MacLean Visual Resources Center  

Mon - Fri: 8:45am - 5:00pm

Sat - Sun: CLOSED

CLOSED: Friday March, 23

The Flaxman Library would like to announce the de-accessioning of the 35mm slide collection of the MacLean Visual Resources Center. We are offering the slide collection back to the community, for research, for stewardship, and for creative reuse.

From now through April 13th we wish to offer the entire School and Museum community (Faculty, Students, and Staff) will be invited to take slides for creative reuse.

You make take slides from throughout the circulating collection that have historic relevance to your research or that may inspire creative re-use in a meaningful or transformative way. We wish to find new homes for all materials and clear room 507 Sharp by April 20^th.

What is For Offer

The historical, cataloged slide collection was a backbone of classroom teaching at SAIC for many decades. It consists of several hundred thousand 35mm slides arranged in 20 broad subject areas. Slides mainly contain images of art shot from books or other printed matter, with some original photography and commercial images. The condition and age of the slides varies greatly.

In addition to the materials in the circulating collection, a large number of damaged and uncataloged slides will also be on offer. These are materials that were removed from the circulating collection or digitized before being added to the collection. While we cannot guarantee the quality or content of these materials, they can serve as raw use from creative projects. Related materials, such as unused slide frames are also available for use.

We are also offering slide cabinets, light tables, slide carousels, and other slide library furnishings. These are available on a first come basis.

The MacLean Visual Resources Center has served the instructional purposes of the SAIC community for over 25 years, first through the 35mm slide collection and now through digital resources such as the locally managed MDID @ SAIC image database. The 35mm slide library was removed from circulation in 2009 as a part of the transition to digital-only services. Intensive digitization of slides and examination of archival materials has been completed over the past several years. With the final deaccession of the instructional slide collection, our efforts will continue with emphasis on increasing the digital image collections (including updates to the MDID software and collection) and working with special archival slide collections and historic faculty donations.

The MacLean Visual Resources Center is available to assist SAIC faculty conduct visual research, and gather digital visual images for lecturing. We also manage and develop the MDID@SAIC online image library and presentation software, representing the art, architecture, and design across periods, cultures, and media, built in response to faculty needs and interests.

Training & Orientation Sessions
Our staff will gladly demonstrate and give training in MDID or other online digital image database upon request. Faculty, teaching assistants, and graduate students may arrange an orientation session with a Visual Resources librarian to learn more about searching our digital collections or using MDID to create presentations. Orientations can be scheduled online at: http://www.saic.edu/webspaces/portal/library/vrc_appt.html or by contacting us directly.

Requests For Digital Images Through Copy Photography Or Slide Scanning
Digital images may be requested by filling out the available request form and attaching it to the material to be photographed or scanned. Material can be digitzed from books, printed material, or personal slide collections. Image requests are vetted by staff for appropriateness for inclusion in MDID@SAIC. MacLean staff will work with you to create or obtain images in a timely fashion to meet your instructional needs, but up to two weeks should be allowed for scanning and inclusion in the database.

The Madison Digital Image Database (MDID) is an in-house, image database and presentation system used to create and show Internet-based lectures using digital images. The system allows instructors to create image slideshows, which can be annotated, shown offline, or made available for students for study online. Upload your own images or draw from approximately 150,000 images currently in MDID. This collection has been developed specifically to support the SAIC curriculum, and includes specialized image collections from SAIC faculty and departments as well as images of works in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago. Primarily for use by SAIC Faculty, MDID is also available for use by SAIC Teaching Assistants and Graduate Students (contact us for access privledges).

Can’t find the image you are looking for? Contact us to make an image digitization request.

The ARTstor Digital Library is available to SAIC faculty, students, and staff. It contains over half a million images from a wide range of cultures and time periods. It incorporates many images from leading museums, including the Art Institute of Chicago. ARTstor’s offline Image Viewer allows a portable means of accessing your ARTstor presentations where web access is not available. You must log in on campus initially to register. Thereafter you may use ARTstor from any on- or off-campus location.

37 South Wabash Ave 5th Floor
Room 507
Chicago, IL 60603-3103
phone: 312.899.1224
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Christopher Day
Digital Resources Librarian
phone: 312.899.5101
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Kristan Hanson
Visual Resources Librarian
phone: 312.899.1235
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Anna Di Cesare
Visual Resources Library Assistant
phone: 312.899.1224
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Olivia Valentine
Digital Imaging Technician
phone: 312.899.6527
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Digital Copy Photography Request Form
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