Fine Arts 91.1: Constructing Space in Japan
Fall 2001
LIBRARY CATALOGS AND GENERAL INFORMATION | ENCYCLOPEDIAS, DICTIONARIES, ETC. | BIBLIOGRAPHIES AND INDEXES | A FEW WORDS ABOUT JOURNAL ARTICLES | WORLD WIDE WEB RESOURCES
LIBRARY CATALOGS AND GENERAL INFORMATION
One of the best places to start research is in the computerized
Five College Library Catalog. All books are listed by their AUTHORS, TITLES, and SUBJECTS,
and you can also use the KEYWORD function to search.
KEYWORD searching is not likely to yield a comprehensive list of books on
any particular topic, but it's often a good way to start; type in two or three
words which best characterize your topic, select titles that interest you from
the resulting list, note which official subject headings are assigned to those
titles, then click on them and do a more thorough SUBJECT search.
SUBJECT searching, as such, requires that you type in the exact word or
phrase libraries have chosen to describe your topic; for example, libraries list
books about Japanese architecture under "Architecture, Japanese" not "Japanese
Architecture". Also, since the intention is to categorize materials as
precisely as possible, there are many related but slightly different subject
headings, like "Architecture, Buddhist", "Architecture, Domestic--Japan",
"Architecture--Japan--20th Century", "Architecture, Postmodern--Japan", and
"Architecture, Zen". Another, generally useful heading is "Japan--Social Life
and Customs". Ask at the Reference Desk if you're not sure what words or
phrases to use.
For quick background information, try the Britannica Online
from any computer running Netscape on the Amherst College campus.
ENCYCLOPEDIAS, DICTIONARIES
The Dictionary of Art. New York, Grove's Dictionaries, 1996; 34 volumes.
Basic encyclopedia of artists (short biographies), topics, terms, etc.
Many articles have brief bibliographies appended. (N 31 D5 1996 Ref). An electronic version of The Dictionary of Art is also accessible from any Amherst College computer.
Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan. Tokyo & New York, Kodansha, 1983; 8 volumes+
supplement.
Concise entries on all aspects of Japanese culture. (DS 805 K633 1983
Ref)
A Dictionary of Japanese Buddhist Terms. Union City CA, Heian, 1989.
Transliterated Japanese words and phrases, briefly defined. (BQ 130
I53 1988 Ref)
Encyclopedia of Human Behavior. San Diego, Academic Press, 1994; 4 volumes.
Standard reference work on behavioral psychology; non-comparative,
culturally, but it includes articles on "Spatial Orientation" and "Spatial
Perception", among others. (BF 31 E5 1994 Ref)
Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology. New York, Holt, 1996; 4 volumes.
Topical encyclopedia of anthropology; many potentially useful articles,
including one on "Architecture". (E 174 A43 1976 Ref)
Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World. Cambridge UK,
Cambridge, 1997; 3 volumes.
An excellent survey of popular architecture. Volume one treats general
topics; volume two covers East Asia; bibliographies are found in volume three.
(NA 208 E53 1997 Ref)
Encyclopedia of Architecture: Design, Engineering & Construction. New York,
Wiley, 1990; 5 volumes.
General architectural encyclopedia, especially valuable for information
on construction techniques. (NA 31 E59 1988 Ref)
BIBLIOGRAPHIES, INDEXES
Japan. Oxford UK & Santa Barbara CA, Clio, 1989.
An introductory bibliography of English-language books on Japan,
organized in topical sections, one of which, "Fine Arts" includes a sub-section
on "Architecture". (Z 3301 S475 1989 Ref)
Bibliography of Asian Studies. Ann Arbor, Association for Asian Studies, 1941--
The Bibliography of Asian Studies
is the basic index to books and articles in Asian Studies, available in an
online version from 1971 to the present; click above or on "Research" in the Library Homepage, then, under "Common Tools," select "Indexes and Databases," then "Art."
For retrospective coverage back to 1941, see the printed volumes (Z 3001 C93-95 Ref).
Art Index. New York, H.W. Wilson, 1929--
An alphabetically-arranged author and subject listing of articles
in art journals. For the years before September 1984, this index is only
in printed form (Z 5937 A78 Ref); after that date, it's also accessible
online, as Art Index;
click here or on "Research" in the Library Homepage, then, under "Common
Tools," select "Indexes and Databases," then "Art."
RILA (Repertoire International de la Litterature de l'Art) / BHA (Bibliography of
the History of Art). Santa Monica, Getty Trust, 1973--
Another index to art sources, listing books, journal articles, and
exhibition catalogs, with an emphasis on European art. We have both titles (RILA
metamorphosed into BHA in 1990) in printed form (Z 5937 R16 Ref/Z 5937 B53 Ref),
as well as via the Internet; click here for RILA/BHA Online
or on "Research" in the Library Homepage, then, under "Common Tools," select "Indexes and Databases," then "Art."
Expanded Academic Index. Infotrac/Information Access Company, 1980--
Expanded Academic Index
is a multi-disciplinary index which includes some simple citations, some
citations with abstracts, and many full-text articles.
Click above or on "Research" in the Library Homepage, then, under "Common Tools," select "Indexes and Databases," then "General."
Anthropological Index Online. London, Museum of Mankind Library, 1970--
An online index to periodicals in the Museum of Mankind Library, London.
Click here for Anthropological Index,
or on "Research" in the Library Homepage, then, under "Common Tools," select "Indexes and Databases," then "Anthropology."
A FEW WORDS ABOUT JOURNAL ARTICLES
Printed and computerized indexes and bibliographies provide citations to
articles which may or may not be owned by the Amherst College Library. To find out
if and where we have a backfile, you must look up each journal title (not article
titles or authors) in the
Five College Library Catalog. Be attentive to volume
numbers and dates since sometimes we've started or stopped a subscription in the
middle of a run.
Please note: some older volumes of journals may be housed in the Amherst
College Depository, an off-campus storage facility. You can request volumes from
the Depository by filling out a brief form which appears onscreen when you select
"Requests" from the Library Homepage, then click on "Depository"; books will be
delivered to the Circulation Desk in Frost the next weekday.
WORLD WIDE WEB RESOURCES
The Library's "Research" page provides reasonably direct, organized access to Internet resources like library catalogs in the U.S. and abroad, search engines for finding particular sites, and via the "Art" page, to pre-selected, academically-oriented material.
Comments regarding this page should be directed to: Michael Kasper (mkasper)