Bibliographies & Indexes for Art History

Definitions

Bibliographies and indexes are types of discovery tools, often focusing on specific topics or academic disciplines. A bibliography is a list of works on a particular subject, whereas an index lists headings pointing to citations [definitions adapted from Reitz, 2004-2014]. Practically speaking, they are very similar, as researchers use both bibliographies and indexes to find comprehensive or authoritative lists of sources. In an online environment, an index often takes the form of a bibliographic database, and its citations may link to full text.

Some characteristics of bibliographies and indexes are:

• They may be print (single or multivolume) or electronic.
• They may be published a single time or updated at regular intervals (e.g. yearly, monthly, or daily).
• They often include annotations or abstracts.
• According to Simane (2011), “the indexing of periodicals was, and is, the central aim of traditional bibliographies, undoubtedly due to the fact that in most library catalogues these very sources are not covered” (6).
• They may be selective or aim for comprehensiveness.
• They are the product of editorial choices [see Engelstad, 2011] and they are created from the analysis of content [unlike Google Scholar; see Rozear, 2009].

Users

Primary users are students and scholars of art history. Bibliographies and indexes are useful both for in-depth research and for introductions to a topic.

(A Partial) History

Lists of art historical works have existed for centuries. However, according to Hurley (2005), “the first large-scale bibliographies in art history” were the South Kensington Museum’s Universal catalogue of books on art and Ernest Vinet’s Bibliographie des beaux-arts, both issued in the 1870s. Early annual bibliographies were the Internationale Bibliographie der Kunstwissenschaft (1902-17/18) and the Répertoire d'art et d'archéologie (RAA) (1910-89) [Hurley, 2005].

Eventually, RAA merged with the Répertoire international de la littérature de l’art (RILA) (1975-1989) to become the Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA) [Salomon, 2011]. The BHA (1975-2007 in its current online form) covers European and American books, journals (over 1,200), dissertations, and exhibition catalogs on Western art in all media from late antiquity to the present. However, the BHA shut down after 2007 when the Getty Research Institute stopped funding it [see Rosenbaum, 2010 and Salomon, 2011]. It is now available for free on the Getty’s website. It has been succeeded by the International Bibliography of Art (IBA) (2008-present), a ProQuest subscription database.

The future of art bibliography?

Going forward, there are several major challenges for the access and maintenance of art bibliographies:

• Their expense – a problem for both print resources and subscription databases. In the case of databases, librarians have to evaluate coverage of the various indexes to decide what combination will best serve their users. See next point.
• Evaluation of comprehensiveness and overlap -- Veeder (2011), White (2005), and Engelstad (2011) analyze the coverage of different databases. Engelstad warns, “a researcher in a specific field cannot be sure that all the relevant material from a publication is indexed in the database, even though the publication in question is listed as included” (41).
• As a consequence of the two points above, researchers’ abilities to access bibliographical information varies widely depending on their affiliation with specific institutions.
• Lack of updates – The BHA “crisis” [Simane, 2011] has been resolved for now with the IBA, although many libraries do not have an IBA subscription. Meanwhile, the Guide to the Literature of Art History 2 (see below) was published in 2004, with coverage mostly ending in 1998 [Stahl, 2005].
• Debate about whether the form is obsolete – this was one of the questions addressed at “The Future of Art Bibliography in the 21st Century (FAB)” meeting in 2010 [Salomon, 2011]. Hoyer (2010) claims that “the idea of an exhaustive, consistent indexation of the literature from a defined discipline or field or on a special topic” has not been functioning since the 1970s. There have also been questions about how to incorporate new types of digital content [see Fabian & Solomon, 2012].

Single-Volume or Limited Volume Bibliographies

Guide to the Literature of Art History 2. Max Marmor and Alex Ross, eds. ALA Editions: 2004. 928 pages.

GLAH 2 is the successor to Etta Arntzen and Robert Rainwater’s Guide to the Literature of Art History (GLAH 1, 1980), which in turn was the successor to Mary Chamberlin’s Guide to Reference Art Books (1959). These are standard annotated reference bibliographies covering books and journals on international art in all media from antiquity to the 20th century. GLAH 2 starts where GLAH 1 leaves off in the late 1970s. Ross (1983) noted that Chamberlin was still useful for certain older works omitted from GLAH 1.

The table of contents for the Guide to the Literature of Art History 2 is available on its ALA Store page.

