Art and design blog

Your Academic Liaison Librarian - Suzie Williams - regularly writes blog posts for this Art and Design Library Subject Guide.

The posts cover a wide range of topics including details about new books we have bought for you to use, promoting key resources in your subject and much more.

You can sign up to get an email alert to any new posts - there are a couple of posts each month so you won't be inundated with emails, and you can choose to unsubscribe at any time. 

Just go to the Art and Design blog page and enter your email address where it says "Subscribe."

Happy reading!

I hope you’re settling into the academic year well.

Through the Library we have lots of lovely resources to help you with your studies and research. An excellent place to start is to explore our Library Essentials Guide. 

Here you can find all the basics about the library including things like booking yourself onto a library tour to explore our facilities, how to do printing, learning how to use books, ebooks and journals, and so much more. 

How about sitting down with a cuppa and reading up on all we have to get you off to a good start for this academic year. 

Welcome - I’m Suzie Williams and I am your Academic Liaison Librarian.

I work with your lecturers to ensure we have the right resources for you in the University Library (in print and online) and help you to develop the skills to use these resources when doing research for your assignments.

We have lots of help and support available to you whatever your experience has been of using libraries elsewhere.

Here are 3 things you can do to get started with using the library.

• Pop into our library buildings to have a look around to explore our great study spaces. Most of the print resources for your subjects are in the Library@DavidGoldman and St Peter's Library so I recommend you start exploring there.
• Book yourself onto a library tour with one of our friendly staff/
• Explore your Library Subject Guide, specially designed for you - Art and Design Library Subject Guide.

I am looking forward to meeting you - do say hello if you see me on campus!

Through our Sage Catalyst subscription, we have access to a range of books on research methods.

Log in to Sage Catalyst and select 'Research Methods and Evaluation'.

Titles include:

• An adventure in statistics
• Evaluating research
• How to do your research project
• Information visualisation
• Introduction to research methods
• Research design
• Visual methodologies
• and so many more

Head online, login and happy reading!

Through our Sage Catalyst subscription, we have access to a range of ebooks on study skills.

Titles include:

• Your Guide to Wellbeing at University
• The Essential Guide to Building Your Argument
• From Wellbeing to Welldoing
• Be a Brilliant Dyslexic Student
• Essential Study Skills
• Productivity and Publishing
• How to Think
• Create Your Research Poster
• and much more....

Head online, login and get reading!

The University of Sunderland Library Services web site brings you a new feature called 'Collections', which replaces our monthly new book lists for all subject areas.

Previously, our new book lists have been included within our Library Reading Lists web page, and have been a way to showcase new title purchases over the academic year. These reading lists which were updated monthly reflected the continuing development of our library collections as subject areas evolve.

Collections are embedded into our Library Search, which brings with it new features that will prove useful to students and staff looking to make use of our latest titles, including the ability to pin both the collection and individual books to your 'My Favourites' within your library account.

New book collections are continuously updated as new titles are purchased, meaning you are able to view our latest titles as soon as they are available. We hope that you find Collections a useful addition to our library services.

Visit this link to access the New Books Collection for the Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries now. 

Let's have an explore on resources about women artists.

Art UK have an interesting selection of articles:

• Female artists and flowers
• Fighting for emancipation: women artists 1910-1919
• Pioneering, modernist and radical: five female artists you should know
• Shining a light on women sculptors in Britain
• Women artists of the 1920s: politics, progress and pushback

Now let's explore our own library collection for perspectives on the subject:

• Female body
• Feminist art
• Women as artists

Now go and explore Library Search for women artists that you are interested in.

Are you a student interested in developing your skills in academic writing, critical reflection, managing stress and much more?

Are you a member of academic staff wanting to develop your module reading lists to include resources on study skills?

Explore our new Study Skills book collection which pulls together books on many different aspects of study skills.

The Library subscribes to the following print art and design journals and magazines.

Using these publications in your research is an excellent way to expand your understanding and knowledge of your subject.

• 3D World (St Peter's Library)
• British Journal of Photography (Library@DavidGoldman)
• Character Design Quarterly (St Peter's Library)
• Edge (St Peter's Library)
• Frieze (St Peter's Library)
• ImagineFX (St Peter's Library)
• Pressing Matters (St Peter's Library)

How are you getting on with using Box of Broadcasts?

Isn’t it a brilliant resource?!

