This article outlines an evolving embedded relationship between Yale University’s Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library and the Yale School of Art that was cultivated through a series of targeted outreach initiatives including studio research visits, office hours, and collaborative events developed to connect artists with relevant resources and build relationships between the library and the school. This article shares insights into the successes, challenges, and lessons learned from this collaboration, offering practical takeaways for those interested in building similar partnerships to support artistic research and information literacy in studio-based disciplines.

After 55 years of service providing essential research resources and guidance to the provenance field, the International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR) ceased operations in the summer of 2025. In its final year, the organization launched an education initiative providing a practical resource-based training program serving a diverse cross-section of art-related disciplines and professions. The Introduction to Provenance Research course embodied IFAR’s longstanding commitment to supporting the ethical documentation of fine art and cultural heritage while serving as a conduit for the network building and cross-disciplinary collaboration essential to the future of the discipline.

What happens when a library with a mission to present art receives a proposal for an experimental project that does not fit easily into its regular exhibition venues or programming, and which raises multiple questions and concerns about the library’s ability to host the project? This article focuses on the challenging proposal of MANUAL, by the artists Adam Kinner and Christopher Willes, for a library-based, sensorial artist’s project for the Webster Library of Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, exploring how the project evolved over time and how it navigated the library’s institutional framework. To answer the question above, and to offer an understanding of MANUAL, this article draws on interviews with the artists, published reviews of its performance in Canada and elsewhere, and an interview with the exhibition coordinator for the project when it was presented at the Library of Birmingham in the UK in 2024. I argue that if a library maintains an open mind and open lines of communication with the artists involved, the benefits of hosting such a project will far outweigh any potential risks.

This article is a revision of a presentation given at the ARLIS UK & Ireland 2025 Conference, ‘Stacks, Studio & Beyond: Artists in the Art Library’, Limerick School of Art & Design, Ireland, July 1-3, 2025.

Research suggests that object-based learning has the potential to increase learner satisfaction with libraries. Literature from literary theory, publication design, and material culture provide a balanced review of the book as an object. This is followed by teaching activities that suggest how to integrate print book object-based learning into library instruction.

Artist archives and documentation practices of the 1970s preserved evidence of feminist and marginalized artistic practices during a transitional period in art history. This paper examines how pedagogical slide archives function as repositories of feminist art history, preserving visual records of women’s alternative spaces, body-based performance work, and environmental art practices that challenged patriarchal art world hierarchies. Through analysis of Ted Stamm’s 6,450 (35mm) slides representing 500 artists of New York’s art scene from 1968 to 1984, including approximately 20% women and 10% non-Western artists, this study discusses how digital accessibility transforms pedagogical materials into research resources that can reconstruct feminist art histories previously relegated to institutional margins. This overlooked collection enables digital humanities research that questions traditional exclusions.