Art and Design Commons^™

Creating An Index To Graduate Theses To Support Their Discoverability, Ellen Petraits

Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students

As a Research and Instruction Librarian, one of the most frequent questions I'm asked is how to find past theses on a particular topic or theme. There is an active thesis culture at RISD that goes beyond writing and binding a text. An exhibition is held in the graduate gallery to celebrate a curated selection of theses at the beginning of the academic year. (See Book of Thesis Books) Theses can range in format from an artist book to a loose-leaf portfolio. Many emphasize the visual and are a bridge to the student’s studio work. They may include unusual or …

Creating A Digital Database And Manuals To Document Our Extensive Collection Of Historic Printmaking Equipment And Ephemera, Luci Wilgus

Symposium of Student Scholars

We were inspired to do this research project after realizing the importance and significance of our extensive collection of historic printmaking equipment and ephemera. As scholars we felt that it would benefit our department as well as our community to document and share information about our printmaking materials. Thus far the primary focus of our research has been researching and building a database of information that is best suited to our goal.

Our methodology included researching best practices to document this collection into a researchable database to share with the intellectual community. Once we identified software for the database, we …