The library had its genesis as a resource for visual art, and in many ways, visual artists remain the group best served by its collection.

The library can be thought of as a vast image collection, and visual artists have much to gain from a visit. The library, in turn, benefits from interactions with its visitors, and relies on these experiences to help shape its growth. The library believes that its collections contain the seeds of countless creative projects and it encourages all users to pursue their own particular interests. But it is also especially interested in collaborating with artists whose work deals with libraries, classification systems, information architecture, the organization of knowledge, the process of research, and the changes that accompany the transformation from an analog into a predominately digital information environment. Libraries continue to be an underused area of artistic investigation, a fact that the Reanimation Library hopes to change. Ultimately, the library seeks to produce collaborative efforts that will illuminate the Reanimation Library (and libraries in general) in new and surprising ways.