Libraries, Good Ones

by Cooper on 6/11/2009 9:58:48 PMComment on this

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio on a beautiful June evening in Spencer, Iowa.

On the previous post, I spoke of the pleasures :) of time spent in Iowa City, Iowa. This evening, let's add one more paragraph to that broad subject! Let's talk libraries. Some of you have heard me say that "when I get old and senile, and my kids take away my car keys for safety's sake, I want to live within walking distance of a really great library"!

---Could be that Iowa City should be on my list of target destinations. I currently live four-some hours distant from Iowa City, and I am a cardcarryingpatron of the Iowa City Public Library anyway. When I stopped by last weekend for an art book-fix, we discovered that my card needed "updating"--the last address they had for me was Brooklyn, Iowa, distance 50 miles. I held my breath and waited for the librarian to ask "where on earth is Spencer, and how far away is it" but I lucked out. She just blinked and typed it in.

Did I mention that I got two excellent books? Pierre-Auguste Renoir by Susan Rayfield and Renoir by Walter Pach. I am spending my sketching time working from images in the books, so see, there's another good reason.

However, I digress. I think I started this post with the intention of doing a top ten list of favorite libraries that have great collections of art books, but at this point, my list isn't that large. I can give you my top three, in no specific order :) Yes, the Iowa City Public Library makes the cut, and the second is even more distant, but equally amazing in their collection of art books. That would be the public library in Longmont, Colorado. I am fairly confident they both have art book collections that would keep me busy from here to eternity. Number three hails from Storm Lake, Iowa and is housed in the architectural finery of Buena Vista University. I recommend the "visitor" card at this fine facility, the (ahem) cost of getting a student card there is substantial :)

If you are an Iowegian (yes, that's slang for living in Iowa) do you know about the State Of Iowa Library Silo system? It's an interlibrary loan system, and a massive resource if you have just a little bit of patience. The above "Silo" link will get you to the catalog, and then your just take your findings to your local library and they order them in for you. Here's where it gets a little tricky though---some local libraries just order them in and some make you pay to order them in. Heavy sigh. My local library would be of the latter group.

And hey, do you want to know what I painted today? This is a painting blog you'll remember! I am working on a nice, big, outdoor cafe scene. It's got a ways to go. I am going to have to lock myself into the studio tomorrow. I am six hours shy of my 20 hour week!

Later, Cooper