Staff Picks Blog

Big news, folks: I recently went from being part-time Librarian to full-time! That means: 1) I can buy more shoes; 2) I have to get up earlier; and 3) I have new areas of the Library’s collection that I will be responsible for. No more AV materials, no more languages. I know, you all have questions…What about the wonderful nonfiction DVD collection that seems to have an inordinate amount of stuff about animals? Who’s gonna order all the TOEFL study guides when they change the format for the bazillionth time?? What will Josh Bernstein say??? These questions keep me up at night too, but there isn’t really much to be done or said about it, unless I want to stay in the same old yucky shoes I’ve been wearing for months. It’s time to move on. So, let’s talk about…art. I have little or no artistic talent whatsoever, but suddenly I’m in charge of buying books about art and artists, exhibition catalogs, various artistic techniques, crafts…all of it. I like art, I’ve been to a lot of museums and galleries and I enjoy viewing it and talking about it and maybe buying it, but I don’t know it and I can’t do it. So, to prepare a bit for my new responsibility, I have introduced myself to the subject heading of ‘art appreciation.’  Here we find titles that aim to provide the tools needed to understand, appreciate and and enjoy art: information on the development of different types of art, biographical material on various artists, critiques of well-known artistic works, examples of how everything else going on in the world can affect and influence art, and so on. If you’re like me, and feel like you want a primer for the world of art (I’ve looked at the circulation statistics for these books, I know I’m not the only one), check out some of ICPL’s art appreciation titles.