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Ringling Museum Library:
Knowledge at Your Fingertips
Welcome to the Library• We got started in 1946 with
librarian Maud L. Dean. Maud cared for John Ringling’s personal library, which still is maintained by the library today.
• Kenneth Donahue, the second librarian under director Arthur Everett “Chick” Austin, began expanding the collection greatly. Student intern in the John Ringling Room, c. 2008.
Mission & Function• We are now a branch library in the Florida State
University system.• First and foremost, we serve the curatorial staff, their
fellows, and their interns here at the museum, as well as docents, independent researchers, visiting scholars, and the interested public.
• Our research collection does not circulate publicly, as its primary function is to be available when needed by these constituents.
Resources: Books, Periodicals, Ephemera Files
• We have over 60,000 books on art history, incl. titles that focus on a variety of subjects, genres, and media, like Baroque and Renaissance (mostly Italian, Spanish, Dutch and Flemish), modern and contemporary art, circus, and Asian art and antiquity.
• We have over 100 current art periodical subscriptions & access to Florida State University’s academic databases and online journals.
• We maintain over 8,000 artist files with archival ephemera, like postcards, gallery announcements, letters, articles, and newspaper clippings.
How Can I Research at the Library?• We have an online catalog:
www.lib.fsu.edu• You may submit a question at http://
www.ringling.org/ask-librarian-question• Our public hours are 1PM-5PM,
Monday- Friday: please visit! We are not open on government holidays or weekends.
Photograph courtesy of the Florida Memory Project, State Archives of Florida.
Know Your Options
• We have two full time staff at your disposal, myself and my colleague Elisa Hansen. We do encourage appointments for research questions and consultations, so that we have enough time to serve you.
• We have 6 public access computers and free WiFi.• We have a reading nook on the sunny north side and study
carrels on the quieter south side.
Books
• We primarily have books on textiles from Central and Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia, Bali), as well as Japan, India, and China.
• This collection will continue to grow, so check back with us to see new books.
Databases• FSU journals & articles: https://
www.lib.fsu.edu/find-database • The Library subscribes to art price databases like Art Net
and Ask Art. For access, you must be on-site in the Library. Additionally, you must ask a Librarian to log you on to the websites as they are password protected.
• We also subscribe to Art Source, which has articles from 750 journals, more than 200 digitized books, 63,000 images, and abstracts from a number of academic periodicals.
Periodicals• Arts of Asia• Cultural Relics World• Education about Asia• Orientations• Oriental Art• Also non-circulating, some of our Asian periodical titles go back
over 3 decades and are available upon request. We bind them by year and keep them in storage, so ask us in advance of your arrival and we’ll have them ready for you!
Identifying Your Textiles
• We do not have pattern books at this point in time, but you can always research the collection we do have, in order to look for similarities with your own collections.
• Security does not allow any personal items in the Library, so bring photographs or scans of your pieces for comparison purposes.
Future of Collecting
• As the Museum expands its art object collection, so too the Library grows its collection of accompanying literature.
• Always check back with us for new titles! Our section titled “Recent Acquisitions” is at the front of the Library, on your left when you enter.
