Section VIII - Reference: Arts & Recreation (700)

This collection provides materials relating to the fine, decorative, performing, and recreational arts. Works on the fine and decorative arts receive less attention than those focusing on music and the performing arts. The collection has two major components:

general works and overviews of major areas
collecting information and price guides

Development Plan

R 700 Fine and decorative arts. A collection of general art encyclopedias, dictionaries, and selected directories is maintained. This collection, which provides the Library's predominant coverage of both non-Western art and the individual fine arts, is developed and maintained. Major sources are Praeger Encyclopedia of Art, Grolier Encyclopedia of Visual Arts, and Oxford Companion to Art.
R 710 Civic and landscape art. A small collection of civic and landscape art is maintained. (Circulating gardening sources are relied upon for most landscaping needs.)
R 720 Architecture. A small collection covering architectural terms and information about specific architects is maintained.
R 730 Plastic arts and sculpture. A small collection of sources providing overview of the individual arts is maintained. Price guides and other collectibles sources in areas such as coins, porcelain and pottery, and jewelry are developed and maintained.
R 740 Drawing and decorative arts. Sources with a focus on price guides and other collectibles sources for antiques, glass, and furniture are developed and maintained. A small collection of sources providing overview of these arts is maintained. Needlework or handwork sources are not collected.
R 750 Painting and paintings. A small collection of sources providing overview of painting and painters is maintained.
R 760 Printmaking and prints. Sources emphasizing collectible information on prints and other related areas such as stamps and baseball cards are developed and maintained. Also maintained is a clip art collection.
R 770 Photography. A collection with sources on photography basics is developed and maintained.
R 780 Music. A collection of overview information on music in general and on important Western composers and performers is maintained. This collection, which provides the Library's predominant coverage of historical European concert hall and church music, is developed and maintained. Sources emphasizing popular American vocal music are maintained. Songbooks are not collected.
R 790 Recreational and performing arts. Overviews of general sports are developed. A collection emphasizing history and rules of major sports, especially baseball, basketball, and football is maintained. The hunting, shooting, and fishing collections are minimally developed since these topics are much more useful to patrons in circulating materials. Game books are not collected. A collection with an overview coverage of film, television, and stage in the performing arts is maintained.

Influencing Factors

Purchases and buying patterns are determined in large part by:

electronic/Internet sources availability.
new works.
budget constraints.
use.
patron requests.
present and potential relevance to the community.
shelf space.

Retention/Weeding

Price guides are weeded every one to two years.
As existing sources begin to age physically, new overviews, histories, and general works are added as they appear.
Existing sources are weeded to avoid redundancy.