Research Guides: Design Studies: Books

Find Books

Search the 'Library Catalog' tab on the library website using keywords in the title, author, or subject, or the ISBN.

Ebooks can be accessed through links under the 'Online Access' section of the page.
Physical books are arranged using Library of Congress classification. The New School students can borrow or request materials to pick up at any of our locations:
- University Center Library (63 Fifth Avenue, 6th & 7th Floors): Art, Design, Technology
- List Center Library (6 E. 16th Street, 8th Floor): Humanities and Social Sciences
- Performing Arts Library (55 West 13th Street, 2nd Floor): Music, Dance, Theater

View Access and Borrowing info and renew books (My Account) on the library website. Most books can be borrowed for 16 weeks and renewed twice.

Use Consortium Libraries (NYU, Cooper Union, New York School of Interior Design) with your New School ID card.

Three ways to find related books:

Click on subject headings in the library catalog.
Browse the shelf to find books under the same call number.
Look up books and articles referenced in literature.

Offsite: Request items by clicking on the arrow to the right of the item listing and clicking on "Request Item." You will receive an email when the item is available, 1-2 days.
Interlibrary Loan (ILL): Recommended for books or articles not available through the library catalog. To request, login to your ILL account. See our FAQ for detailed instructions.

METRO: Resource-sharing service for New York City area libraries. Onsite access only (no borrowing privileges).

WorldCat: Search WorldCat, a union catalog of library holdings around the world.

Request a Purchase of any books that you need for your research.

The New School subscribes to several E-book Databases. Full-text searching is possible when searching within individual ebook databases.

Google Books can be used as a tool to search inside books. Locate books using our library catalog.

Ebook Central This link opens in a new window
An exhaustive selection of authoritative, scholarly e-books that combines ebook databases ebrary and EBL into one platform.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization with a mission to create and maintain a trusted archive of important scholarly journals and to provide access to these journals as widely as possible. Content in JSTOR spans many disciplines, primarily in the humanities and social sciences. Recent articles are generally not available. JSTOR now includes access to the Artstor collection. Artstor is an extensive image resource for educational and scholarly use . Including high-quality images and visual media from top museums, archives, scholars, artists, and contributors around the world.

Call Numbers

Design Studies books can be found at all New School Library locations, but are primarily located at:

University Center NK - History of Design and Curatorial Studies Research Guide
University Center TS - Product Design Research Guide
University Center TT - Textiles Research Guide
List Center - Business, Humanities, and Social Sciences - Strategic Design and Management Research Guide

Search Strategies for Design Studies

Keywords

Experiment with related, broader, and narrower keywords.

Geography

Many materials are classified according to geography. Try names of cities, countries, and regions.

Dates

Try searching by decade (using various spellings "sixties" "60s" 1960s) or by century (“20th century” “twentieth century”). Specific years (2001) usually won't yield many results.

Searching by Subject Heading

Decoration and ornament
Design -- Philosophy
Design -- Social aspects
Design -- History
Industrial Design
Interior Architecture
Graphic arts

Styles, Movements, Schools

Try searching by using a style (“art deco”), movement (“arts and crafts movement”), or school (Bauhaus).

Advanced Search

Combine keywords or subject headings using Boolean logic to create a targeted search. For example: (“Danish modern” OR “Scandinavian modernism”) AND (1950s OR fifties)

Design Studies