Barber Fine Art Library

The Barber Fine Art Library is located on the ground floor of the Barber. The library is a specialist research-level collection of books, exhibition catalogues and sale catalogues on Western art covering most of the major European schools of painting from the early Renaissance to the 21st century, the history of collecting, and also some Byzantine art.

The items in the Barber Fine Art Library are for reference use only. Books formerly available for loan from the Barber Fine Art Library have been relocated to the Main Library of the University of Birmingham.

Books on African art, Ancient art, oriental art, and the decorative arts are located in the Main Library and the Orchard Learning Resource Centre.

The Barber Institute and its interiors have Grade I listed status and has undergone very few alterations except for the provision of up to date IT facilities. The tables and chairs were designed by Gordon Russell.

Treasures from the library collection on display.

For opening hours and more information please visit the Barber Fine Art Library webpage on the university website: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/facilities/barber-library/visit

Facilities and Resources:

Large Reading Room

Small Reading Room

Photocopying and Printing

Computers

Scanner

Collection

The collection includes:

Books and catalogues raisonnées, guide books and pamphlets
Exhibition catalogues, dating back to the eighteenth century
Catalogues of permanent collections from galleries around the world
A major collection of early rare Sales catalogues from major auction houses dating back to the late seventeenth century
Current subscriptions to Sothebys and Christies sales catalogues
Over 350 books published before 1850 on architecture, art topography, biography of artists and the history of collecting
Over 150 periodicals titles, of which approx.100 are current
A small collection of videos
Networked and stand alone electronic resources
A substantial proportion of items are in the original language of publication, mainly in English, Dutch, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

Please note: Pressure on space dictates that a large proportion of material is housed in closed access stacks. Material from the stacks has to be collected by library staff. It may not always be possible to obtain these items immediately. Visitors coming some distance are advised to contact the library in advance to check availability of material.