Day 4 – The National Art Library

The National Art Library is the preeminent art library in Britain and is located in London within the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum, which specializes in decorative arts (see website). It has three primary functions: to serve the public, to provide information to museum curators conducting research, and to support curatorial art and design of book “objects,” of which the library has an impressive collection. The library is 20 years older than the museum and was created independently to support a government-sponsored School of Design in the 19th century. As the school became more commercial and the public’s interest in the arts grew due to the Great Exposition of 1851 and other factors, the library leadership changed the collection focus from instruction to history and reference.