Research Support

Reserves: Faculty may place reserve requests for e-books, scans, and streaming audio or video using the Canvas course reserves module. 

Purchase requests: Can’t find an e-book or resource needed for your research this semester? Submit a purchase request and library staff will do our best to track down a copy. Please submit all requests for course reserve materials via Canvas.

Library Instruction sessions. The Arts Library offers a range of library instruction support designed to help your students find and evaluate resources for their coursework. Sessions can be offered synchronously or asynchronously. We are excited to collaborate, so feel free to reach out and we can develop a session specifically for your course. Below is a selection of frequently taught class topics that can be modified to meet your course needs:

• Getting to know your library: Orientation to the Arts Library including an overview of discipline-related library resources and services, including highlights from Arts Library Special Collections (60-90 minutes)
• Getting started with Research: Narrowing down a research topic using mind-mapping, introduction to library resources (30-45 minutes)
• Documenting the Research Process: This session walks through citation management, and strategies for documenting design and arts research. (30-45 minutes)
• Primary vs. Secondary Resources: For this session, students will examine (virtually) a selection of primary source material and secondary source materials at Yale, followed by a discussion on when to use each resource type and how to find them at the library. (45 minutes)
• Archival Research: Using examples from the Arts Library Special Collections and other repositories, students will learn what archives are, what they can expect to find in them and which tools to use. (30-45 minutes)
• Locating visual materials for research: Students will learn about the different types of visual material available online for research (including maps, art, photographs, etc.), and tips for locating high quality imagery for their research. (30-45 minutes)
• Scholarly Article Autopsy: This activity asks students to work in groups to systematically examine a scholarly article in depth, identify and evaluate its various components visually and in writing, and then compare it to a non-scholarly article on the same topic. (30-45 minutes)
• A curated session for your class! Do you have an idea for a collaborative session with the library? We are happy to work with your class to design a class that meets your learning objectives. 

Request an instruction session or library tour using our Library Instruction Request Form.

Library Research Workshops: The Arts Library is offering a full calendar of virtual library workshops focused on library research, including getting started with research, advanced research, and finding visual materials. See the full schedule here. If you have suggestions for other workshop topics, please be in touch with one of our arts librarians.