Tag Archives: gladys marcus library

Special Collections and College Archives Unveils $3.6 Million Renovation

New Special Collections space at FIT Big news for FIT resources:

The college’s Special Collections and College Archives, a unit part of the Gladys Marcus Library, has unveiled its renovated space worth $3.6 million dollars. The facilities house and protect the approximately 6,000 linear feet of rare and fragile fashion, retail, and related materials in the collection. These include original works of art on paper, manuscript collections dating back to the 1590s, periodicals from the 1770s, scrapbooks, shoe prototypes dating to the 1960s, and 240 linear feet of institutional archives, among other resources.

This renovation raises the college’s profile in the scholarly community and makes these materials available to the creative industries and the public.

Surviving Your Last Month at FIT

Although I’m not graduating this year, we are all preparing for the last few weeks at FIT! If you are graduating this year, here are some tips to survive the countdown to a new chapter in life!

1. Have fun!

The last semester in NYC can be stressful. Everyone is freaking out about what they are going to do after graduation, sending out job applications or preparing for one they have secured. It is important that you remember that you only have a few weeks left to be a college kid, so you need to make time to have some well-deserved fun. You have your entire life to sit at a desk working from 9-5 and only a few months left to stay out until 4 a.m. with all of your best friends—take advantage of this. Don’t waste the last month of your college career so stressed out about the future that you are unable to enjoy the moment. Live in the now, because you will regret it if you don’t later.

2. Keep up with the work.

That being said, it is also important to keep up with your schoolwork. Senioritis is STILL a very real thing, but make sure that it doesn’t get so out of control that you are scrambling at the end of the semester to pass all of your classes. I am not suggesting that you slave in the Feldman Center computer lab or the Gladys Marcus Library, but going to class and keeping up with your assignments will make your life so much easier come finals week. Why screw up what you have worked so hard for the last four years at FIT in your final semester? Have fun, but don’t completely neglect your school work.

3. It’s okay to not be okay.

This is a major key to surviving the beginning of the end. Yes, technically you are an adult now that you are graduating, but you are also only twenty-_______ years old (or older!). If you still aren’t 100 percent certain what you want to do with your life, the good news is that you are still allowed to change your mind. Try not to get too caught up in who has a job and who doesn’t. Have faith in yourself. You made it through four years at one of the most competitive school in the creative world. You are more than capable of landing a job, so, have a little faith and patience. It will all work out.

4. Snapshot your life.

Take as many pictures of you and your friends as you can. These will be nice to look back on after graduation when you are missing your friends and the place that you have made your home for the last four years – NEW YORK CITY. Document it all thoroughly, because grown up you will thank college you for it later.

5. Finish off your bucket list.

Remember all of those things you and your friends have talked about doing for the last four years, but never did? Now is the time for you to cross the remaining items off of your bucket list. You only have a few months left to do it, so live it up. In a few months you won’t be here anymore, so who cares if a couple of the items are embarrassing, it will be worth the Snapchat/Instagram story.

6. Spend quality time with your friends.

This is the most important way for anyone to survive their final semester of their collegiate career. The friends you make in college become your family. They are there for you every step of the way through some of the best/worst years of your life. They have seen you at your best and seen you at your lowest, but have loved you anyways. College would have been nothing without them, so make sure you are spending as much quality time with them as you possibly can these last couple of weeks. Soon you will be scattered across the country working your new jobs living in your very first apartment, and you will miss the days when they were just a room away. Don’t take these last few weekss together for granted.

7. Get Excited!

Graduating from FIT is bitter sweet. You are sad to leave the friends and life you have made for yourself the past four years behind, but you are also excited to see what the future holds. College might be over, but the rest of your life is about to begin. Make sure that you are excited about all of the amazing things that your future holds for you! There are so many places for you to go and things for you to see. Try not to focus solely on the things that you will be leaving behind. You are about to set off on an entirely new adventure.

Notes From the 6 Train: It’s Raining Research

Each semester at the writing center we choose a topic to delve into deeper in order to become tutors and writers, so we are more helpful for you all! This semester’s focus is research. I know this sounds super boring, but it is imperative while in school and incredibly important for artists. Many students loathe research because it’s time consuming and hard. It’s hard because many of students, including myself until last week, aren’t aware all of the resources that the FIT library has to offer for researching.

Artists who make are, without engaging in thorough research beforehand, and claim that they were “inspired” by another artist seems fishy. Without research and thoughtfulness, inspiration can quickly become copying.

Here are three ways the library can aid you in your research process (that you probably don’t know about):

1. You can instant message librarians!

You want to ask a pointed question such as “I am interested in researching trends of the 20’s, what are good resources to start research?

