Bloomsbury Fashion Central

CONTENT Responding to user feedback, this updated version of Bloomsbury Fashion Central brings together a rich collection of resources, including materials from the Berg Fashion Library, Fairchild Books Library, and Bloomsbury’s Fashion Business Cases, Fashion Photography Archive, and Fashion Video Archive to provide one-stop access to interdisciplinary materials on fashion and dress. Materials are peer-reviewed by industry and academic experts and include primary and secondary reference materials, articles, e-books, case studies, lesson plans, and other multimedia resources to support research and serve as an instructional tool. As of the latest update (March 2022), the Berg Collection is complete with the addition of 12 e-books and six exclusive articles in the Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion. Since LJ’s last review, the December 2021 release included a refreshed look and integration with the Bloomsbury Fashion Video Archive. There were also enhancements to the user experience, including improved searching and browsing functions, search within options, a mobile ready interface, and other improvements to accessibility options for visual resources.

USABILITY Combining five collections, Bloomsbury Fashion Central serves as a hub to access research materials related to fashion as a medium and an industry. Users can search for articles, books, photographs, videos, and fashion cases or browse the individual collections. The navigation menu makes it easy to access each of the main collections, or browse by theme; these include content type, organizations and design houses, people, periods, and places. Users can also access interactive time lines; these currently include “Global Dress and Fashion,” “Survey of Historic Costume,” and “International Fashion Shows.” New users can use the “Where To Start” menu to dive into curated sections dedicated to the fashion industry, design and making, dress types, textiles, and design houses. Overall, there is a strong emphasis on browsability in the collection, with various explore menus embedded within each section of the collection. For instance, when browsing the Fairchild Books Library, users can explore all e-book titles in an alphabetical listing or browse book chapters by topic, such as design or merchandising and retailing. The number of resources in each collection is cited in the browse title list for that respective collection. Record details are provided for individual titles and include links to related content, subjects, DOI, and options for sharing, citing, and printing texts.

PRICING The Bloomsbury Fashion Central collections are available for purchase by sub scription with pricing as follows, based on size and type of institution; discounts may be available from consortia:

1.  Berg Fashion Library: $1,715 to $9,117

2.  Bloomsbury Fashion Business Cases: $1,497 to $4,976

3. Fairchild Books Library: $6,059 to $16,117

4.  Bloomsbury Fashion Photography Archive: $3,420 to $8,871

5.  Bloomsbury Fashion Video Archive: $2,475 to $6,583

Bloomsbury Fashion Business Cases, Bloomsbury Fashion Photography Archive, and Bloomsbury Fashion Video Archive are also available by perpetual access. Purchase of Bloomsbury Fashion Business cases includes four years of content updates. After five years, customers will have the option to purchase annual updates with prices ranging from $600 to $1,000, based on institution size. Bloomsbury Fashion Photography Archive does not have content updates currently planned, and Bloomsbury Fashion Video Archive will be updated with contextual articles only, no further videos. These two collections therefore have an annual hosting fee of $200–$600, based on institution size, beginning one year after initial purchase:

1. Bloomsbury Fashion Business Cases: $12,722 to $38,231

2. Bloomsbury Fashion Photography Archive: $15,116 to $43,737

3. Bloomsbury Fashion Video Archive: $14,849 to $39,497

VERDICT Featuring a breadth of resources, Bloomsbury Fashion Central is designed to meet the needs of students and educators alike. Beyond the reference and visual resources, the inclusion of business cases and teaching resources make this a strong collection for institutions that support art, design, and fashion, as well as business studies with an emphasis on the fashion industry.