Library Research Art 211: Museum Docent Program

1
Library ResearchArt 211 Museum Docent Program

• Art Encyclopedias
• Library Catalogs
• Journal Articles
• Helpful Websites
• Margaret Ericson
• Art and Music Librarian
• 859-5662
• mericson_at_colby.edu
• Bixler Art and Music Library
• http//www.colby.edu/academics_cs/library/artmusic
  /index.cfm

2
4 Learning Goals for Today

• 1. Navigating the library website.
• Where to go to find information in the Colby
  Libraries.
• 2. Gateways Art Encyclopedias and Dictionaries.
• Lead you to avenues of biographical information
  on the artist, his/her peers mentors
  historical periods styles lists of books or
  articles to consult for more in depth research.

Sloop Hero. Weathervane. Colby College. Artist
unknown.

The Gates. Christo Jean Claude. Central Park.
2005
3
4 Learning Goals
Paul Manship, Diana, 1925. BronzeHudson River
Museum

• 3. Catalog Searching and Hunting skills.
• Increase your agility in finding books and videos
  at Colby and other libraries in Maine.
• 4. Drilling a bit deeper
• Finding journal articles
• Finding newspaper articles
• Google Scholar

Lewis Hine. Man with drill. 1930/31. George
Eastman House. From ARTstor image database
4
Bixler Art/Music Library Home Page
http//www.colby.edu/academics_cs/library/artmusic
/index.cfm

• Access to
• Colby Library Catalog
• Other catalogs to borrow materials Maine Cat,
  Nexpress, World Cat
• Databases and online encyclopedias
• Other means of online help Art Subject Guide,
  Help With Assignments.
• Citation Help in creating bibliographies
• Image Resources
• Got Questions, Just Ask. Online chat help
• Library Home (Left frame)

5
Research Process Becoming a Detective
Hint Start with Barnet, Sylvan. A Short Guide to
Writing About Art. 8th ed. 2005 ART ND 7476.B37
2005

• Develop a working thesis This is the argument or
  proposal which you will investigate, obtain
  evidence and defend
• Develop a research vocabulary to search for
  information with key concepts
• Artist, as well as and her/his mentors/teachers
  or peers / collaborators, who influenced the
  artist
• Stylistic, historical, topical, socio-cultural,
  thematic, biographical, art techniques or
  processes
• Compile keywords, variations in terminology /
  synonyms in terminology for a given idea
• Library of Congress Subject headings used in
  library catalog
• Locate background information
• Encyclopedias, Dictionaries
• Use the bibliographies in reference works, or in
  relevant articles and books on the topic
• Websites
• Information that puts the image or artwork in
  context
• what was going on historically, socially,
  culturally, technologically at the time to inform
  this visual representation
• intellectual and physical environment of the
  artist
• function, form, technique and materials
• who / what is portrayed
• what is the creator trying to say, what does the
  onlooker experience when amidst or looking at the
  work
• Find

6
Licensed Colby Online Dictionaries and
Encyclopedias Access from Bixler Library Home
Page. http//www.colby.edu/academics_cs/library/ar
tmusic/index.cfm Use for brief definitions of
styles and art terms, dates and brief profiles of
artists AMERICAN NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY ONLINE
American National Biography is an essential,
well-researched tool, with essay-length
biographies of major figures in American culture.
GROVE ART ONLINE Easily found on the home
page of Bixler Library. Published by Oxford
University Press, and compiled by art scholars,
Grove Art Online Grove is the most comprehensive
and authoritative online resource for all
research in the history of the visual arts.
Demo Writings, Bibliography, Print, Email, Links
to Related Articles, Images, Image Collections,
Explore. CREDO REFERENCE A fully
searchable online reference library linking to
dictionaries, encyclopedias, thesauri, and books
of quotations, as well as subject-specific titles
covering the arts. MARQUIS WHOS WHO
ON THE WEB / WHOS WHO IN AMERICAN ART
Marquis Whos Who on the Web is a comprehensive,
searchable, daily-updated database of biographies
presented under subject headings from 20
different Marquis Whos Who print titles
published since 1985, including, Whos Who in
American Art. OXFORD REFERENCE ONLINE
A fully searchable collection of Oxford
University Press art and photography dictionaries
and guides See also Helpful Open Access
websites Encyclopedia Smithsonian
http//www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/ American
Art_at_The Phillips Collection http//www.phillipsc
ollection.org/american_art/index.htm Art
Cyclopedia http//www.artcyclopedia.com/ Timeline
of Art History. Metropolitan Museum of Art
http//www.metmuseum.org/toah/splash.htm
7
http//0-www.anb.org.library.colby.edu/articles/in
dex.html
8
Grove Art Online Home Page
9
Grove Art entry on Robert Henri.
10
Robert Henri, related articles
11
Robert Henri, Image Links
12
Grove Art Online Excercise