For anyone who hasn’t discovered it yet, Box of Broadcasts (often know as BoB) is an on-demand TV & radio streaming service. The University Library subscribes to this resources so that our staff and students have access to BoB’s archive. It also gives the ability to record upcoming programmess over 65 free-to-air channels from the UK and beyond.

This series of short videos will help you get the most out of this resource for your studies and research including:

• How to access and search BoB.
• Using the programme guide.
• Using your own personal area of BoB.
• How to make a playlist and clips.
• How to request a programme.

This week we are featuring a key journal in photography – the British Journal of Photography.

Journals are an excellent source of research material as they are where you’ll find recently published research and ideas.

The Library has a subscription to the print version of this magazine which can be found in the Library@DavidGoldman.

Happy reading!

Are you researching contemporary themes, artists or designers? Have you thought about using newspapers to complement the academic sources you are using?

They can help you find out how themes are being covered in the media, you can access reviews of exhibitions and much more!

Newsstream contains online full-text access to over 600 UK regional, national and broadsheet newspapers as well as international press. The Library subscribes to this resource so you don’t have to pay to access it. Coverage goes back as far as January 1982 to the present day for some titles, although this varies by publication.

To help you do a health check on whether an information source is worth using or not, why not try using our Evaluating Information checklist.

News on television and radio

Remember, you might also be interested in how the news is reported on the TV and radio, and if you are in the United Kingdom you can use Box of Broadcasts (B0B) to do the same types of searching as you can in Newsstream for print media.

Why should I use Newsstream when I can just look on Google?

1. No paywall in Newsstream – the library has paid on your behalf.
2. Not just online content – you get the entire archive of what appeared in print and online. In free newspaper archives you never know what will be there and what won’t.
3. See how the same event is covered by different newspapers and authors. Newsstream has all the content in one place, rather than having to go to each news outlet’s individual website.
4. Newsstream sometimes has the pdf of the layout of print news magazines
5. Search precisely and comprehensively – Newsstream is designed for research and scholarship whereas Google is designed to harvest your data.
6. More!

Watch this 10-minute video tutorial which walks you through how to access Newsstream from anywhere you have Internet access. 

The library subscribes to Convergence (the international journal of research into new media technologies) from 1999 to the present day, with online access from 2018 onwards.

This academic journal is internationally peer-reviewed and aims to encourage and advance interdisciplinary enquiry into contemporary convergent media and allied innovative technologies.

Articles in recent issues include:

• A Special Issue on Digital Expressions of self
• QR codes during the pandemic
• Microstock images of artificial intelligence
• Digital reproducibility in locative media
• Sexualising characteristics of adolescent on TikTok

Hop onto Library Search to get stuck into this journal.

This week we are featuring Pressing Matters which celebrates the passion and processes behind modern printmaking.

You can consult this journal when you’re at the St Peter's Library. It is shelved with the other art and design print journals on the Lower Level at 760/PRE.

If you’re not able to visit the library building at present, you can take benefit of a selection of early articles from Pressing Matters which they have made available online for you to download for free.

Naomi Austin, one of our Senior Lecturers in Fashion at the University of Sunderland, recommends two of our library databases to her fashion students.

“I’d recommend IBISWorld for industry data on the fashion industry (manufacture, wholesale, retail etc.) and Euromonitor for market sector (consumer trends, consumer spend, market and industry stats, turnover and the like). Using these resources ensures you have access to clear and current statistics which means that you can understand the market at a professional level.”

On IBISWorld, each industry report provides detailed performance data and analysis on the market, supply chain, operating strengths and weaknesses, external drivers, major player market strategies, industry profit and cost structure benchmarks.

Euromonitor focusses its Industry analysis across consumer goods and services, including market performance, market size, company and brand shares and profiles of leading companies and brands.

There are excellent help videos provided by each of the databases which will help you navigate around the system and find the information you want for your research.

Let's have a look at some of our books on gaming design:

• Bang (2016) Picture this: how pictures work
• Barker, Smith and Attwood (2021) Watching Game of Thrones: how audiences engage with dark television
• Galuzin (2016) Preproduction blueprint: how to plan game environments and level designs
• Lemarchand (2021) A playful production process: for game designers (and everyone)
• Lengyel (2016) Foundations of game engine development. Volume 1 - Mathematics
• Lengyel (2019) Foundations of game engine development. Volume 2 - Rendering
• Rogers (2019) Understanding esports: an introduction to the global phenomenon

Our Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries Creative Lives talks offer many examples of how creative professionals live, work and thrive in the arts and creative industries. You will gain an insight into the creative process and career routes through a series of talks from local and nationally-renowned practitioners at different career stages, many of whom are University of Sunderland alumni. You’ll hear from artists, designers, makers, photographers, curators, filmmakers, and much more.

