New Art Library Director Makes Outreach a Priority

Helping art students feed their craft by learning about art-bookmaking; promoting visual research across disciplines; bringing the library to where students are on campus – these are the goals that drive UofL’s new Art Library Director, Courtney Baron.

Since beginning work in August, Baron has focused on a broad agenda of promoting the library’s resources and services to its core constituency, fine arts students and faculty, as well as to non-art students and researchers across campus.

“We want to raise awareness that we’re here, and make people aware of some of the things that make us unique,” she said.

These distinctive offerings – a growing collection of artists’ books; high-profile visual art databases; over 300 domestic and foreign journals and museum bulletins; and a bevy of materials in fine art, graphic design, painting, sculpture, interior architecture, fiber art, art education, and photography – are a reason so many current and former UofL art students and faculty continue to visit and contribute to the library.

Baron is excited to talk about the library’s 400+ artists’ books. Works of art themselves, the books reveal surprising, creative, sometimes hilarious takes on the construction of a book. Some are tiny, some sculptural, made with exotic or unusual materials, and all are photographed for visual reference and appear on the library’s website.

“Students can learn the various techniques shown in each book construction and gain inspiration for making their own books. We really want them to be inspired.”

Another singular library offering among its digital collections is Artstor Digital Library, an online database of great works of art scanned at high resolution.

“Artstor is such a great resource in that it offers images at an extremely high quality with accurate color and representation,” she said. “You can zoom into each work of art to see a fine level of detail without much pixilation. It’s a visual resource aid that is useful certainly for fine arts students and faculty, but also non-art students and researchers.”

Students of geography, theater, information technology, and other areas can use visual research in their scholarship; such participation across disciplines could spark many creative and inspiring projects, she said.

“I am really excited to collaborate as much as possible with other areas on campus. Theater, pan-African studies, the Commonwealth Center for Humanities and other departments have so many interdisciplinary projects where we might partner.”

In addition to spreading the word about the library’s collections, Baron wants to make sure faculty and students know they can receive one-on-one research consultations, walk-in appointments and in-class lectures on information literacy.

“We will always be student-centered. I want students to know about our collections and services and particularly that our staff are a resource for research assistance. We’ve set up our virtual chat service and research consultation scheduling system so students can get one-on-one help,” she said.

The focus on research help for students extends from the library to the classroom. Baron hopes to increase collaboration with faculty in the classroom to build the information and visual literacy skills of art students. “I see myself as a facilitator of student learning, encouraging students to pursue topics that excite them and building their confidence in the research process.”

She also is seeking ways to “be visible to our art students and faculty where they are. So it’s important to figure out how to bring the library to all the different spaces on and off the Belknap campus,” like the Cressman building downtown, which houses glass studios, and the new Portland MFA Studio in western Louisville.

“I also want to make some community connections, particularly with the Speed Art Museum. I also plan to partner with the Hite Art Institute to reach out to the west Louisville community – there are many opportunities in the Portland neighborhood – particularly among high schools and students where there is a need for more resources. There are also many opportunities with galleries around town.”

Baron most recently served as Head of Library Teaching and Outreach Services at Oxford College Library, Emory University in Atlanta. Previously, she was director of visual resources at Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia. She earned her MLIS from Valdosta State University and her undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia in Classical Archaeology and Latin.

Baron’s love of the arts encompasses more than the visual: from elementary through high school, she danced with the Atlanta Ballet. She has also appeared in productions with the Northeast ballet. After high school she focused on other forms of dance, including ballroom dancing and a four-year stint with the Modern Pin-Ups, a dance performance company in Athens, Georgia.