Visiting the V&A
As well as the V&A's permanent galleries and temporary exhibitions, American Friends of the V&A who visit the Museum might be interested in the following:
Prints & Drawings Study Room
The V&A's Word and Image department looks after the collection of prints, drawings, paintings and photographs. The Prints and Drawings Study Room provides access to 750,000 objects that are not on display in the galleries, including designs, watercolours, old master drawings, photographs, wallpapers.
The RIBA Architecture Study Room next door provides further access not only to the V&A's collection of architecture-related drawings, photographs and prints, but also (by appointment) the archive of the Royal Institution of British Architects.
There are further study rooms at the V&A for access to other areas of the collection.
National Art Library
The National Art Library is a public reference library. Visitors can join the library and consult a huge range of documentary material related to the V&A's collection and work, or just look around the stunning reading rooms, which overlook the John Madejski Garden,
Highlights of the library's collection include artists' books, early printed books, fine bindings and illuminated manuscripts.
The John Madejski Garden
The V&A's Italianate courtyard was redesigned by the landscape architect Kim Wilkie to create the John Madejski Garden, which opened in summer 2005.