They usually answer quite fast. If they don’t respond immediately, they will email you probably within the next hour at the latest.

2. You can email them.

If you have a question at 2 am you can email them and you get a response in 24 hours (usually, much faster than that.)

3. You can text them.

Same deal. This way you can receive a response while on the go.

In order to access these resources you simply go to the FIT library home page, click the “Ask A Librarian” tab and explore the researching possibilities!

All Things Color, Love & Fashion,
Ayanna Lane

Love Your Library!

The FIT library is more than just a room with bookshelves; it has more resources than most students realize! Of course, the Gladys Marcus Library houses an impressive collection of print books pertaining to fashion, art, architecture, etc., but it also has books on every subject including history, psychology, and literature. There is also a whole section dedicated to DVDs of movies (classic as well as modern) and TV shows. In addition, if there is a book or journal that you cannot find in-house, FIT is part of the Interlibrary Loan system, so you can get anything you need! Before heading up there, here is some information about the various services offered:

See, we have stacks too!

Even a ton of books about economics

Quiet Study Space

Picture Files

The Picture Files are relatively new to the library. You can browse through the extensive collection freely and even check out up to 20 images at once! These can be extremely helpful for Illustration and Fine Arts students who need references. We also have access to the FitDigital Image Library, which is a digital collection of images from the Museum at FIT, the Special Collections, student and staff work, images used in Art History classes and the Designer Files collection.

Vogue spreads from the 2000s vs the 1930s

Magazine Archive

The Gladys Marcus library subscribes and keeps an archive of numerous magazines, mainly focused on design. The periodicals can be checked out for two hours either for reading or doing research. FIT also has a backlog of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar dating back to the very first issues. These are collected in books chronologically and can be looked at in the library at your leisure. We also have access to the Vogue Archives online that can be extra useful when you search within the collection for specific words or phrases. Designer Files can also be checked out. These are tear sheet collections of centered on a specific designer.

Art Reference Collection

The Art Reference collection has the most inspiring books in the library. It is pretty much all of those beautiful coffee table books that are too expensive to buy yourself. The subjects range into all types of design, not just fashion. These books cannot be taken out of the library, but thanks to the scanners and copiers you can bring the images home.

Special Collections

The Special Collections houses over 500,000 books, periodicals, illustrations and designer scrapbooks. Any student or outside researcher can make an appointment, but you have to request a subject or time period you want to look at, you cannot just browse like in the Art Reference Collection or Picture Files.

Databases

In addition to print collections, the library subscribes to online databases that are incredibly helpful for research papers. The databases range across all types of topics from fashion history and forecasting to psychology and international trade. The FIT library’s website collects all of the databases in one place so they are easy to find and use. These databases are trustworthy sources for information and can be accessed at any time through the library website.

StyleCat

StyleCat is the main search engine used in the Gladys Marcus library. It can be accessed anywhere via the library website, but there are also computers stationed around the library with it open. It’s pretty basic: you search one or more terms and a list of all the books in the collection that relate pop-up with the call number and how many copies there are and which are checked out.

FIT also uses the stairwells of the library as a gallery showcasing student and faculty work

A main work area in the library

A friendly student librarian

If you have more questions about these services, a librarian is always available to help at the desk or you can call 212-217-4400. If you have a question when the library is closed we have this handy feature called Ask a Librarian where you can call/text/send a message.

–Emily–

Love Your Library: Disruptive Luxury

Hi Everyone,

Love Your Library is a series of events hosted by the FIT Gladys Marcus Library focusing on different aspects of the fashion industry. This year marks their 7th year of consecutive success and I was really impressed by the quality of their guest speakers. Last Wednesday I assisted Disruptive Luxury: 3D Printing for Fashion and Luxury Goods with the Designer Francis Bitonti who is known for the world’s first fully articulated 3-D Printed Gown for Dita Von Teese.

He covered everything from a brief history of his design studio, the future of the industry, and changes to both as a result of technologies like 3D printing. (His studio also offers free courses, check them out here)

Some of the things I took away:

3D printing is so much more than rapid prototyping.
There is a shift on how content is created, language makes things and that language today is code.
Mathematical Models drive innovation.
We have to embrace computation as a creative media.
We should stop trying to reproduce what we already have.
3D printing can be a Zero Waste Process.
We have a level and control of precision like never before seen in humankind.
There is a trend on making smaller printers not bigger.
In approximately 10 years the patents will die which will make the technology more widely available and less expensive.
The future is in our hands.

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Carpe Diem,

Sadie