First, the original query repeated, then the responses, below.

Posted back in August to AASL-L, ARLIS-L, and ARCHSEC-L:

Every semester our design studio students produce beautiful spiral- (or otherwise) bound portfolios of individual or studio projects. Many but not all of these find their way to our library--a few professors actually bring their students' work in at semester's end and ask that the project presentations be added to the library's collections. I'm talking to my cataloging department about how best to handle such materials, since they've not been collected systematically up to now.

Do you collect these materials in your libraries? If yes, do you treat them as a separate collection, or integrate them?

Right off the bat, I'm thinking one would have to have buy-in from studio instructors and program administrators.

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Big Thanks to everyone who contributed, if I haven’t acknowledge you already. Responses trickled in over a span of about six weeks. [If I’ve been too slow in responding, pity me: I sent the original query just as we teetered on the brink of our third move of the entire library within a nine-month period. Of course I underestimated the upheaval, since the first two moves were flawless.]

I got responses along two tracks (sometimes both are covered in a response—noted at the beginning of each message):

1)      Non-thesis studio products

2)      Theses and terminal projects

Responses sent to a listserv address are copied below in full, since they were intended to be public.

Those that came to me off-list have been edited somewhat, to provide context without institutional or other specifics.

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RESPONSES from AASL:

From an independent architectural college in the northeast: studio products

We at ___ do actively collect the type of material you mentioned.

Currently we collect winning/passing segments 1 and 2 portfolios in each of our 4 disciplines. We catalogue them and leave them on a special closed reference shelf behind our circulation desk. We have been doing this longer than 11 years I have worked here. They are very popular and faculty and staff make it a point to send students up to view them. The school wants students to see what an award winning portfolio looks like.

This way, they strive to create the best. Currently all three of our portfolio classes visit the library to view these materials.  

The way this works in the library is as follows...

Faculty who chair the individual programs will come up and swap out old portfolios for new ones. We withdraw older ones and they are destroyed.

Some of our faculty and departments are better than others. Architecture Segment one is picked through each review period. That would be on average about 3 times a year. However, I have to drag kicking and screaming the Landscape department to come up and even give me one.

Currently I have only one BLA.

As I mentioned, we keep them behind the circulation desk. They are treated as reserve material and cannot leave the library. They are so popular that we only let a student borrow up to 3 at any one time. We hold on to their ID.

Some have received cult status, and have had to be rebound. Although we do receive some portfolios on CDrom, they are like kryptonite. Students don't seem to want to ever use them. I have never been able to get a student to touch one. Not even once.

Other material that we keep...

We have several other types of material that is kept here in our library that is home grown.

We offer a class called Programming and Codes. This is a class that will teach a student all the programming and all the codes need to create and finish a project. The instructors keep 4 boxes of this material on reserve here in the library. A student will create a spiral bound document that will document their design, construction and all the codes used during that semester. Topics range from Fire House construction to Libraries. The instructor separates them by topic. He comes at the start of each semester and swaps out old ones for the best ones created from the previous semester.

Again, these are very popular. So much so that other sections of Programming and Codes send their students up to use them. Like our portfolios, these cannot leave the library. We treat them as reserve material.

Finally, whew!

In 2009 we took over [a landscape program] from [a larger school in the area]. They are a small certificate program, but they do some serious research. To graduate you must  produce an Independent Project, similar to a thesis. We did not acquire all the previous Independent Projects from [the original institutional affiliates]. We all agreed to leave that material at the location it was created. There were however duplicates that were in their library. We kept those and catalogued them individually and added them to the circulating collection. Each document has great bibliographic references and tons of scholarly material.

From an art institute in the northeast: studio products

I am replying off list, because I don't have a good answer! This is a note to say that I have been thinking same about our zines, comics and other class produced items. Thus far, I erred on the side of cataloging these as a collection. 