Art Books: A Basic Bibliography of Monographs on Artists. Wolfgang M. Freitag., ed. New York: Garland Pub., 1997.

Freitag’s volume covers monographs on individual artists, a type of resource not included in Guide to the Literature of Art History 2 [Stahl, 2005].

Subject-specific bibliographies and bibliographies of individual artists: There are many of these – selection will depend on a library’s collection policy.

Online Indexes

The following is a list of major indexes often made available through art libraries. Multidisciplinary databases such as the Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) are also relevant. Depending on the type of research a library supports, databases on related subjects in the humanities may also be appropriate.

• Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA) and International Bibliography of Art (IBA) (see discussion above under “History”)
• Also see Cornell University Library for a concise explanation of the BHA / IBA divide: http://guides.library.cornell.edu/artbibliography
• Art Source
• Includes Art index Retrospective, Art Index, Art Abstracts, Art Full Text, Art & Architecture Complete (EBSCO and H.W. Wilson databases)
• ARTbibliographies Modern
• Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals
• Oxford Bibliographies Online – topical bibliographies include art history and related subjects.

For descriptions of the content of these and other databases, see research guides from Cornell, Harvard and Yale libraries:

http://guides.library.cornell.edu/arthistory

http://guides.library.harvard.edu/c.php?g=310014&p=2070610 

http://guides.library.yale.edu/artsdatabases#aahistory

New Bibliographies

Art Libraries Journal publishes a “Bibliographies update” in the second issue of each volume. The most recent available through Simmons is “Bibliographies update 2013.”

References

ALA Store. “Guide to the Literature of Art History 2.” http://www.alastore.ala.org/detail.aspx?ID=2221

“Bibliographies update 2013.” Art Libraries Journal 38, no. 2 (2013): 45-48.

Cornell University Library. “Art: Citation Databases for Research about Art: BHA & IBA.” http://guides.library.cornell.edu/artbibliography

Cornell University Library: “Art History and Visual Studies: A Research Guide.” http://guides.library.cornell.edu/c.php?g=32472&p=204445

Engelstad, Svein. “Assessing and comparing databases for art history.” Art Libraries Journal 36, no. 2 (2011): 37-42.

Fabian, Carole Ann and Kathleen Salomon. “Future of Art Bibliography Initiative: Charting a New Future.” Art Documentation 31, no. 2 (Fall 2012): 176-185.

Harvard Library. “Guide to Research in History of Art & Architecture: Periodical Literature Indexes.” http://guides.library.harvard.edu/c.php?g=310014&p=2070610

Hoyer, Rüdiger. “The realities of subject indexing in libraries.” Paper presented at the IFLA Art Libraries Section Open Session at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress 2010 in Gothenburg. http://www.ifla.org/publications/papers-on-art-library-topics

Hurley, Cecilia. “The art of compilation: the birth of systematic bibliography in art history.” Art Libraries Journal 30, no. 2 (2005): 17-21.

Reitz, Joan M. Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science. 2004-2014.

http://www.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_A.aspx

Rosenbaum, Lee. “A Biblio-File Brouhaha.” The Wall Street Journal, April 20, 2010.

Ross, Alex. “Guide to the Literature of Art History (Book Review).” Art Bulletin 65, no. 1 (March 1983): 169-172.

Rozear, Hannah. “Where “Google Scholar” stands on art: an evaluation of content coverage in online databases.” Art Libraries Journal 34, no. 2 (April 2009): 21-25.

Simane, Jan. “The 'crisis' of art bibliography.” Art Libraries Journal 36, no. 3 (July 2011): 5-9.

Salomon, Kathleen. “Considering the Future of Art Bibliography: The FAB Initiative.” Art Libraries Journal 36, no. 3 (July 2011): 10 –14.

Stahl, Joan. “Guide to the Literature of Art History 2 by Max Marmor, Alex Ross.” Art Documentation 24, no. 2 (Fall 2005): 57.

Veeder, Hillary B. “A Comparison of EBSCO's 'Art & Architecture Complete' and H.W. Wilson's 'Art Full-Text' Databases.” Art Documentation 30, no. 1 (April 2011): 54-68.

White, Tony. “Journal Title Overlap Study of Four Major Online Art Indexes.” Art Documentation 24, no. 1 (April 2005): 26-28.

Yale University Library. “Arts Databases: Art & Art History.” http://guides.library.yale.edu/artsdatabases