  |
The SFMOMA Research Library was established in 1935 as a research facility serving the needs of the Museum's professional staff. With holdings covering the fine and applied arts of the 20th and 21st centuries, the library reflects the collecting, exhibiting, and educational activities of the Museum itself. Located on the lower level of the Museum, the library facility consists of a reference room and public reading rooms. Collections are housed in a closed-stack area, while research support materials such as indexes, bibliographies, and directories are shelved near the reference desk. Hours The library is open to outside researchers by appointment only. Library hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Appointments to visit the library may be made by calling 415.357.4120. Library Collections Librarian Louise Sloss Ackerman (1938–52) established the book collection in 1945 in memory of her son, Lloyd Stuart Ackerman Jr. In 1982, the collection was endowed by her bequest. Nineteenth- and 20th-century photography and 20th-century painting, sculpture, architecture, design, and media arts are areas in which the library has significant holdings, with special emphasis on contemporary visual arts. The 1978 bequest of photographic historian Margery Mann’s personal library greatly enhanced the Museum’s collection of materials on the history of photography as a fine art, as has the addition of the Sydney Tillim Collection, which focuses on the photomechanical reproduction processes of photography. Artist’s books comprise another special collection. The library’s holdings include 1,860 serial titles — magazines, annuals, museum bulletins, and annual reports — of which 425 are current subscriptions. Monographs, catalogue raisonnés, and exhibition catalogues are invaluable documents of artistic activity. Through gifts, purchases, and an exchange program with 200 museums in the United States and abroad, the library has more than 56,000 such titles. Artists’ files provide access to the ephemera of art research and include such items as exhibition announcements, resumes, and press releases. More than 45,000 artists are documented in this special collection.  Library Access and Usage Although primarily for the use of Museum staff, the library also serves the larger art community and is open by appointment to graduate students, university and college faculty, professional artists, collectors, art historians, staff of other museums and art galleries, and independent researchers. Museum admission need not be paid to use the library; however, an appointment is required. All visiting researchers must enter by the Minna Street entrance and check in at the guard station. Coats, packages, briefcases, book bags, oversize handbags, and personal books must be checked at the first-floor coat check before entering the library. An appointment with the library does not allow users access to the galleries. (Regular Museum admission is required for gallery access.) For the protection of the collections, no beverages or food may be brought into the library, no pens are allowed in the public reading room, and entry to the closed-stack area is restricted to Museum staff. All materials are noncirculating and may be used in the public reading room only. Museum research staff are permitted to sign out nonperiodical items to their offices. As a result, some materials may not always be available to visiting researchers. We regret this inconvenience and will attempt to satisfy researchers’ needs with alternate materials. Photocopies Photocopying is subject to restrictions based on the size or physical condition of an item. Visitors may use the photocopier in the reference room at a set cost per page copied. Compliance with the posted copyright law is required. |