These online talks are open to all students and staff in the Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries, as well as other member of the university and the general public. There’s no need to book individual places, just join online on the day - Tuesdays at 4pm online.

• 30th January - Paul Raymond
• 6th February - Jill McKnight
• 13th February - Sophie Buxton
• 20th February - Ross Millard
• 27th February - Mark Duffy
• 5th March - Vicky Higginson
• 12th March - Dominic Wilcox
• 16th April - Laura Brewis

Please join us via this link – Click here to join the meetings.

The Library has an excellent collection of exhibition catalogues from many major galleries and are a great resource to help you discover artists and their work.

Catalogues often include an artist statement where you can read about how it speaks about their work and how the artist makes their work. Exploring the catalogues enable you to see what work artists have exhibited and how they have exhibited, which could provide inspiration for your own exhibitions.

We have art and design catalogues by past and present university staff including:

• Bodman, Virginia (2000) Between: drawing from the landscape
• Collier, Mike (2015) Ghosts of the restless shore: space, place and memory of the Sefton Coast
• Graham, Beryl (1996) Serious games: art, interaction and technology
• Hutchinson, James (no date) New mapping at the University of Sunderland Vardy Gallery 
• Ling, Manny (2018) Crossing boundaries: the calligraphic work of Manny Ling

The exhibition catalogues are located on the upper level of the St Peter's Library (shelved at 700) allowing you to browse the shelves by artist name. Use our Library Search to locate them, refining your search results by Exhibition Catalogues. You can search by the artist, gallery, title of the exhibition or by keyword (e.g. David Hockney, Tate Gallery or Sensation: young British artists from the Saatchi Collection).

Watch our short video to find out more.

Would you like to recommend an exhibition catalogue for the library to order? Please contact Suzie Williams, the Academic Liaison Librarian for the Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries.

Located on the lower level of the Library@Murray, the Secure Collection is made up of precious resources including artists books, special editions, rare art books and signed copies.

Items can be used for reference in the library during staffed hours and can be found using Library Search. 

If you see reference to ‘Secure Collection’ in the item record, that resource will be kept in this collection (see screenshot in this blog post).

The Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle is currently exhibiting work that showcases the ground-breaking work of 20th century British photographer Yevonde with work on loan from the National Portrait Gallery - Yevonde: life and colour.

The exhibition runs until 20th April 2024 and is the largest showcase of the artist's work with over 150 works. 

In the University Library we have the accompanying Exhibition Catalogue which brings to life this brilliant exhibition and enables you to see Yevonde's work up close and personal without having to travel.

The library has subscribed to a new collection of eBooks from Sage publishing. The package includes unlimited access to many titles including some we previously could not buy as eBooks.

To view eBooks from Sage Catalyst, visit the library homepage, search for Sage Catalyst via Databases A-Z, and then go to View Online.

You can view all the eBooks relevant to you in Sage Catalyst by selecting relevant subjects in the category section. You may wish to explore:

• Study Skills
• Or one of the many other categories!

In addition, all Sage Catalysis eBooks are discoverable on Library Search.

If you know the title of the eBook, you can visit Library Search and click on the full text link from the record to access the eBook.

If you need any further help with accessing SAGE Catalyst or any of our other databases, please get in touch via Library Chat or email at library@sunderland.ac.uk.

Need help with referencing? 

Cite Them Right is an excellent online tool to help you reference your assignments.

You can access Cite Them Right via the link above, at the top of any search in Library Search, or the link within the orange “popular now” section on the library home page.

In Design programmes you will go beyond resources such as books and journals and consult a wide range of sources when doing your research which may include:

• infographics
• logos
• mood boards
• packaging
• podcasts
• posters
• social media

Cite Them Right gives clear advice on how to reference numerous types of information using Harvard and other referencing styles as well.

The Library also holds online drop-ins where you can join the chat function LibraryTalk with your questions about referencing to get sound advice.

The joy of our library resources is that you can research topics of interest from multiple sources and compare and contrast what you find.

