Collections  

The main collections house approximately 120,000 items focused on 20th and 21st century visual arts, design, architecture, criticism, theory and philosophy.  Featuring exhibition catalogs, artist monographs, videos and sound recordings, most of which can be checked out by students, faculty and staff. Over 350 magazines on arts, media and social issues can be browsed in the library. These collections are supplemented by ebooks and databases (aka, web-based indexes + fulltext) that provide an expanded range of topics, including information on business, education, the sciences and technology.

Flaxman Special Collections were formed very early on in the library’s development and continue to grow along curricular needs. With their holdings of rare films, artists’ publications and multiples, digital image collections and personal, professional or organisational archives they fuel and support SAIC’s unique and vibrant culture and allow for in-depth research with original source material. Frequent reading events, performances and exhibitions draw from the collected material or directly interact with it. Most of these collections can be viewed and accessed by the general public.