The big rub for us in arts will be self-published titles. For those, I have to be very clear to state our collection development policies, else the library takes in every blurb and lulu book made. OR maybe we should…

From an architecture librarian at a public university in the plains states: studio products

For several years we have digitized them and made them available online for the Landscape Architecture Program.

Then we return the actual physical pieces to the department.  We plan to handle our portfolios for the Architecture program the same way, beginning in Jan. of 2012.  We have never had a request for this from the Art Dept. (which is in a different college), but I don't see any problems with offering it to them as an option. 

From an architecture librarian at a private land-grant university in the Northeast: theses and studio products

I've been away on vacation and am just reading your note to the list now. Very interesting questions. I'd be interested in knowing how others have responded. [Our] B.Arch students all do a thesis, which we keep a copy of at the Fine Arts Library. Since there is only one copy of the undergraduate theses they can only be used in-house. (Graduate theses have two locations: Fine Arts Library and University Archives.) Elsewhere on campus many of the theses have gone to a digital submission format. Architecture, however, has not yet switched to digital.

Regarding student projects: the college (not the library) tends to collect a selection of student projects, particularly materials that they will want to share with the accreditation team when they visit. Historically, these have not been shared with the Fine Arts Library or with University Archives. This is an area I would like to develop, however. I do think that the library can and should play a role in archiving these materials. We do get reference questions related to the work of former students. In short, our work would be much simpler if we could have greater control over what is retained and the format in which it is retained. On the other hand, we are a circulating library not an archive.

Regarding the cataloguing of the items . . . if there is a time constraint perhaps they could be given collection level records. That is, creating file of student projects by course title and professor, i.e. Design IV; taught by [Professor] SoandSo; Fall 2010; materials include, dvds, models, portfolios, etc. (Actually, I've never created an archival record but the point is to get the patron to the collection and then the patron can search within for specific materials.) Otherwise, I would think that standard cataloguing procedures would be applicable: title, author, date, dimensions, format, and the name of the faculty and studio should be included. (I can imagine a question about work done in Professor [X’s] urban design studio in 1974 for example.)

My .02. Again, this is very interesting to me. If/when you have a chance, if you could summarize some of the good ideas you received I would appreciate it.

From an architecture librarian at a private institution in the Midwest: specific to studio products

I apologize for the delay in my response.  The new architecture graduate students arrived this week for a two week "pre-semester."  Our special collections materials are housed in the compact shelving (all of our on site collection is in compact shelving), but in a range that is locked to be stationary closed and unlocked with a remote by full time staff.  The portfolios are accessed like our other special collections items, they must be requested at the desk and a full time staff member retrieves them for the patron to use in the library at a table in the staff area.  We have only added a set of portfolios once and they were selected by the two faculty members that serve as undergraduate advisors.  My intention was to add them more or less permanently, unless in the future it seems to make sense to weed them out of the collection, and add current examples eventually as well.  Let me know if you have more questions.

________________________________________

From: Kathy Edwards [[log in to unmask]]

Sent: Friday, August 12, 2011 3:14 PM

Subject: RE: Design studio project portfolios in your library

Very nice of you to respond-- will forward this to the cataloger who'll be working on this with me.

…

Can you describe the access to these? Does one person select or is there broader faculty participation? Will 'better 'or more recent examples eventually supersede current selections, or are selected portfolios more or less permanent? And where is "Special Collections" within your space?

Thank you,

Kathy

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Hello Kathy,

We started a small collection of undergraduate architecture portfolios considered to be models of best practice at the request of the faculty member who works with the undergraduate program.  They are cataloged individually and housed in our Art Library Special Collections.  [Here is the author entry link:]

The faculty member directs students to look at the portfolios as they preparing their own, so they are regularly requested.  I include the above link on my architecture LibGuide.

Let me know if you have questions.

