Free Art Books for Libraries

Kids from underserved communities can now look at prints from Rauschenberg to Kahlo

By Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 3/1/2006

Need high-quality art books for your library? If you’re a public or school librarian, you’re in luck. The Distribution to Underserved Communities (DUC) Library Program has spent the last 15 years dispensing free modern and contemporary art catalogs and books to thousands of elementary school students.

With 160,000 free books delivered since the project’s inception, DUC is trying to ramp up its numbers, hoping to distribute 30,000 additional new books this year, says the organization’s acting director, Cesar Sevilla.

Art teacher Minni Bates says that without DUC, she would never be able to afford the nearly 1,000 titles for her third through fifth graders. “Now they can walk over to a book and say, 'Oh this is what an abstract painting is,’” says Bates, who teaches at Powells Lane School in Westbury, NY. “This gave the kids a chance to use materials that wouldn’t normally be accessible to them.”

The books are donated from museums, publishers, and individual artists. DUC also offers educational guides, posters, CDs, DVDs, and interactive materials about contemporary art, architecture, and cultural issues. Applying is easy. Just visit www.ducprogram.org, surf through titles from 47 donors, and send in your order. Even shipping is free.

Sevilla says there are plans to offer educators curriculum materials to accompany the donated books in the next 18 months. But for the most part, it’s up to librarians to decide how they want to use the materials.