On December 8, 2017, the Dean of the College of Fine Arts, with advice from the Vice Provost and Director of the University of Texas Libraries and the department chairs of the college, named an 8-member task force to study usage of the Fine Arts Library collection and evaluate a range of possibilities for housing and managing the collection currently concentrated on the fifth floor of the Doty Fine Arts Building. The task force has been asked to report out its findings by April 2, 2018.

The task force, led by the Assistant Director of Stewardship for the UT Libraries, has three charges:

  • Clarify trends in the management of and accessibility to library materials, especially fine arts libraries, as well as trends in the redesign of library facilities housing academic and research collections.
  • Provide data on the size and circulation of the Fine Arts Library collection, as well as information about projected use of the library space.
  • Identify a range of scenarios for providing access to the materials currently housed on the fifth floor of the Fine Arts Library—including continuing the present configuration—and articulate the merits and demerits of those scenarios.

The task force will be advisory to the Dean of the College of Fine Arts and the Vice Provost and Director of Libraries who will make recommendations to the Provost.

The task force will be accepting input via email at fal-taskforce@lib.utexas.edu. Information related to any forums or focus groups that may be organized to gather input will be posted on the Future of the Fine Arts Library web page. 

Task Force Members

  • Wendy Martin, Assistant Director of Stewardship, UT Libraries (chair)
  • Christian Clark, Junior, Butler School of Music
  • Katie Pierce Meyer, Humanities Liaison Librarian for Architecture and Planning
  • Becca Pad, Humanities Liaison Librarian for Fine Arts
  • Stephen Page, Assistant Professor of Saxophone, Butler School of Music
  • Glenn Peers, Professor of Art History, Department of Art and Art History
  • Eric Vera, Graduate Student and Assistant Instructor, Theatre and Dance
  • Amber Welch, Head, Technology Enhanced Learning, UT Libraries