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Specific to studio products:

I have a similar situation here at UM.  The spiral albums are not cataloged by the library--just the electronic thesis dissertations are--which, for architecture is another can of worms entirely.  I just wish I had more hours in the day, staff, space...  Faculty encourage students to donate a physical copy of their project portfolios, but they are not required. Because of the awkwardness of the size (and often floppiness), they maintain their own location within the architecture library, but are considered a separate collection.  We are in the midst of putting the data into an electronic finding aid (ARCHON system) accessible through the University library web portal (http://proust.library.miami.edu/findingaids/?p=collections/controlcard&id=

155), that allows patrons to search the collection by graduation year.

It's not exhaustive, but it is a start and I hope to expand the processing to include digitization. This was implemented as part of our MPLP (More product, less process)  initiative to process some collections rapidly.

Faculty and students use it regularly. You can contact me directly if you would like more info.

Hope this is helpful.

Regards,

Gilda

Gilda Santana

Head, Architecture Information Resources and Services Paul Buisson Architecture Library

1223 Dickinson Drive

Coral Gables, FL  33146

[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>

(305) 284-5282

Both theses/thesis projects and studio projects:

For the past two years, we have worked with our Architecture & Landscape Architecture department to have the thesis students submit their thesis projects to our digital Institutional Repository, and it has worked out quite well. This semester will be the first time we try it with studio projects. See the NDSU A/LA digital collections here (listed by program and year):

http://library.ndsu.edu/repository/handle/10365/7325

We think it will work nicely for future program accreditation reviews, as well as a means for students to show their projects to potential employers. Access to the digital collections is open to anyone, and the thesis projects have surprisingly had hundreds of views from all over the world.

Regards,

Jenny

Jenny Grasto

Downtown Campus Librarian

NDSU Libraries

Dept. 2080

PO Box 6050

Fargo, ND 58108-6050

701.231.8616 (Architecture Library)

701.231.8191 (Barry Hall Library)

Both thesis-level products required for degree and design studio products:

MFA students in the UCLA Design|Media Arts (DMA) Department at UCLA (and in the Art Department as well) produce something called a "Record of Creative Work" rather than a thesis. We catalog ours and they are sent straight to storage.  The DMA products tend to be in 3-ring binders with accompanying DVDs.  I get rid of the DVD cases and place them in a DVD binder sheet sleeve instead. The Art products are more variable in format and most need of re-housing in a box or protected in a four-flap enclosure (occasionally I need to do this with the DMA products). But these are not necessarily 'exemplary' products, they are a required part of the degree, just less formal than a thesis.

I am now in discussions with our game design faculty member who would like to see us acquire exemplary board games produced by undergraduate students. My idea is that they could each get housed in an acid-free box, would be given a brief catalog description, and would be housed in our Cage where we have artists books and other materials needing protection. The Prof. hopes that they could be taken out on occasion for a gaming event in the library, but also so his students could see these exemplary examples. But I don't yet know if this proposal will fly, so stay tuned!

Cheers,

Janine Henri

Architecture, Design, and Digital Services Librarian and Interim Resource Librarian for Urban Planning UCLA Arts Library

1400 Public Affairs Building

Box 951392

Los Angeles, CA 90095-1392

[log in to unmask]

310-206-4587

For theses and studio products:

Here at Oklahoma State we have followed the Institutional Repository route as well, for both Architecture and Landscape Architecture.

After digitization, the theses go to storage but the portfolios are returned to students.

Susan Bobo

Associate Professor

Cunningham Architecture Library

160 Donald W. Reynolds School of Architecture Building Oklahoma State University Stillwater, OK 74078

405-744-6034

RESPONSES FROM ARCHSEC-L

Froma  librarian at an urban university in the Northeast: thesis, pre-thesis, and studio products

a quick response:  at [___] we put into our Reserve collection the final thesis projects of 5th yr students; most now including DVDs. We don't put all on R.  Only those that the professors think are "worthy specimens."  Don't know what happens with the others.  We also have some 2nd yr portfolios that we also put on Reserve, but very few.  I hope to get some accepted "thesis proposals" this fall from the head of the thesis studios as our upcoming 4th yr students who will be going into Thesis want to see them to get an idea of what they should be producing.

