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Investment in the Media Resource Center (MRC) Book Collection
In spring 2002, the students in the College of Architecture and Environmental Design voted for a fee increase of $600 per academic year to provide additional financial support for the College’s high quality, hands-on education. In 2007 student officers of the College Based Fee (CBF) Committee voted to set aside $5,000 of the architecture CBF monies to enhance the Architecture Department’s book collection through acquisition of up-to-date premier books, periodical subscriptions, and digital materials. The intention was to enhance the collection primarily with titles that the MRC does not currently own, including but not limited to monographs, theory/history/criticism, sustainability, and real-estate development (a new interdisciplinary design studio conducted by Prof. Dan Panetta).
The acquisition of these new materials for the collection would substantially increase the holdings of the MRC and directly impact the over 850 students of the Architecture Department by enhancing the quality of their research. For the students, the improved collection will offer the foundation of new knowledge through research processes and methods resulting in an increased currency with the latest information needed to become informed world-view professionals and life-long learners.
While popular architecture books are reasonably priced, specialty books and periodicals remain expensive items to purchase. For example, the International review DETAIL Magazine, featuring comprehensive projects both in terms of design and construction, costs $205 for a yearly ten issue subscription. DETAIL Magazine is the periodical most heavily used by our students, and the MRC holds only issues dating from the last five years. Not only is it necessary to continue this subscription but it is essential that back issues are purchased to complete the collection.
While the students’ commitment of $5,000 from their fees indicates their sense of the importance of this component of their education, the overall goal of strengthening the MRC’s collection up to the level required to fully support our program, will only be accomplished through your generosity.