For example, the Tate Modern London is currently exhibiting 'A World In Common: Contemporary African Photography', bringing together 36 artists who use photography to reimagine Africa’s place in the world. It is inspired by the continent’s rich cultural traditions, as well as present-day social and political realities. 

If you're visiting London you can visit the exhibition in person, and there is a really useful guide to the exhibition on the Tate web site. 

However, through the University library you can also borrow the Exhibition Catalogue which is an extremely vivid catalogue which textual entries complementing the images. Suzie Williams, our Academic Liaison Librarian for the Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries has read the catalogue and has discovered lots about the artists, their work and their message.

The exhibition was also featured on 'Sunday Brunch' on Channel 4, which current students and staff can watch through our subscription to Box of Broadcasts (log in with your Univeristy login details to watch this clip).

VADS, the Visual Arts Data Service, is an online resource with over 140,000 images from over 300 art and design collections in the UK. These images are free to use for non-commercial use in education providing that you give appropriate acknowledgement through your referencing.

Images cover many areas in the visual arts including fine art, media, design, applied arts and fashion. To check how you can use these images, explore the FAQ section which gives clear advice to ensure you use the images in an appropriate manner.

Remember that you can use Cite Them Right, the university’s referencing tool, to ensure you reference all your sources correctly.

We are delighted to announce that we have purchased a collection of design ebooks.

You can access these using your university username and password.

Subjects covered by these ebooks included design activism, curating design, aesthetics, Queer print, and teamwork techniques for designers.

If you’re a member of staff you may want to explore these ebooks to see if you’d like to add them to any of your module reading lists.

Feedback request

We are piloting how we present ebook collections to see how we can enhance discoverability and use of the ebooks we buy. How we have presented this collection of design ebooks is a pilot. If you have any feedback on the layout of the design ebook collection page please email Suzie Williams, Academic Liaison Librarian for Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries.

These resources are really valuable when researching for your assignments.

Euromonitor focusses its industry analysis across consumer goods and services, including market performance, market size, company and brand shares and profiles of leading companies and brands. For example, fashion students may want to research market sector data on consumer trends and spending.

The Fashion History Timeline is an open-access source for fashion history knowledge, featuring objects and artworks from over a hundred museums and libraries that span the globe. The Timeline website offers well-researched, accessibly written entries on artworks, garments, films and specific time periods, for those interested in fashion and dress history.

IBISWorld provides industry intelligence that analyses the environment of over 400 UK industries. Each industry report provides detailed performance data and analysis on the market, leading competitors, operating strengths and weaknesses, external drivers, major player market strategies, industry profit and cost structure benchmarks. For example, you can access industry data on the fashion industry on manufacture, wholesale and retail.

World Global Style Network is an online style gallery. The first time you use it, you will need to set up an account with your university email address (username@sunderland.ac.uk).

Need help with referencing art resources?

Cite Them Right is an excellent online tool to help you reference your assignments.

You can access Cite Them Right via the link above, at the top of any search in Library Search, or the link within the orange “popular now” section on the library home page.

In art programmes you will go beyond resources such as books and journals and consult a wide range of sources when doing your research which may include:

• body art
• collages
• digital art
• drawings
• graffiti
• paintings
• photographs

Cite Them Right gives clear advice on how to reference numerous types of information using Harvard and other referencing styles as well.

The Library also holds online drop-ins where you can join the chat function LibraryTalk with your questions about referencing to get sound advice.

The University Library has great art resources for students and staff to explore and enrich their studies and research, and includes some hidden treasures!

Carol McKay (Team Leader for our arts programmes) and Suzie Williams (Academic Liaison Librarian for arts, design and performing arts) have been surfacing some of these collections and sharing these delights with our fine art and photography students. We wanted to share these more widely with the rest of the university through this blog post.

The Library has a collection of Ed Ruscha’s artists books – this video gives valuable insight into this books and how important they are.

The video was filmed during the Covid pandemic so there are references to social distancing, but it is a really useful visual resource which highlights some of our lovely art resources.

Use Library Search to discover the Ed Ruscha resources we have in the library. If you search for "Ed Ruscha" as a phrase (ie using the quotation marks as well as Ed Ruscha) you will get a list of all resources by or about him. For resources created by him, use the 'Refine your results' column on the left hand side and select him as the author/creator.

You can also access a project where Ruscha is working with the Getty Institute to make their collection of his photobooks accessible to you in an online format. Go to their web site and explore his images of Sunset Boulevard.