It seems that every nook and cranny of a UW library houses a piece of art, be it painting, sculpture or ... business suits?

"The suits," said Odegaard Library Building Facilities Manager Lynda Ekins, referring to the metallic business suits hanging on the second floor of the undergraduate library. "They just fit here."

The UW libraries have always played host to a large variety of art, and somehow, it seems as if they have found the proper place in which to live. Only a few of the art pieces currently on display were created specifically for the library, such as Rachel Carpenter's mural in the Odegaard Lobby. Most of the art just ended up there.

Art arrives at the UW libraries from different sources. One source is the University of Washington's own art collection, which draws its funds from the Washington State Arts Commission's Art in Public Places Program.

"Every time the state builds a building," said campus art administrator Kurt Kiefer, "[they] set aside a percentage [of the money] for art."

This process has given the UW Raven Brings Light to this House of Stories, the massive collaborative effort in the Allen Lobby. In conjunction with the University of Washington Public Art Committee, the Art in Public Places Program "issued a call for proposals for a major installation for the Kenneth S. Allen Library," according to the UW Library Web site. UW alumnus Carl T. Chew answered the call, and in 1994, the display, with its 40 ravens and "Table of Knowledge" transformed the lobby into a "lively and welcoming space."

Other pieces were meant to reside in a different place on campus, but sometimes, a renovation will make its current placement look awkward.

There is "a tendency for things that have no home [to end up in the libraries]," Kiefer said.

Perhaps the most notable of these orphaned artworks is the Denny Hall Clock, which was made by Gottlieb Weibell to match the cupola on top of Denny Hall. The clock stood in the entry of Denny Hall for several years before moving into the Burke Museum. In 1999, the clock made a move into the Allen Lobby and now has taken its place in Suzzallo Espresso.

Of course, the University of Washington also has the option of transferring pieces out of the library. This has happened, for instance, with John Geise's sculpture Circum Okto, which "used to stand in the rotunda outside the Reading Room. The University has moved this sculpture to a new permanent location in Meany Hall," according to the UW Library Web site.

Apart from the University of Washington's collection, the UW Libraries has an art collection of its own, largely supported by the UW Friends of the Libraries. The Friends sponsor the Artist Images Series, which has so far featured prominent Northwest artists such as editorial cartoonist David Horsey, astronomer Woodruff Sullivan and clarinetist William O. Smith.

Each year, an artist is invited to give a public lecture and design a limited-edition commemorative bookmark. An endowment from Anne Gould Hauberg, the daughter of the University's primary architect, Carl F. Gould, began to allow the library to acquire a work from each of the featured artists. They are on display on the fourth floor of the Allen Library, as well as within the often-closed Petersen Room.

Other masterpieces hiding behind closed doors are the Smith Room murals. They depict huge maps of the Pacific Northwest, as well as indigenous flowers and historical figures.

Both the Petersen Room and the Smith Room are used primarily for conferences, as made available through the Library Facilities department.

"Because of their isolated locations and security concerns, we aren't able to leave them unlocked," said Paula Walker, director of library space planning. However, a student interested in viewing the art can make an appointment with Walker to see them.

A final source of art for the UW libraries is the School of Art. Its Art-on-Loan program allows students' work to be displayed not only in Odegaard Undergraduate Library, but Mary Gates Hall, Gerberding Hall and the HUB.

For Odegaard, the Art-On-Loan program makes a preliminary choice of possible candidates, but final decisions are made by the Group on Odegaard Library Displays (GOLD). All the pieces from the program are on sale, including the two large paintings that hang on the stair rails, the white painting by the Information Desk and the two portraits that face the A-D Stacks.

"In fact, one of the librarians just bought a piece," said Ekins, who is also a member of GOLD. Other interested buyers can contact Judith Clark, director of academic advising and student services at the School of Art.

There is still more art at the library than can possibly be displayed. According to Ekins, 11 more pieces that originally hung along the white walls of the second and third floors of the Odegaard Library are in storage. Bought in 1971, a year before the library opened, the abstract prints and paintings matched the building's architecture. A desire for more exhibit space has sent them into temporary exile, but Ekins hopes that they will be up on the second floor's brick walls sometime during spring quarter.

"Libraries are logical showcases for art," said Walker. "At their best, libraries are an important part of the total lifelong educational experience ... the addition of art to the library environment can ... inform and inspire people."

Reach reporter Catherine Bugayong at features@thedaily.washington.edu.