afishaut@stanford.edu's blog

If you can't get to the Art & Architecture Library reference desk in person, try contacting a librarian via Meebo. The Ask a Librarian chat box is on the Library's home page; if the icon is green, the librarian is online!

This slide show on The Atlantic's website is a treat! For more about transit maps, see Transit Maps of the World, by Mark Ovenden (who also wrote a book about the Paris Metro). And to learn more about the most iconic transit map of them all, the London Tube map, see Underground Maps after Beck.

The newest addition to the Art Locked Stacks collection: Ball der Stadt Wien 1909, a small book of vibrantly colored lithographs that was published to commemorate the centenary of Joseph Haydn.

Some time ago I wrote about our project to reevaluate the reference section in our reading room. It is still a work in progress, but here are some highlights of the process:

(1) We're adding more and more introductory surveys to the reference collection in order to make it, at least to some degree, a browseable starting point for research.

The Art & Architecture Library's Locked Stack Collection is rich in materials ranging from antiquarian to contemporary, and it is always a pleasure when the opportunity arises to lend materials for exhibition. A small sampling of Locked Stack items is currently on view in two exhibitions at the Cantor Arts Center. Alongside materials from Special Collections and from the Cantor's own holdings, several Art & Architecture Library volumes are displayed in "Illustrated Title Pages: 1500–1900".

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/07/pollock-physics/
http://physicstoday.org/resource/1/phtoad/v64/i6/p31_s1

While it's fairly likely that the record for the world's largest indoor photo is not something any of us wonders about very often, it is nice to know that the record-breaking photo is of a library--namely, the Philosophical Library at Strahov Monastery, Prague.

Some of you may wonder where we find the Locked Stacks materials we display in exhibitions, show to classes, and page for patrons upon request. Here is an introduction to one of our sources, Ars Libri, and one of its extremely knowledgeable staff members, David Stang. The story includes a link to a longer article about the company's founder, Elmar Seibel. Visit Ars Libri's Web site in order to view recent catalogs devoted to topics such as modern art and calligraphy.

The Berg Fashion Library, a searchable database of Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion entries, ebooks, and images is now available to Stanford-affiliated users! Images from the Victoria and Albert's Fashion Collection are included. Soon to be added: Classic and Modern Writings on Fashion.