| Library Guide - ART |
I'm Lydia Gibbs, the Liaison Librarian for Art. If you need help finding information for your assignments, I will be happy to help. Contact me in the library or as follows:
Email: lydia.gibbs@newman.ac.uk
Tel: 0121 476 1181 ext.1413
This aim of this guide is to give you an overview of key resources for Art.
It is not an exhaustive list and your best bet is
to read widely around a subject, exploring different
viewpoints, and reach your own conclusions based
on your research. Exactly the kind of behaviour your
lecturers are looking for!
The library catalogue is accessible at designated terminals in the library or online via the library homepage.
You can search the catalogue by keyword, title, author or year. The keyword option is especially useful for searching a particular subject as it performs a flexible search.
From the drop-down box on the opening screen of the catalogue, you can also opt to search a particular collection of resources. For example:
• Journals – searches the journal titles available in the library. For references to specific articles you should use the electronic bibliographic databases and online journals.
• School Experience – searches for teaching materials such as lesson plans, topic books, kits and artefacts.
An online help guide to using the catalogue is available (click on the Help tab in the library catalogue), but if you need any further help please ask a member of library staff.
Quick reference sources, which are available in the General Reference Collection in the library and online, provide a useful starting point for your research. Sources include encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, directories and yearbooks and you can use them to find:
• Explanations and definitions of particular terms or topics.
•
Contact addresses or information on people or organisations.
•
Factual and statistical information.
The examples selected for this guide will help you get to grips with
some of the terminology you will encounter while
studying Art.
The library subscribes to the following services which can be accessed from the Electronic Resources page of the library website:
Archival Sound Recordings
This archive includes Art and Design Interviews,
a series of biographical interviews with contemporary
British painters, scultors, photographers and architects.
• Britannica Online – Academic Electronic version of this authoritative encyclopedia. Also links through to full-text journal articles on topics covered in the encyclopedia.
• Oxford Reference Online - Quick reference information together with authoritative, in-depth articles. Contains the full text of over 130 dictionaries, plus an encyclopaedia, thesauri, and guides to English grammar and usage. Includes a wide range of additional material such as maps, illustrations and timelines.
You will find the following and many others in the General Reference Collection:
Concise Dictionary of Women Artists - REF 709.22/DIC
Gaze, Delia (ed.) (2001) Concise Dictionary of Women
Artists. London: Fitzroy Dearborn.
Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art - REF 703/HAL
Hall, James (ed.) (1984) Dictionary of Subjects and
Symbols in Art. Rev. edn. London: John Murray.
Guide to Art - REF 700/WES
West, Shearer (ed.) (1996) Guide to Art. London:
Bloomsbury.
The Hutchinson Dictionary of the Arts - REF 703/MUR
Murray, Chris (ed.) (1995) The Hutchinson Dictionary
of the Arts. Oxford: Helicon.
The Library uses the Dewey decimal system to classify and arrange its books by subject. The catalogue will give you the shelf number of the book you need, and tell you if it is in the library or out on loan. The following are some examples of shelf numbers relevant to Art:
| Primary art | 372.5 |
| Arts education | 700.7 |
| Philosophy and theory of art | 701 |
| Art dictionaries and encyclopedias | 703 |
| Specific subjects depicted in art | 704.9 |
| Galleries and museums | 708 |
| Artistic movements and artists | 709 |
| Twentieth century art | 709.04 |
| Architecture | 720 |
| Sculpture | 730 |
| Ceramics | 738 |
| Drawing | 741 |
| Graphic design | 741.6 |
| Decorative arts | 745 |
| Textile arts | 746 |
| Painting and painters | 759 |
| Photography | 770 |
Some of the library’s most popular texts are now available to you electronically through our e-book service provided by Dawsonera.
Dawsonera can be accessed from the Electronic Resources - E-books page of the library website. You will need to be logged into Athens to access the full-text books which the library has purchased (details can be found in the ‘Athens information’ section of the Electronic Resources page on the library website). Individual titles can also be accessed via the library catalogue.
For some modules you may be required to purchase some or all of the texts from the ‘essential reading’ on your reading lists. You may find the following retailers useful:
Abebooks - Online bookshop especially useful for second hand and out of print books.
Amazon - Online books, often much cheaper than RRP!
Waterstones - Search and buy online or try their branch located on the University of Birmingham Edgbaston campus – they often have textbooks in stock that are difficult to obtain from elsewhere. Telephone them on 0121 472 3034.
Journals are an excellent source of information. They show evidence of wider reading, are important for research and help you to keep informed of any changes and developments in the study of your subject area. They are published more frequently than textbooks, so the information they hold is often more up-to-date.
You can search for journal titles on the library catalogue by selecting ‘journals’ from the drop-down collections box on the search screen. The journal collection is for reference only, so titles should always be accessible. They are shelved alphabetically by title in the Journal room.
Examples of journals that you may find useful for Art are:
AN magazine
Art Bulletin
Art Journal
Art Monthly
Art
Review
Crafts
International
Journal of Art and Design Education
Modern painters
Selvedge
The following databases, which are accessible from the Electronic Resources page of the library website, will help you find journal article references and often full-text articles online:
Education Research Complete - A comprehensive UK and international index providing journal article references in the field of Education, including Art Education.
JSTOR -Includes journal references and full-text access to several journal archives, including Art Bulletin. Note that JSTOR is an archival resource only and current journal issues are not available.
SWETSWISE - Full-text journals available on this database include American Art, Applied Art, Art Journal and Art Review.
You will need to be logged into Athens in order to be able to access these resources. Details can be found in the ‘Athens information’ section of the Electronic Resources page on the library website.
Intute - With millions of resources available on the Internet, it is difficult to find relevant and appropriate material even if you have good search skills and use advanced search engines. The Intute gateway provides a database of internet resources for Creative and Performing Arts and an online tutorial specifically for Art and Design students.
From the Useful Websites section, select Creative Arts to link to the Intute internet resources database for Creative and Performing Arts.
Go to :Intute: Virtual Training Suite to access the tutorial for Art and Design students.
Lydia Gibbs July 2010.