MassArt Library Blog

The Godine Library Goes Off To the Cape….

MFAWC Studio Interior

For our second time Godine Library was able to go to Provincetown and provide information literacy support for The Mass Arts Low Residency Program. I (Gabrielle Reed public services librarian) got to be the lucky liaison for the program. I got to bring the two boxes of art books that the library had donated for art inspiration. These were welcomed with great excitement. We decided that we would keep an empty box in Barbara Baker’s (MFAWC Coordinator) office and allow people to pick up and drop off the books there. I encouraged everyone to take a book and rotate them among themselves. It just so happens that one of the books I had brought was a being discussed in their critique moments before I arrived. Everyone was excited to have the hard copy. I hope we continue to bring books down to the program.

I started a library resources presentation and found that there were a great many questions. It was rather difficult getting through the slides because there were so many questions to be answered. So I broke from the formal presentation style and tried to address their major concerns. I ended up teaching for approximately 2 hrs straight. There was great dialog and I feel we had a successful session together.

Some of the questions asked from students were:

How do we get books from you?

How do we use the databases?

How do we get articles that aren’t full text on-line?

Where do we find images?

How do we use ARTstor?

Why can’t we use the Public Library?

Can we use the library resources after we graduate?

We discussed many of these questions and came up with answers for most but I would love to talk to library staff about how to get books from Mass Art to Provincetown efficiently. I also need to discuss contacting the director of the Provincetown Public library in order to facilitate students attaining public library cards, possibly without the charge for out-of-state status.

I gave the Master’s candidates a short ‘user’ survey that I had quickly put together. It consists of 6 questions. See the document below

Program: _____________________

Year in Program: _________________

For your creative process (artistic or academic) do you gather information from:

If Yes From Where? How often in Semester?

B. Since you have enrolled at Mass Art have you needed assistance with your research ? ○Yes ○No

C. If yes, how many times in the last semester have your requested it from Mass Art Library?

______Times

D. Are you satisfied with the Mass Art resources? ○Yes ○No ○ Never have used

E. Will you use these resources again? ○Yes ○No ○ Never have used

F. Would you recommend these resources to other students? ○Yes ○No ○ Never have used

I managed to get 8 students to complete the survey. This will allow me to crunch some numbers and get at least some documentation of usage for this population. I have entered the data into excel and will be running it through SPSS analytical statistics software.

For more information please look at the MFAWC website: http://www.fawc.org/mfa/index.shtml

Some pictures from the trip!

My driving companion

View from rt. 6 of dunes

Driving and shooting

Entrance to workshop

The Studios

Kambui and Felicia…resident artists