In 2021 the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts Research Library will move from its historical setting into a new building as part of a new House of Text. This House of Text is faced with the challenge of adapting a former early 20th-century apartment house (never before used as a museum or a library) to the needs of an institution that collects and conserves books on fine art and makes them accessible to the public in multiple ways.

Arts students access information and find inspiration through a cornucopia of resources both within and outside of the library. Informed by creativity theory and information needs studies, this case study set out to identify the needs and behaviours of first year undergraduate students at the University for the Creative Arts in Canterbury. The use of multiple collection techniques captured rich data and provided an insight into ways of enhancing outreach both in the physical environment and online.

What is the importance of a zines collection to a contemporary visual arts library? What is their significance as research resources? This article explores the Stuart Hall Library zines collection, its history, management and use, and its role the context of the wider collection. It examines the collection's strengths and areas for development, including cataloguing and visibility. Key titles in the collection are described, and some of the themes and subjects covered. Local working practices and zine related activities are also discussed.

The 1976 earthquake that devastated much of the Friuli region of Italy also marked the rebirth of the Villa Manin as a centre for cataloguing and restoration. This essay charts how this Venetian villa transformed into an important centre for restoring and conserving the cultural heritage of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region.

What is a materials collection? Why is it in the library? The aim of this paper is to introduce the idea of a materials collection as a result of explorations in arts based research. This involved theorizing ideas of materiality, haptic engagement with objects and relating them to the creative process within a library environment. The collection is a response to a perceived gap between theory and creative practice expressed within the student cohort. The risk to the library comprises a possible erosion of value in the student experience, in that the service becomes marginalized in contrast to the studio based activities. The nature of the research undertaken by the student cohort at the University for the Creative Arts is considered, and the development of the materials collection is presented as a response to this inquiry. The collection forms the site of haptic learning: the sensual engagement with the world is combined with a phenomenological approach to create a space within which the relationship of theory and practice may be developed.

Does the art library need re-placing? Using the commentary of an OCAD University faculty member concerning “a perception issue with the library and its use,” librarian Daniel Payne uses theorist Henri Lefebvre's spatial triad to decode, in general terms, undergraduate students’ understanding of libraries as articulated in the OCLC Perceptions of libraries surveys. In an attempt to re-align concepts of the library as place at OCAD University, an exhibition review interpretation of student site-interventions demonstrates how visual communication can offer more insightful “spatial practices” for both students and library staff. In the process, librarians were challenged to accommodate student creative voices that pushed both policy boundaries and comfort zones. Although a small-scale information literacy initiative in which no formal quantitative data was collected, the ability of having conceptual models of librarians interact and even clash with those of students helped realign both stakeholders’ understandings of libraries as complex spatial entities.

Salford Zine Library is a volunteer-run, not-for-profit collection of approximately 2,000 zines and other self-published materials housed at Nexus Art Café in Manchester. The makeup of the collection, the way it has been built and its comparatively less restrictive access arrangements make it a unique resource in the UK. Over the last seven years the zine library has grown from a small personal collection to a place that attracts zine enthusiasts from around the UK and beyond.

The Fleet Library at Rhode Island School of Design is a successful reinvention of the art library through the adaptive re-use of an historic bank building in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. In addition to reviewing how the library's goals were met during its first decade, the most significant change, the transformation of the slide library into a material resource centre and the growth of a community of such collections and related initiatives, will be described.

During 2016, after overcoming many obstacles, the library of the Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art (National Institute of Art History - INHA), Jacques-Doucet collection, was established in an exceptional space designed during the Second Empire by the French architect Henri Labrouste (1801–1875). The reopening of this reading room is the fruit of a large-scale renovation project involving several French institutions. It is also the culmination of a long-standing plan to create an illustrious library of art history for France.

The Materials Library at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar is the only one of its kind in the Arab Gulf region. The library's mission is to provide students and faculty with access to various industries’ most innovative materials and products. But collection efforts are frequently challenged by the school's geographical location. How can a diverse and eclectic materials collection develop and expand in the face of strict customs regulations, exorbitant shipping costs, and, most recently, a political crisis that has severely restricted the country's airspace and shipping routes? A supportive administration and a creative approach to materials procurement have helped the library become an academic and community hub for the research and creative productivity of students, faculty, and local artists and designers.

UK and Ireland Zine Librarians began as a small JiscMail list created to share resources, skills, and advice for all zine librarians regardless of professional status or job title. While our US counterparts had already made great strides regarding acquisitions, cataloguing, and copyright guidance, UK and Irish zine libraries were still grappling with some of the more basic elements and finding ways to adapt these ideas to our own collections. How can institutional librarians and DIY community grassroots collections learn from each other? And can we establish a best practice of zine librarianship while remaining true to the DIY ethos of zines?

The Prado-Recoletos axis is the main historical boulevard in Madrid, which contains the most important concentration of art museums in all of Spain: the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, the Museo Nacional del Prado and the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza. In the last years, they have undergone extensive renovation. The different renovation projects can be used to examine how museum libraries today juggle the needs of their users while addressing the challenge of providing the services of a modern research library. The new State Museum Libraries Network (BIMUS) has been an important factor in this development.