Fine Arts 46 : Contemporary Art
Spring 2002
GENERAL SOURCES | ENCYCLOPEDIAS, DICTIONARIES, ETC. | BIBLIOGRAPHIES AND INDEXES | A FEW WORDS ABOUT JOURNAL ARTICLES | WORLD WIDE WEB RESOURCES
GENERAL SOURCES
One of the best places to start research is in the computerized
Five-College Library Catalog (one segment lists books and journals in the Four Colleges, another lists UMass holdings). All books are listed by their AUTHORS, TITLES, and SUBJECTS,
and you can also use the KEYWORD function to search.
For books about a particular artist, look up the artist's name as both AUTHOR and SUBJECT, for comprehensive retrieval.
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; you can type in a common language characterization of your topic, say "minimalism", then, if you browse through the resulting list, select titles relevant to your research, and note which official subject headings are assigned (in this case, Minimal Art), you can click on those and do a more thorough SUBJECT search.
SUBJECT searching, as such, requires that you use the exact word or phrase libraries have chosen to describe your topic. The official SUBJECT closest to this seminar's overall topic, for instance, is Art, Modern -- 20th century, but you'll probably find it more effective to use something narrower, say, Painting, Japanese -- 20th century. Try to be as specific as possible when SUBJECT searching, and keep in mind that most major subject headings have detailed sub-divisions, so browse through those as well. The five-volume Library of Congress Subject Headings, near the Reference Desk in Frost, is a thesaurus of official library terminology. Consult it if you're not sure of the official subject vocabulary, or use the KEYWORD feature interactively, and/or ask for assistance from a Reference Librarian.
To see if Amherst owns a journal, click on JOURNAL TITLE in the menu screen of the Four-College Library Catalog, then type in the journal's name.
For quick background information, try the Britannica Online from any computer 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. (Ref N 31 D5 1996). An electronic version of The Dictionary of Art is also accessible from any Amherst College computer.
Artwords: A Glossary of Contemporary Art Theory. Westport CT, Greenwood, 1997.
Brief definitions of contemporary theoretical concepts, buzzwords, etc. (Ref N 71 P32 1997)
Glossary of Art, Architecture & Design since 1945. Boston, GK Hall, 1992; 3rd edition.
Similar to the above title, with some different subject matter and different biases. (Ref N 34 W34 1992)
A Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes. New York, Schirmer, 2000. 2nd edition.
Quirky but well-informed articles on experimental, vanguard artists and artforms. (Ref NX 456 K67 2000)
The Prestel Dictionary of Art and Artists in the 20th Century. Munich, Prestel, 2000.
Brief entries on artists, movements, genres, etc. (Ref N 33 P74 2000)
Encyclopedia of World Cultures. Boston, G.K. Hall, 1991. 10 vols..
Overviews of history, economics, sociology, religion, etc., organized by region, then ethnic group. (Ref GN 307 E53 1991)
BIBLIOGRAPHIES, INDEXES
Art Index.
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; click ܥ
RILA (Repertoire International de la Litterature de l'Art) / BHA (Bibliography of
the History of Art).
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 on the colored title link above for online access.
Bibliography of Asian Studies.
The basic index to books and articles in Asian Studies, citing work published after 1971.
Click on the colored title link above for online access.
Handbook of Latin American Studies (HLAS Online).
The U.S. Library of Congress' listing of books and articles in Latin American Studies, back to 1936. For access, click on the colored title link.
American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies (ABSEES).
Similar to the two databases above, for Slavic Studies, back to 1990. For access, click on the colored title link.
National
Museum of African Art Library.
A listing of books and some articles, via SIRIS, the Smithsonian Institution's site.
LEXIS-NEXIS.
A full-text database including newspaper articles from major papers in the U.S. and abroad, potentially useful for tracking down reviews of exhibitions; click on the above link to connect.
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
'Request Forms' 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 meta-sites, image collections, etc. Remember that the World Wide Web, unlike the Library, is largely un-refereed, that is, the information mounted may or may not be legitimate. Be skeptical, and read critically. Who's responsible for the site? What are their sources of information? Where and when was the site produced? Does it seem to be regularly maintained?
Comments regarding this page should be directed to: Michael Kasper (mkasper)