Libraries Announces Image Collection Library Diversity Grant

NEWS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                   DATE: 10/8/08

CONTACT: LESLIE SCHALER, COMMUNICATION ASST., (413) 545-0162

UMASS AMHERST LIBRARIES ANNOUNCES

IMAGE COLLECTION LIBRARY DIVERSITY GRANT

Amherst, MA – UMass Amherst Libraries’ Image Collection Library was awarded a Diversity Grant for $6,000 by the General Education Council.  The grant for the proposal "Digital Images, Diversity and Access: Creating a Diverse Image Collection Library" will fund the creation of 1500 digital images, available by May 2009, of artworks produced by Latin-American, African-American, and women artists.

The Image Collection Library’s digital images will be accessible by any UMass campus community member (faculty, student, staff) and will be available for use in classroom presentations, study review, and research.  The images will be the foundation for courses currently under development by the Art History faculty, specifically surveys of global feminism and Latin American art. These courses, planned for introduction into the curriculum over the next several years, will be available to undergraduates and graduate students.  

In addition, these images will be a resource for scholars and students working in other disciplines who incorporate visual cultural production in their research, such as American Studies; Language, Literatures & Cultures; Women’s Studies; and Communications, and an important resource for a new multi-department position concentrating on African American studies in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts.

The Image Collection Library (ICL), located in Bartlett Hall, evolved from the Art History program's Dorothy Perkins Slide Library to assist that program and other departments in the transition from analog to digital image technologies in the classroom. While the primary responsibility of the ICL is to support art history course needs, it is exploring opportunities to collaborate with other departments on campus to help support their course image needs.  The Image Collection Library acquires images in all subjects for use in the classroom environment.

For more information, contact Brian Shelburne, Head of Image Collection Library, at 545-4061, or bps@library.umass.edu.