• From the Bixler Art and Music Library Home, click
  on Grove Art, located under Research Resources
• In search box, do a search for Robert Henri.
  Youll see two articles for his name, pick the
  first (this is the more comprehensive of the two
• Skim the article, notice any links within the
  article, notice the bibliography of his writings
  and material about him. You can use these sources
  to see if we have them at Colby.
• Go to the grey menu bar above the caption for
  Henri.
• Click on Related Links, and follow one or them
• Click on Images, and bring one or two up
• Email article will send the entire article to
  your email account.
• Margaret will demo EXPLORE feature of Grove Art
  (e.g. Styles-Social Realism)

13
http//www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/
14
American Art Timeline Phillips Collection
http//www.phillipscollection.org/american_art/tim
eline.htm
15
Library Catalog Exercise Robert Henri

• Author vs. Subject
• Repeat search in Maine Cat, Nexpress
• Request via Maine Cat
• Keywords List some styles and concepts
  associated with Robert Henri
• Construct a keyword search using truncation
• Combine different concepts with AND
• Combine like concepts with OR

16
Keyword searchHenri and (ashcan or eight) and
americ
x
17
Henri and (ashcan or eight) and america
18
Primary Sources Finding in the library catalog

• Search by author, when doing an artist search.
• Keyword, use artist name and terms like
• Letters
• Interviews
• Lectures
• Memoirs
• E.g. jacob lawrence and (interviews or lectures)

19
Jacob Lawrence and (interviews or lectures)
20
Videos Skowhegan Lecture Archive

• From Bixler Library Home
• Catalog Search Box
• Select Movies from Collections pull down menu.
• Search for OKeeffe, Georgia (author)
• Note results. Click on the Stieglitz video and
  read catalog entry
• Demo title searchSkowhegan Lecture Archive, Sort
  Results by author. Find Abbott, Berenice.
• Skowhegan LA recordings are for in-library use

21
Article Search and Databases Journals /
Periodicals searching

• From Bixler Library Home, look under Research
  Resources, Articles and Databases, Art.
• Also on sidebar of every Library Web Page
  Article and Media Search, use Databases by
  Subject http//www.colby.edu/academics_cs/library/
  articlesearch/databases_subject.cfm
• Use to find scholarly and well-researched
  articles and essays about artists, styles,
  exhibition reviews, and interviews with artists.
• Why not just Google it? Same criteria as
  evaluating websites
• Authoritative? Who is the author of your source,
  web site, etc. and why are they qualified to
  write on this topic
• Audience? Who is the target audience the scholar
  or the layperson performer/artist or historian
  academic vs. commercial, etc.
• Point of view? Objectivity/comparisons vs.
  one-sidedness.
• Timeliness? If a website, how often is the
  website updated.
• Documentation Does the article, book, website,
  etc. list sources of information, or lead to user
  to more scholarly information
• Use same search strategy as in catalog. Author,
  subject, keywords, truncation
• Link from the periodical index to full text
  journals, or to Colby catalog for print
  periodical holdings
• Periodical Article databases only link to
  journals and magazine holdings, not books.
• If you find a citation to a book in a periodical
  database, you need to search the Colby Catalog to
  find the book

22
Art Abstracts Art Index Retrospective
Companion Databases
http//0-vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.library.colby.edu/h
ww/jumpstart.jhtml?prod
23
Art Abstracts / Art Index Retrospective results.
Link to Library, Print/Email/Save/, Export to
Refworks
Cap Peer Reviewd
24
Core Periodical Databases for Art Research

