ARLIS/NA 54th Annual Conference

The information landscape is rapidly shifting, from print to electronic and from still text to immersive media. Libraries must employ adaptive strategies to navigate this new terrain, not merely resisting the seismic shift, but reinventing our collections. As we move into a digital landscape, art and design students still yearn for the tactile and material experiences that libraries offer. Compounding this challenge is the era of scarcity in which we find ourselves. As art librarians, we can reframe our thinking—not by seeking new resources, but by exploring what we might do with what we already have. What can we reuse or reimagine to stimulate renewed enthusiasm for research and learning?

Art librarians can embrace change by reconsidering how our collections relate to the past, present, and future. This panel centers on four case studies that highlight these time frames followed by a moderated discussion about the application of this sustainability mindset to the broader field of information work.

In REviving Discards, we learn about a library undergoing a transition to a more digitally-focused resource, where print books are being replaced with ebooks, slide collections are being replaced with online repositories, and outdated periodicals are being discarded for digital options. These tangible resources have completed their library service, but what if we could give them a second life? The library has developed a new collection of visual resources where students can explore these retired assets and transform them into new creations.

With libraries shifting to electronic resources, REactivating Spaces becomes crucial. Empty shelving and now inactive areas provide places for students to engage with new opportunities. On the arts level of a university library, the vacated periodicals area was transformed into a student exhibition space. Blank walls in the makerspace were lined with material samples, and the defunct dumbwaiter offered the potential for small displays of miniature books.

In REarranging Collections, due to budget reductions a librarian has been unable to purchase new print publications for her art and architecture library. Rather than let the stacks become stagnant, she is rearranging the current collection to create new curated browsing opportunities. Some collections are permanent, such as crafting a graphic novel collection, while others are temporary displays that expose connections between subjects and titles, such as highlighting books on architecture from the arts section.

Yet, what is absent from a collection can tell us as much as what is present. If what our collections contain is indicative of what society values, then absence reveals what society has found unimportant or, worse, chosen to suppress. REclaiming Lost Narratives examines how a librarian worked with a Women in Architecture and Design class to reclaim lost narratives of female designers by creating an exhibition of book covers, based on library research, dedicated to the monographs that should have been and could potentially be in the future.

By adopting a sustainability mindset, we resist the potential decline of libraries due to budget cuts and online convenience and reimagine what is possible with the resources at hand.