As yet, none of these are in the library catalog; only listed in a binder we keep at the desk. I'm trying to get faculty to decide on putting some of these online, perhaps passworded. That's gone nowhere yet.  We will also I think talk to the cataloger to get them listed in our online library catalog.

I look forward to your compilation of the conversations coming in response to your query! 

RESPONSES from ARLIS-L:

From a fine arts librarian at a public university in the Southwest: Thesis

We collect MFA thesis projects only. We don't accept anything at the undergraduate level except perhaps in very rare cases (can't think of any examples).

The MFA projects go into our university library system's non circulating special collections (not part of the fine arts library). So in essence we are treating them like a PhD dissertation, except that the library system has traditionally accepted two copies of dissertations, one for special collections, and one circulating copy. Of course all that has changed with digital dissertations, and I'm not sure how MFA projects will be affected down the line.

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From an architecture librarian at public university in the South: Theses

we added 5th yr theses every year--until this year--we are now in the process of moving them to a digital format but we have some hang-ups with staff changes--we added them all--students were required to turn in 2 copies and pay for binding--$10 each--they could get additional copies bound--but had to pay $10 for each--one to the school and one to library--they were fully cataloged and housed as a separate collection--some of our date way back--and some are in shaky condition due to age

let me know if you have more questions

From a design school in the urban Midwest: Theses

Although we have not actually begun to do this yet, I am developing a plan to make at least a record about each of our Masters of Interior Design final or thesis projects available through our library catalog. Part of the requirements for the thesis project is to provide a copy in digital format, so we would like to archive these but not the full physical project or thesis (space issues). We are only interested in the graduate student work at this point. The director of the interior design program is enthusiastic, so that has not been a problem.

Perhaps you could be select initially about which programs or what level of projects to accept for the library?

Good luck!

From an art school on the West Coast: Theses

Hi Kathy,

I don’t subscribe to the ARLIS/NA listserv, but one of my coworkers does and passed this along to me. I work at [----------------------], and we’re a large (and getting larger!) art school with an active graduate program.

All students in the graduate program are required to complete a thesis project and have this project approved by their department and by the Academy’s Graduate Department. Once a project is approved, the student is awarded his or her MFA. The school’s library has been the official repository for these projects for the last 15-ish years, at the behest of our executive office.

Since every student in every program has to complete a thesis project, there’s a lot of variation in what the finished product is, and we’ve gotten anything from dresses and jewelry to bound books to demo reels  on VHS or DVD. However, the most common format for these projects is an introductory booklet and a CD or two with images or examples of the student’s work. To keep things uniform, we ask that students turn their projects in contained in archival boxes that are 26x38x8 cm, which is a good fit for the shelving space we have.

We have library assistants or student workers catalog the projects, which are integrated into the general catalog. We have them use a bib template in order to keep things uniform and reduce the margin of error – I can send you a copy of the template if you’re interested. While we do take all accepted projects, since we have to, we suppress certain records at departmental request, and keep these suppressed projects in a separate location.

Once the thesis projects have been cataloged, we shelve them. They are located in a staff-only area, so students wishing to view them must use the catalog to find projects they want to look at and then  ask library staff members for assistance. They are for in-library use only, one at a time, and we keep the student’s school ID card as collateral to help ensure that the project actually remains in the library.

Due to space constrictions, we only keep projects from the past three years on the shelf and unsuppressed in the catalog. Older projects are moved from their boxes into manila folders, boxed up,  shelved in our storage space, and are suppressed in the catalog. If teachers or students want to see them, we can accommodate those requests, but since they are suppressed very few people request them. If we had infinite shelf space we’d keep them all on shelf and unsuppressed, but  alas…!

I hope this helps you as you move forward with your project – please let me know if you have any questions!

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