• Art Abstracts
• Indexes and abstracts international journals,
  yearbooks, and museum bulletins in fields related
  to the arts, including archaeology, architecture,
  art and art history, film and television, graphic
  arts, industrial design, photography, and
  sculpture, with coverage from 1984 to the
  present. In addition, Art Abstracts indexes
  reproductions of works of art that appear in
  indexed periodicals.
• Art Index Retrospective
• A database of international art journalism
  providing an index of citations to articles from
  periodicals covering all aspects of the visual
  arts, as well as reproductions of works of art
  that have appeared in indexed periodicals, from
  1929 to 1984.
• ARTbibliographies Modern
• Provides full abstracts of international journal
  articles, books, essays, exhibition catalogs and
  reviews, and dissertations on all forms of late
  19th and 20th century art from publications
  dating from 1974 to the present. ABM covers all
  aspects of modern and contemporary art, including
  performance art, video art, computer and
  electronic art, body art, graffiti, theater arts,
  crafts, jewelry, illustration, and more, as well
  as the traditional fine arts of painting,
  printmaking, sculpture, and drawing.
• Bibliography of the History of Art
• International and scholarly in scope, BHA indexes
  and abstracts art-related books, conference
  proceedings, dissertations, exhibition and
  dealer's catalogs, and periodical articles
  published from 1973 to the present, covering the
  history of European and American arts, including
  fine arts (painting, sculpture, drawing, prints,
  and architecture) as well as decorative and
  applied arts (crafts, graphic arts, folk and
  popular art).
• JSTOR Arts and Sciences Collection Online
  Journals.
• For a list of Art journals in JSTOR and date
  coverage go to http//0-www.jstor.org.library.colb
  y.edu/browseArtArtHistory
• Excellent for coverage of scholarly full text
  journals in art and architectural history, but
  journals are have a lag or embargo period of at
  least 5 years from the current date. Therefore,
  this is not the place to go for current
  information.

25
General Periodical Databases Useful for Art
ResearchUse for finding reviews of exhibitions
in major magazines, articles on the artist in a
broader cultural context, interdisciplinary
consideration of an artist and society.

• Academic Search Premiere. Demo a search Kara
  Walker. Cross search ASP and Humanities Index
  International. Save citations, email, export
• Useful for coverage of reviews of major current
  exhibitions, coverage of current art scene in
  major art trade journals and general interest
  periodicals.
• America, History and Life
• Best for broadening searches on major artists of
  the recent past (not for current art), and for
  articles on photographers, film, and 19th century
  artists. AHL provides article abstracts on the
  history and culture of the United States and
  Canada from the prehistoric era to the present,
  drawn from international periodicals dating back
  to 1954. For world history excluding the U.S. and
  Canada, see Historical Abstracts.
• Humanities International Index
• Provides cover-to-cover indexing and abstracting
  for over 1,700 journals as well as books and
  other reference sources in the humanities.
  Humanities International Index was formerly
  titled American Humanities Index. Includes full
  text coverage of major art magazines.

26
(No Transcript)
27
Websites

• Google Scholar. http//scholar.google.com/
• Excellent resource for locating books and
  articles which discuss a particular artist or
  concept, Google Scholar will search the full text
  of scanned books and articles and seaches them
  via the Google Search Engine and link to a local
  library
• From Bixler Library Home Page
• Subject Guides Art http//www.colby.edu/academics
  _cs/library/helpwithassignments/subject-guides/art
  .cfm
• Under General Art and Art History websites
• Useful Sites are
• Art History. From Boston University
• ArtCyclopedia
• Voice of the Shuttle

28
Citing Sources and Creating a Bibliography

• Even tho your projects will be primarily live
  presentations, your essays may be published, and
  you may decide to expand on your research in the
  future. It is wise to keep track of your sources
• Citation Help, from Colby Libraries Web Page
• http//www.colby.edu/academics_cs/library/helpwith
  assignments/citationhelp.cfm
• RefWorks Website http//0-www.refworks.com.library
  .colby.edu/refworks
• Create log in
• Creates a web-accessible database of your
  research sources
• Import references from periodical databases,
  library catalogs, etc.
• Create folders for specific projects
• Export references to a word document
• Write and Cite Write Papers, and insert
  reference at the same time
• Online Tutorial Link http//0-www.refworks.com.lib
  rary.colby.edu/refworks

29
When you come to the Library

• Bring your Library Card. (Also, Waterville
  Public, State Library, or other card from most
  Maine Libraries allow you to borrow materirals.
• Volunteer Docents with just a Courtesy Card can
  borrow Colby Library materials, with the
  exception of videos and sound recordings.
• Courtesy Card borrowers can use videos and
  licensed databases here, on site, but not at
  home.
• If you have a Waterville Public Library Card (or
  another card from a Maine Library) this will
  allow you to request materials through MaineCat.
• Borrowing Policies and Loan Period from Colby
  Libraries
• http//www.colby.edu/academics_cs/library/about/po
  licies/Access/index.cfm