FINE ARTS RESEARCH GUIDE

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REFERENCE

Printed Sources
The following is a list of major reference sources available in the Reference Room:
  • Adeline, Jules. The Adeline Art Dictionary: Including Terms in Architecture, Heraldry and Archaeology. New York: F. Ungar, 1966.
    Ref N33.A223
  • Barnet, Sylvan. A Short Guide to Writing about Art. 9th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2008.
    Ref N7476.B37
  • De Grummond, Nancy Thomson, ed. An Encyclopedia of the History of Classical Archaeology. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996.
    Ref DE5.E5
  • Encyclopedia of World Art. New York: McGraw Hill, 1987.
    Ref N31.E4833
  • Hall, James. Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art. London: John Murray, 1996.
    Ref N7560.H34
  • Marmor, Max, and Alex Ross. Guide to the Literature of Art History 2. Chicago: American Library Association, 2005.
    Ref Z5931.M374
  • Murray,Peter, and Linda Murray. A Dictionary of Christian Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
    Ref N7825.M87
  • Onians, John, ed. The Art Atlas. London: Laurence King, 2008.
    Ref N5300.A77
  • Read, Herbert, ed. The Thames and Hudson Dictionary of Art. London: Thames and Hudson, 1985.
    Ref N31.T4
  • Smith, Paul, and Carolyn Wilde. A Companion to Art Theory. Oxford: Blackwell, 2002.
    Ref N61.C58
  • Stiles, Kristine, and Peter Selz, eds. Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists' Writings. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996.
    Ref N6490.T492
  • Turner, Jane, ed. Encyclopedia of Italian Renaissance and Mannerist Art. New York: Grove's Dictionaries, 2000.
    Ref N6370.E53
On-Line Sources
Here you can find a list of pertinent on-line resources:

Encyclopedia Britannica gives access to basic reference information.

Oxford Art Online is an on-line encyclopedia, which contains also art images and links to museums and galleries, bibliographies, and biographies.

Oxford Music Online is a set of online encyclopedias on differenct aspects of music.

Oxford Reference Online contains reference works including art and architecture texts, such as The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists, The Oxford Dictionary of Art, and A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art.

BHA, the bibliography of Art History and Archaeology, contains citations and abstracts from the most important journals in the field. It is the best advisable starting point to build an exhaustive bibliography.

Bibliografia Romana Online (Roman Bibliography Online): for searches on Rome history, art and monuments from early Middle Ages to date.

ARTStor is a digital library of nearly one million images in the areas of art, architecture, and the humanities.

Note: the links mentioned above work only when you are on-campus. To use these resources from off-campus, start from the databases webpage

BOOK SEARCHING

Most of the books on art can be found on the shelves under the N class, according to the Library of Congress Classification System. In particular NA is devoted to architecture and architects, books on sculpture are gathered under NB section, and painting is in ND subclass.

The Library catalog allows different kind of searches, including Subject Keyword and Subject Browse. A Subject Keyword search will retrieve all the subject strings containing the word you searched for. A Subject Browse search will lead to the controlled subject headings list. Determining which "controlled" subject headings are established for aspects of a topic is an important step in finding relevant material. You may want to browse on the broader subject (e.g. art) to find out what's available in the Library.


As an example, some official subject headings and heading patterns are listed below:

 

JOURNALS

Printed Editions

The library subscribes to a series of print journals in this field. Among them can be found:
Electronic Collections

A large collection of electronic journals is available through library databases, such as JSTOR, EBSCO (Academic Search Premier, and Communication and Mass Media Complete) and LEXIS NEXIS.

These are the most important full-text titles, directly accessible through Journals, A to Z:

On-line Journals

The following titles are freely accessible through the web:

 

FINE ARTS ON THE WEB

 

OTHER ART LIBRARIES IN ROME

The richest library in Rome for this field is BiASA, Biblioteca di Archeologia e Storia dell'Arte. The Library arranges guided tours on demand and has prepared a booklet to guide you through their services.

 

Last updated: 25-11-2009