Art History Guide

 
 
 

Subscription Databases

ARTstor (image database) - The first thing you need to know about ARTstor is that you must configure your browser so that it allows pop-up windows for the ARTstor site. To learn how to disable the pop-up blocker for the computer you plan to use when on ARTstor go to:

http://www.artstor.org/webhelp/Disable_Pop-up_Blocking_Software.htm

If you are using Explorer, your version should be 6.0.29 or later for best results.

Note that whenever you enter a search in ARTstor, you will have to click the Search button to enter the search. Just hitting Return will not begin your search!

To create Image Groups, register for an account. Then Login and click on My Image Groups on the Menu Bar at the very top of the screen. A pop-up box will load with two pull-down menus on it. Let the top pull-down menu say, "My Work Folder." Then click inside the lower box and it will allow you to type in a name of your choice. You can store as many images as you like here. After registration you can also add comments to the images in ARTstor for your own personal use. Use Boolean searching in Advanced Search. Double click on the image you wish to download. At the bottom right of the image you will see a floppy disc icon. Click there to save the image to your hard drive, then paste it into a PowerPoint presentation later. Images must not be used on websites or for any but educational purposes.

If your professor has saved images for you to use, they will be located under View Image Groups which is the middle choice of three on the ARTstor Image Search page. Just select a Course Folder and then Select an Image Group from the Course Folder. If you need to export citations from ARTstor to RefWorks, please click to the ARTstor to RefWorks tutorial.

Cambridge University Press Journals (full-text) - Contains journal articles in Architecture, but not in any other art-related subject. At the first screen for CUP, find the scroll box that says, "Browse Journals," on the left side of the screen. Click on the down pointing arrow inside this box. Set it to "Advanced Search." Hit enter. On the Advanced Search screen, set Journals to "All Journals" and Categories to "All." Enter search terms in the Full Text search box. Articles at CUP are in PDF format.

Credo Reference - (full-text) Tremendous number of full-text reference volumes with many unique search options. Browse by topic, use a concept map, or an advanced search. You can also rank search results by relevancy, by results with still and moving images, and by those with sound files.

Encyclopedia Britannica (full-text) is very simple to use. Please note that your search results will be sorted into columns. The information in the far left cloumn will be from Britannica. The next column, to the right, will be from Britannica's student encyclopedia which is geared to the use of high school students. Other columns will include The Web's Best Sites (these links will open a second window to Britannica approved sites on the free web) and Additional Content wich may include links to video, or other media.

Expanded Academic Index (some full-text) - After you click on the link at left, you will go to a list of databases at Gale. Scroll down and click on Expanded Academic for a second time. If you want to search for full-text articles only, be sure to look below the yellow box and find the words Limit the current search (optional). Here you will find a small square next to the words, "to articles with text." Place a check in that square and the system will find only full-text articles for you.

Grove Art (full-text) - Most searches will start at either Advanced Search or Image Links. Under Advanced Search Full-Text you will have three options indicated by radio buttons, located under the search box. Concept or Boolean will probably be the most frequently used options. If you do no know how to do a Boolean search, see Search Techniques.

If you need to find an image, use Search External Image Links. This option will take you away from the Grove site to sites that are maintained by art museums around the world. For this reason, the image links from Grove may not always take you directly to the image you want. Often, Image Links will take you to the home page of the museum that owns the painting and you will have to search that museum's site for the image you want.

JSTOR (full-text) - The Advanced Search page is the default. If you do not want to search all of the collections at JSTOR, scroll down and list one or more titles to search or check mark specific resources. Place as many checks as you like in the section marked These Discipline(s) and/or Journal(s):. If you leave them all unmarked the system will search all of them.

Printing from JSTOR is not easy. You might want to download the PDF to your computer and print it later. This is the fastest option.

If you need to print, DO NOT click on the print icon at the top of your browser window. DO NOT press control/P.

Before you print, look at the red bar at top and find the words Set Preferences and click. On the next screen select Printing. On the following screen look for the words Set Printing Preference. Below that, find Dialup Connection. Below those word you will see an option to "Choose PDF: Economy (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)." This option will allow you to print a good copy quickly. Place your radio button selection on PDF Economy and then click the button marked Set Printing Preference. The next screen will offer the option to Return to your JSTOR session. You should choose that one.

Now look for the word Print, in grey, on the left side of the screen top, just below the red bar at the top. It will be beneath the word Search. A pop-up box may appear that asks you to confirm your printing preferences. Click "ok" and a new window will load to your screen. Your PDF file will appear in this window. To print your PDF, click on the Adobe print icon. This is the one closest to your article. It will be above the article on the left, to the right of an image of a floppy disc.

Lexis-Nexis (full-text) - Allows you to search using natural language or Boolean techniques, which they call "Terms and Connectors." Notice that you can Select Source on the pull down menu below the search box. There you can search transcripts, law reviews and medical journals, to name but a few catagories of publications.

Lexis-Nexis People (full-text) - Remember that Lexis-Nexis sources are mainly newspapers, so only fairly famous people will be found in this database. Be sure to Select Source in the pull down menu - there are MANY sources of biographical material in this database and you may need to tailor your search to a source that matchs your person's job or nationality.

NetLibrary (full-text) - is a collection of over 43,000 online books in all subjects. Search by author, title, or keyword. You may also search the full-text for specific words or phrases. The most important thing to remember about NetLibrary is that if you click on "View this eBook" that title will be locked up for 15 minutes UNLESS you "close" the eBook. Directly below the NetLibrary logo in the upper left of the browser screen you will see the words Open Items. Beneath Open Items you will see the word Current followed by the title you are viewing. To the right of the title, you will see the words, Close Item. You should always close the item when you are finished viewing it! Sweet Briar College Library shares all of our NetLibrary e-books with all of the colleges in the state. If NetLibrary tells you that an e-book is already in use, it is probably being used at another Virginia school. Wait and try that book again later.

