This month’s issue of Library Updates newsletter highlights our work for LGTBQ+ History Month, the launch of new library tours for staff, and some updates about our staff.
Author: jfurnes1
Library in focus: Central Art & Design Library
This is the first in a series of guest posts featuring other libraries (external to the University) that ECA students might find useful to visit. Today we are looking at the Art & Design Library, at Edinburgh Central Library, on George IV Bridge.
At Central Library’s Art & Design Library you can discover a fantastic set of resources relating to art, design and photography, along with wooden 1930s desks, and shelving that has stood the test of time. Enjoy our beautiful space for reading, studying and drawing and browse through our huge collection, covering various disciplines and art movements, from cave to the latest in contemporary art, as well as books on techniques from fashion illustration to lino-cutting.
Looking for exhibition space and events? We have a monthly programme of exhibitions from local artists and groups as well as a free programme of talks and workshops.
We hold a growing collection of artists’ books from artists working in Scotland as well as historic collections of Japanese art, children’s illustrated books and 19th century ornamental design books, and many other historic materials.
With library membership we offer:
- Free wifi
- Printing and photocopying facilities
- Public computers
- Access to online journals and newspapers
- Access to e-audio and e-books
- Borrow 12 books
Join online today and explore the library catalogue
Follow on Facebook facebook.com/edinburghcentrallibrary and X and Instagram @edcentrallib
For more information and enquiries email the Art & Design Library central.artanddesign.library@edinburgh.gov.uk or telephone 0131 242 8040.
We’re open Monday to Wednesday 10am – 8pm. and Thursday to Saturday 10am to 5pm.
Central Library is located on George IV Bridge – we’re the building that looks like a French chateau! Find a different space to study.
Guest post written by Bronwen Brown, Library Development Leader – Music and Art & Design Collections, Edinburgh Central Library.
On a Clear Day: Bookworks and Poem-objects responding to Agnes Martin
11 January 2024:
ECA Library is delighted to host a new display featuring works by Julie Johnstone of Essence Press, and Alan Shipway, painter. Julie has long been drawn to the painter Agnes Martin (1912-2004). For this project she decided to address her interest in Agnes Martin directly, in order to see the body of work that might result when Martin’s life and work ‘met’ her own practice. She was interested in asking what it was that draws us to a particular painter or work of art – that affinity or resonance one feels – and how one might be inspired by that. Also on display are two watercolours by Alan Shipway who is also an admirer of Agnes Martin.
The show is open now until the end of February 2024.
Please do come along to ECA Library, level 1 of Evolution House, West Port, to take a look at our 3 display cabinets and the wonderful works inside.
NB: Evolution House is open to the public Monday – Friday, 9.00am – 4.45pm only. Sometimes our reception needs to close over lunchtime, at short notice, so please either phone ahead to check the building is open or arrive between 9am and 12, or 2pm and 4pm. You can reach ECA Library on 0131 651 5700. Thank you!
For more information go to the Essence Press website
December 2023 issue of Library Updates newsletter
This month’s issue of Library Updates newsletter highlights our work focusing on wellbeing, health, and holidays, and activities within the schools of PPLS, Divinity and the New College Library.
Alumni resources
Did you know that as an alumnus you are still entitled to access some of our fantastic library resources? Find out more at the alumni resources webpage here. If you are an alumnus of the University of Edinburgh there is more information about how to join the library here.
New display in ECA Library features works by Julie Johnstone and Essence Press
The ECA Library artists’ books collection includes an extensive range of bookworks by Julie Johnstone and the Essence Press. This display features fourteen works from 2006 to 2020.
Black History Month
October 2023:
We have Black History Month new books displays at ECA Library, Evolution House, and at the Main Library, George Square, for everyone to enjoy this month.
We would also like to let you all know about an event taking place on 24 October, from 2.00pm – 3.30pm at the Main Library: Black History Month in the UK – Views from Home and the Diaspora.
In this in-person event, Dr Elizabeth Williams, cultural historian and leader of the Academic Support Librarian team, will be in conversation with six outstanding University of Edinburgh academics and commentators: Dr. Gwenetta D. Curry, Dr Omolabake Fakunle, Dr Nicola Frith, Sharon Boateng, Dr Simon Buck, and Rachel Hosker.
BFI Player one year subscription confirmed!
We are delighted to be able to announce that all University of Edinburgh students and staff will now have a full one year of access to the complete BFI Player platform, following a successful 6 month pilot.
You can easily register with BFI Player and get access to hundreds of quality independent and art house films and classics.
Access BFI Player via the databases A-Z, or our list of the best databases for Art & Design, and also for Film Studies.
Please note: if you already had a BFI Player account linked to our pilot University of Edinburgh institutional subscription before 1st October 2023, you will need to relink your account using the instructions provided at the above webpages, when you first log in after 1st October 2023. Once your account is relinked, you will then be able to sign in to BFI Player as normal via http://player.bfi.org.uk/
Enjoy!
At Home in the World – a sumptuous donation to ECA Library
We have recently received a most beautiful book as a donation from Professor Elizabeth Cowling, “At Home in the World: the Art and Life of Gulammohammed Sheikh”, edited by Chaitanya Sambrani, from Tulika Books, 2019.
Gulammohammed Sheikh has played a pioneering role in contemporary Indian art’s engagement with hybridity and a plural inheritance. Resolutely attentive to the multiplicity of experience and systems of representation and belief on the subcontinent, Sheikh’s art has reimagined relationships with the often paradoxical nature of tradition.
In a practice stretching more than five decades and across painting and digital media, Sheikh has sought to articulate a way of incorporating his fascination with historical figures and sources stretching from Italy to China in an encyclopedic endeavor, producing contemporary art that unashamedly declares its affiliations to earlier ways of seeing, thinking, and doing.
At Home in the World presents the first comprehensive study of the art and life of this seminal figure, bringing together aspects of biographical discussion alongside other modes of art historical analysis.
Once catalogued this gorgeous book will be available at ECA Library, Evolution House.
Autumn Dissertation and Thesis Festival: 30 October – 10 November 2023
Discover the help and resources available from the Library to support your dissertation or thesis. This autumn’s festival will be a mix of in person and online events, including sessions on
- How to use the Library for your dissertation
- Using the National Library of Scotland for your dissertation or thesis, and
- What is a systematic review dissertation like?
For more information take a look at the full programme of events.
