Visual Resources Library

Visual Resources have been available to MSU’s art and art history community in many formats since the early twentieth century. These visual collections support the department curriculum as well as faculty and students throughout the university. Headed by a curator and an imaging specialist who also serves the department as academic technology coordinator, the collections include slides, DVDs, video tapes, and digital images.

The Visual Resources Library houses over 180,000 slides that form the basis of the art history and studio art collection. These slides cover world art and architecture ranging from prehistory to contemporary art. Holdings include the art of the European, American, Asian, African and Oceanic Cultures.

A video tape and DVD collection provides supplementary materials for classroom teaching and student research. The collection includes documentary footage of art historical subjects, explorations of the work and lives of contemporary artists and designers, artists’ collaborations and creations of independent and experimental film, and electronic documentation of special lectures, performances presentations within the department and university.

Online access to the Visual Resources collection is available through MDID, a university-wide image database. The collection is cataloged and maintained in the VRL using IRIS (Image Resource Information System), a relational database developed by a collective of visual resource professionals that incorporates the latest data standards, facilitating the potential for shared records among the visual resources community.