In order to prevent problems in getting back into an eBook you are using, you should also always leave your eBook open in a separate browser window. If you need to go to other web pages while you are using an eBook, open a new browser window and do your web browsing there. Leave your eBook open in it's original window! If you need to leave the computer you are working on, it would be best for you to either "close" the eBook (if it is not checked out) OR (if the item is checked out) check the item back in before you close the browser window.

To move through sections of books in NetLibrary, click the words "Next" or "Previous" in the top right of the page. DO NOT use the greyed out arrows on the bottom of the screen. They don't work. No, we don't know why they are there. Please note that NetLibrary books cannot be downloaded due to copyright law, but individual pages can be printed. The advanced search on Net Library accepts Boolean operators. If you do not know how to do a Boolean search, see Search Techniques.

Oxford Reference Online Premium (full-text) Great quick reference for defining concepts, word translations, country flags and timelines in a wide variety of studies. Just plug your search term into the Quick Search. An Advanced Search is also available.

Oxford University Press (full-text from 1996) - OUP Makes you work before you can search! On the first screen of OUP, scroll to the bottom and see where it says Sort By on the lower right side. Set the radio button to Newest First. Notice also that you can limit your search to just one journal or to one subject area in the middle of the search screen. After you do a search, and select an article from your search results screen, in most cases a PDF will open in a window on the left side of the screen. You can return to your search results by clicking the back button or by clicking the blue button labeled Search Result on the right side of the frame.

Project Muse (full-text) Click on Search. Use the Advanced Search to limit to specific journals and to use Boolean Operators. When your search results screen appears, you click on the title of the article to see it in HTML. If you prefer a PDF version, click on the small words, "View in PDF" which appear to the right of the title of the article.

Wilson Web (some full-text) - The Advanced Search screen automatically loads. If you do no know how to do a Boolean search, see Search Techniques. The blue Start button is on the right. Below the Start button, notice the option to Limit to Full Text. You may also use Subject Area, to limit your search to a particular area if you get too many results by searching ALL.

Indexes:

FirstSearch (citation only) - Enter your search terms in the "Search For" field. Then select a database to search. You can only search one database at a time. For that reason, it is better to use the scroll box to select a Database rather than a Topic. Use Jump to Advanced Search if you need to search on more than one keyword at once. To order an Interlibrary Loan from any of the FirstSearch databases, scroll down to the middle of the record for the item you wish to order and click the link next to this image: ILL.


Online Journals

Journal Finder is a list of all of the journals SBC has in full text through database subscriptions. Type in your journal title and the finder will locate the journal you need. For more journal subscriptions that are in print or on microform, connect to LION to check the SBC Library catalog for holdings information on the journals you need. If the journal is NOT held by the SBC Library, request the articles you need on Interlibrary Loan. The form is here.


Books in the Sweet Briar College Library

To find books on your topic, connect to LION and use the Subject Keyword search field. We can order books on Interlibrary Loan (ILL) from all area libraries. Please check LION before requesting an ILL book. If we have the book on campus your ILL request will not be filled. Check both LION and Journal Finder before requesting an ILL journal article. If the article is on campus or is available to you electronically through Journal Finder your ILL request will not be filled.


RefWorks

RefWorks is a database that organizes your "works cited" to create quick bibliographies for your papers. It allows you to change your entire bibliography from APA to MLA style (or many other styles) in a snap, without fussing with formats or punctuation.

Just go to RefWorks. The first time you go there you will have to "Sign up for an individual account." Once you sign up and login, click on the References tab in the upper left corner of the screen.

On the drop-down menu tool bar choose "Add New Reference." On the following screen, start by selecting your prefered bibliographic style (e.g. APA, Chicago, MLA, etc.) Then designate the type of reference you are entering (e.g. journal, book or dissertation, etc.) under Ref Type. Field names marked with a red asterisk indicate required information needed to produce an accurate bibliography for the selected output style and reference type. Click "Save" when finished.

You can Import references from selected databases. Importing allows you to bring in multiple references at one time. Check the RefWorks list of Supported Databases to see which products will allow you to export multiple references to RefWorks.

If you have any problems using RefWorks you can check out their helpful online tutorials or download the SBC Library RefWorks Handout. Please call a librarian at x6307, x6306 or x6315 for a one-on-one training session.


Art History On the Web

  • America's Favorite Architecture - Results of a Harris Interactive Poll in 2007
  • Art History Resources on the Web is the most comprehensive guide to electronic resources in Art History and is compiled by Professor Christopher L.C.E. Witcombe at Sweet Briar College.
  • Art History Research Centre lists links for all aspects of reseach including guides to citing materials. Maintained by Concordia University, Canada.
  • Google Scholar - Find full-text scholarly articles on the free web.
  • National Museum of Women in the Arts - the only museum in the world dedicated exclusively to recognizing the contributions of women artists.
  • Union List of Artist Names The ULAN Browser is a database of names and associated information (such as dates, variant names, pseudonyms, and language variants) about artists. "Artists" can include individuals or groups of individuals working together and range from painters to ceramicists, and architects to draftsmen. Currently contains some 200,000 names representing about 100,000 individual artists. Part of the Getty Vocabulary Program.
  • WAAND: Women Artists Archives National Directory - Archival collections of primary source materials by and about women visual artists active in the U.S. since 1945.
  • WWW Virtual Library Museums is a complete list of all the museums in the world that have WWW pages.

If you have comments, questions, or would like to add a site, write to me.
Lisa N. Johnston (email: lnjohnston at sbc dot edu), Associate Director/ Head of Public Services, Sweet Briar College Library. Revised 1/08.

 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
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