Forging an Alliance: Fine Arts and the Library

By Joe C. Pendleton, Ph.D.

Imagine for a moment, working alone in a cavernous room where the tools of your craft are scattered among dusty shelves. In this dimly lit barn of a space, you are responsible for the care, upkeep, organization, and distribution of all these items that are key to teaching your students the lessons it took years to discover and experience. No one else understands the sacrifices made to keep these utensils of learning at the ready for student use, or the passion it takes to motivate students to use them correctly over and over. You are a lighthouse of learning, guiding the young minds within your influence toward a more enlightened and beautiful world.

YOU MAY HAVE SEEN YOURSELF AS A LIBRARIAN in the paragraph above. It might surprise you to discover that I also wrote the paragraph to describe the role of fine arts teachers, faculty, and community artists (dancers, actors, musicians, sculptors, etc.).

Librarians and fine artists have a great deal in common in a general sense, as the paragraph implies, though the actual medium of our work is quite different. The purpose of this article is to try to help demystify the needs of fine arts programs and educators, in all types of libraries, and list ways to build a reciprocal relationship with them. By no means is this article meant to add to your already full schedules and tasks, but simply to be a guide to the challenges these artists experience with functions where librarians can offer advice and help. It is also not the goal of this article to tell librarians how to “library,” but there are some special situations and circumstances this article aims to clear up on how best to help and advise artists in library crises.

MAKING YOUR COLLECTION ARTIST-FRIENDLY

The teachers, students, volunteers, and directors of these fine arts programs (we’ll call them “artists” for now) look to see representation and recognition in your collection of the type of art they use for expression. They will look in your 700s or 800s, and the M’s or N’s, biographies, art books, sheet music, CDs, DVDs, and electronic collections trying to see what you have about their type of art or favorite artists.

Artists also like to find the “deep dive” type resource in a library collection, like musical scores, historical costume design books and magazines, performances from Broadway shows, musical instruments and art supplies that circulate, set design drawings, lighting plots, and PA systems. These items tell artists that the library staff wants to provide experiences for them to expand their artistic expression.

Also, using genres for fine arts resources is a great way to build an instant connection with artists. At the Booker T. Washington Arts Magnet in Dallas, I genrefied the Nonfiction collection to represent the different areas of artistry being taught at the high school. Each conservatory had a color-coded spine label, which also featured a genre within that area. So, in Theatre there were genre groups for set design, lighting/sound, costume design, scripts, stage weapons, hair/makeup, acting, directing, and scriptwriting. The dance, visual art, and music collections were all arranged into genre groupings as well to allow student artists to locate specific resources on specific topics at a glance. Our circulation increased dramatically once these resources were grouped and labeled for rapid discovery. Performances in libraries are also a great way to build a rapport with your local or campus fine arts programs. Hosting a recital, play, or gallery showing allows artists to meet your stakeholders as audience members and extends the community/campus appeal of the library. Often, community and campus arts groups are looking for venues for small performances to give their programs an opportunity to gain performance experiences and publicity. Libraries are a treasured venue in the eyes of many artists, and live performances are a magnet to library patrons.

A Different Way Of Managing Inventory

I was a music educator before becoming a librarian. In my experience as a music teacher, I frequently saw where equipment was rarely put away correctly, instruments got damaged, students lost what they were given, and the music library is always a mess! When I presented this topic at the Texas Music Educators Association conference recently, many directors told me how bad the music library was in their music room. The same is true for theater directors, community artists, dance instructors, and other artists. Their focus was on teaching young artists and not on inventory, circulation, acquisitions, and asset tracking.

This is where librarians can be the voice of calm and hope to these artists. Using our expertise as managers of systems, we can advise on how to create a pathway of circulation for their inventory. And the need is great. Theater directors, music directors, visual art teachers, and dance instructors all have hundreds or thousands of pieces of inventory.

Not every artist feels comfortable requesting or accepting help, and from our experience in libraries we often feel the same way. However, should the opportunity arise, a collaboration with a colleague that has similar categories and parameters as the library may be an opportunity to demonstrate how valuable you are to your administration.

Let The Creators Create

Artists love to create, and love to experiment with creating new expressions of their ideas and dreams. Content creation is a key avenue for libraries to meet the needs of artists who want to stretch their abilities into new areas and create a “token” of their artistic work. By providing recording equipment, 3D printing, CAD software, greenscreens, musical composition technology, and digital canvases, libraries provide deep expression opportunities for artists that cannot afford these technologies in their own homes or studios. I had one student use an overhead projector to paint a giant mural. Artists can create podcasts of their own music, do video recordings of their plays, illustrate storylines, film their choreography, scan an art image and more to build their portfolios and to apply for scholarships or awards.

AN ALLIANCE IS POSSIBLE!

Artists of all types and mediums need to view the works and creativity styles of other artists through books and recordings, scores and sketches, and online arts repositories. Libraries provide the kind of peaceful aura that spurs the imagination and creative thoughts of the artistic community. By curating spaces for creative activity and review, and building relational connections with artists, arts educators, and student artists, their creative skills begin to blossom. The benefit to your library will soon be seen and heard by your stakeholders when artists believe that you enjoy and accept their creative expressions!

Joe Pendleton is Director of the Library at Amberton University.