The Library houses approximately 25,000 books, 150 journal subscriptions, over 160,000 slides and 1,200 videos and provides access to electronic resources and digital image collections both licensed and created in-house.
Library Services
The Herron Library Services are available to all Indiana residents. Upon presentation of valid identification, users may borrow most library materials. As a full service branch library of University Library we also offer interlibrary borrowing.
Special Collections
Although in the early stages of development, the Herron Library offers a fine selection of artists books. This remarkable collection of fine press and book arts is searchable online through our web based catalog, IUCAT (http://www.iucat.iu.edu) and viewable by appointment. Special Collections materials include artists books by significant contemporary artists such as Julie Chen and Jenny Holzer.
Selected Resources for Art and Art History
*Art Bibliographies Modern Provides full abstracts of journal articles, books, essays, exhibition catalogs, PhD dissertations, and exhibition reviews on all forms of modern and contemporary art.
*Art Retrospective and Art Full Text - These online resources index over 250 art journals from 1929 to 1984. Art Full Text provides citations, abstracts, and full text to select articles from 1984 to the present. Art Retrospective provides citations to articles from 1929-1984.
*Arts and Humanities Citation Index indexes all illustrations by author and title. Because many scholarly journals are indexed by this source, it is an excellent source for illustrations.
*Bibliography of the History of Art – The Premier international scholarly reference in art history, including contemporary literature from 1973 to present.
*Design and Applied Arts Index — An international index to design and craft journals.
Article reprinted with permission from the author and Indiana Insight, a publication of IUPUI.
