This guide is a starting point for research at the UFV library. If at any time you need more assistance, please contact us.

Reference Books provide background information on a topic, such as definitions of terms, key figures and events, and well written overviews.  Most reference books are for in-library use, and are shelved in a separate reference section.

Also see our Electronic Reference collection which includes Oxford Reference Online Premium  (providing access to over 170 online reference books from Oxford University Press) and the Gale Virtual Reference Library, (access to a growing collection of electronic subject specialized encyclopedias). UFV has licenses for both products.

Selected titles for Visual Arts:

Finding Books and Videos in the Library Catalogue

The UFV Library Catalogue lists the books, videos, government reports, electronic books, and other resources held by our library. 

To begin searching, type keywords and click on "Search". Keywords may be a single word, a phrase or words joined together by "AND". For example:

art and greek
pop art
painting and renaissance

If you wish to browse the shelves in the library, try the following call number areas:

N 1 - 9165	Visual Arts (General)	NE 1 - 3002	Print Media
NA 1 - 9428	Architecture	NK 1 - 9955	Decorative Arts
NB 1 - 1952	Sculpture	NX 1 - 820	Arts in General
NC 1 - 1940	Drawing. Design. Illustration	ND 25 - 3416	Painting

Finding Books in Other Libraries

To find books in other libraries, try Outlook Online (B.C.) or Worldcat (North America).  You may obtain books from other libraries by requesting an Interlibrary Loan.  Delivery time ranges from 2 - 10 days. 

Finding Journal, Magazine and Newspaper Articles

Journal, magazine and newspaper articles can be useful sources of information for your research topic. They contain current information or research, and are usually written on specific aspects of a topic.

To search for articles on a specific topic, use "research databases". You may view a full list of our research databases either alphabetically and by subject.  research databases may also be searched from off campus.

Try these research databases for research in Visual Arts: 

Best Bets

• Art Full Text - Art, textiles, design, fashion and photography
• Humanities Full Text - Useful for finding articles about social and cultural aspects of art.

Also Try

• Academic Search Premier - Covers thousands of journals and magazines from all disciplines. Many articles available full text.
• Canadian Business and Current Affairs Reference - Useful for finding information on Canadian artists and art history
• Historical Abstracts - Covers European and world history, including many articles about art history

Print Indexes are useful for finding articles in journals published prior to the early 1980's.

• Art Index (1965-1996, Abb)
• Canadian Periodical Index (1920-1937, 1948- , Abb) (1920-1937, 1970- , Chil)
• Humanities Index (1974-1996, Abb) (1974-1982, Chil)

Journal Holdings at UFV

The UFV Journals List is a list of all print and electronic journals available at UFV. You may search the list for a specific journal title, or browse by subject. The list provides a link to the source for each electronic journal.  Print journals are located in a separate periodicals section of the library, in alphabetical order by journal title. 

Journals for Fine Arts and Music.

Finding Journals in Other Libraries

Use the "Where Can I Get This?" link in the research databases you are searching. This will provide a request form to order articles through Interlibrary Loan.  Delivery time ranges from 2 - 10 days. 

Internet Resources

These websites have been chosen as appropriate resources for research. Users should still evaluate web resources to determine the accuracy and reliability of any information found. 

General:

• Art History Resources  
  Extensive information organized by period, e.g. Prehistoric Art, Renaissance Art and place, e.g. Asia, Oceania. Also includes links to many other sites organized by image resources, lists of artists, research and methodology etc.
• AskART  
  Summary pages for over 32,000 North American artists, including biographies, museum holdings, and related reference citations.
• Directory of Contemporary Art Sites: Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal 
  International in scope, yet also useful in locating Quebec-based institutions such as galleries, foundations, and exhibitions.
• Graphic Witness: Visual Arts and Social Commentary  
  "A site dedicated to social commentary through graphic imagery" by artists from 1900 to present.
• Internet Archive: Ontario College of Art and Design - contains free digital copies of pre-1929 Canadian exhibition catalogues, art books
• Intute: Visual Arts Resources - Database of visual arts resources selected for the academic community (U.K.)
• Mother of All Art History Links Pages  
  Links to internet research resources, image collections, online exhibits, art museums, textual and linguistic resources etc.
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Timeline of Art History  
  Benchmarks of significant events using images and text, with coverage from antiquity to the present.  Included is a useful tutorial for first-time users of the web site.
• Smithsonian Archives of American Art - "Since 1954, the Archives has collected roughly 16 million letters, photographs, diaries, sketches, scrapbooks, business records, and other documentation that supports the study of the history of the visual arts in America"
• Voice of the Shuttle - Art & Art History Page
  Links to image collections, art history departments, galleries, auctions, cartography sites, etc.

Reference:

• ArtLex: Visual Arts Dictionary  
  Definitions of more than 3600 terms used in visual culture.
• Art and Architecture Thesaurus  (Getty Research Institute)
  Covers terminology for describing art and architecture.

Museums & Galleries:

• CHIN: Canadian Heritage Information Network  
  Links to the Virtual Museums of Canada, Artefacts Canada, Artists in Canada, and other reference resources including technical information regarding intellectual property, standards, conservation etc.
• National Gallery of Canada   
• Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) 
• Louvre (Paris)
• National Gallery (London) 

Reproductions

 There are a number of sources for illustrations of the works of art of a period, group, or individual artist.  

In the library: 

• Art slides collection - Reproductions of important art works.  Indexed by artist and title. Available to borrow or view in the library on our light table. (Abbotsford)
• Canadian Collection of the National Gallery of Canada: Three Centuries of Art by over 2000 Artists  [CD-ROM]
• World Painting Index - Detailed index of published art books. Can locate a painting by artist or title of work. 
• Our extensive book collection is a great resource for locating high quality art reproductions.

Online:

• ARTstor  -  Best Bet. Art image database of over 300,000 images. Architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, design. Copyright cleared for student and faculty use.  Download images, create slide shows, save your own image groups and more.
• Artcyclopedia  
  Search for online collections of images from 7000+ artists by artist, artwork, museum, movement, medium, subject or nationality. The site also has links to museums and galleries worldwide.
• Canadian Art Database 
  Produced by Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art.  The project consists of an ever-growing image/text database presenting information on Canadian artists and writers, and their work. It also includes an extensive directory of links to other Canadian art Web sites.
• Digital Imaging Project  
  Collection of images, spanning the classical Greek period to the Post-Modern, of architecture, sculpture, and historical sites.
• Imagebase 
  From The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Database contains images of over 110,000 objects including paintings, drawings, etchings, porcelain, sculpture etc.
• Web Gallery of Art  
  Digital reproductions of European paintings and sculptures (1150-1800). Images accompanied by informative texts. Biographical data, glossary and bibliographies are available. Useful search methods as well as guided tours.
• World Art Treasures   
  Photos and reproductions of featured artists and topics; for example, Vermeer, Rococo, Asian art.

Resources for Completing Your Assignment

• Research Assignment Planner
• Research Paper Steps
• Citing Sources
• RefWorks

Comments or suggestions for improvements of this guide? Send us your feedback.

Updated Jan. 28, 2010 pw