Sotheby's Institute of Art Library

Location: 570 Lexington Avenue – 6th floor

Contact: nylibrary@sothebysinstitute.com or (212) 517-2780

Library Collection

The library has a collection of approximately 5,500 books and other publications covering the fine and decorative arts, including painting, drawing, ceramics, furniture, interiors and design.

Coverage of specific subject areas includes art business, art law, contemporary art, museum collections, exhibition catalogues, patronage and connoisseurship.

The library holds the last five years of Sotheby's New York sales catalogues relevant to the academic programmes offered.

The library subscribes to fifty current journal titles in hardcopy format including Artforum, Art in America, Art Newspaper and Frieze.

Library Catalogue

Liberty3 is the library's online catalogue. It is accessible via the internet at: http://liberty4.sothebysinstitute.com/liberty4

The library subscribes to a number of online bibliographic and art market research databases. Bibliographic databases include: ArtBibliographies Modern, Art Fulltext, Art Index Retrospective, ABI/Inform, ProQuest Research Library and JSTOR. Art market research databases include: Art Net, Art Sales Index and Art Price. The library also subscribes to LexisNexis for U.S. case law information.

Library Facilities

The library has two public workstations, a scanner and a printer in the reading room. The workstations are available for student research using the Liberty3 online catalogue or the subscription databases. Wireless access is available in the library reading room allowing access to all online resources via student laptops.

The library has one black and white photocopier and one black and white+color photocopier available for student use. Vending machines accepting copier cards, coins and bills are attached to both copiers.

Other Libraries

The Institute library provides a useful starting point for research.

By special arrangement, Sotheby’s Institute of Art students also have reading access to New York University’s Bobst Library.

In-depth research is further supported by the number of internationally renowned research libraries located in New York, including the New York Public Library, the Museum of Modern Art Library, and the Watson Library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

As graduate students, Sotheby's Institute of Art students have free access to the libraries mentioned above and should make use of them during their period of study at the Institute.

The Sotheby’s Institute of Art Library is a member of the Metropolitan New York Library Council. Membership permits student access to resources at other member libraries through the METRO referral card system.