The whole week will be devoted to the various aspects of this assignment. Carmen King will present the basics of assembling a bibliography and we will tour the library.

USING THE ONLINE CONSORT CARD CATALOG

The CONSORT card catalog is a database of all the materials held in the Denison University, Kenyon College, Ohio Weslyan University and the College of Wooster libraries. Books, scores and other types of items may circulate to patrons from another campus as long as they have a valid Kenyon ID. Materials arrive in 3-5 working days and may be renewed once after the initial three week borrowing period.

If you cannot locate many books or exhibition catalogs on your subject or all of the CONSORT copies are charged out, you should check the OHIOLINK libraries catalog for additional materials. A link to the Ohiolink Card Catalog may also be found at the bottom of the main CONSORT Card Catalog search screen.

Begin formulating your research strategy by creating a list of architectural terms or subject headings (i.e. cathedrals architecture england) from lecture notes and/or assigned readings before you search the CONSORT and Ohiolink online card catalogs.

Examples of searches in Consort:

• A subject search for Canterbury Cathedral revealed that there are 21 entries for this subject in the Consort catalog.
• A keyword search for: canterbury and cathedral turned up 41 records in the consortial collection. Often using a keyword search will net the researcher items they may not have come across on a subject search. Sometimes the material is directly relevant, other times it is not of use for the project at hand.

Examples of searches in Ohiolink:

• A subject search in the Ohiolink database revealed 90 entries for Canterbury Cathedral.
• While a word search in the same database turned up 176 records including a monograph by Ben Nilson on Cathedral Shrines of Medieval England that did not appear in either subject search on Consort or Ohiolink.

USING THE WORLDCAT CATALOG

WorldCat is an online catalog of library holdings throughout the country and world. This catalog contains records for a variety of materials including books, sound recordings, video recordings, manuscripts, etc. It is updated daily. The WorldCat database is located on many web pages, but for your ease of access here are the most relevant locations for this class: on the ARHS 233 LBIS web page, as well as both the 'selected' and 'complete' list of Article Citations in Indexes/Abstracts/Databases section on the main LBIS webpage.

If you are able to identify through your research on WorldCat an exhibition catalog or book on your subject which our library system does not own, you must use an Interlibrary Loan request form (available on the main Library Information Services web page under library services) to request the item from a library located elswhere in the country. Always check both the Consort and the OhioLink library catalogs for all exhibition catalogs and monographs before you request an item from ILL (Interlibrary Loan).

USING ELECTRONIC INDEXES, ABSTRACTS AND DATABASES

Citations to scholarly journal articles may be located using the indexes listed below. The databases listed below also have active links on the main ARHS 233 web page.

Scope Notes
Each database link includes an abbreviated 'scope note' to the online resource. A scope note contains important information if you have not previously used that particular database. The information may include: a list of major subject areas, historical periods covered, types of materials indexed, whether or not the full-text of the articles may be accessed, and, most importantly, the number of years covered by the database.

Often the database has link to a fuller description on their search menu page. Reading the scope note is important step in the research process and may eliminate the use of inappropriate databases. For example, I would not use the Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA) if my topic were Chinese prehistoric wall paintings since the database "covers European and American art from late antiquity to the present". If, however, my topic were the nineteenth century American artist Mary Cassatt I would begin my search for citations on BHA.

Citation Information
A 'citation' is the information you will need to locate an article in a specific volume of a journal, including the author's name, the title of the the article, the title of the journal, the volume number, the issue number, and the page number(s) of the article. You may repeat the search string you used in Consort and Ohiolink to locate books, adding key terms to narrow very broad searches. To determine if we own a journal title listed in Art Abstracts, The Bibiliography of the History of Art, etc. search for the journal title in Consort using the journal title option from the search menu.

Electronic Indices
Art Abstracts (1929-present)
Art Abstracts provides comprehensive abstracting and indexing for 313 leading international art publications, including periodicals, yearbooks, and museum bulletins. This database offers broad coverage of art topics, including advertising, archaeology, crafts, folk art, graphic arts, interior design, video, film, architecture, and art history.

Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA) (1973-present)
The Bibliography of the History of Art covers European and American art from late antiquity to the present and indexes and abstracts art-related books, conference proceedings and dissertations, exhibition and dealer's catalogs, and articles from more than 2,500 periodicals.

Academic Search Complete (1965 or the first issue published-present)
Academic Search Complete is the world's largest scholarly, multi-discipline, full text database designed specifically for academic institutions. This resource indexes over 4300 periodicals and contains full text for over 3400 scholarly publications. Academic Search Premier includes full-page images as well as color embedded images. This scholarly collection provides full text journal coverage for nearly all academic areas of study - including social sciences, humanities, education, computer sciences, engineering, language and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, and ethnic studies.

Reader's Guide Retrospective (1890-1982)
Readers' guide retrospective, produced by The H.W. Wilson Company, is a database indexing 256 of the most popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States. The database covers the years 1890 through 1982.

OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center (coverage varies by title)
The Electronic Journal Center includes the full content of nearly 3000 journals, from Elsevier, Academic Press, Springer-Verlag, Kluwer Academic and Project Muse. The coverage dates from 1995.

In addition to titles on the EJC, approximately 1500 journals and magazines are available in full text from the UMI Proquest Direct service. You may access articles from these publications via citations in the Periodical Abstracts database of general periodicals and magazines.

JSTOR (beginning coverage varies and a 'moving wall' determines the latest volume included)
JSTOR provides electronic access to the full content of the complete backfiles of scholarly journals. Coverage dates back to the 19th century for some titles.

Sample Journal Citation
author: Gardner, Stephen
title of article:The Nave Galleries of Durham Cathedral
journal: Art Bulletin
pages: 564-70
subject: Cathedrals--England; Church buildings--England--Durham

 

FINDING JOURNALS AVAILABLE AT KENYON

It is very easy to check CONSORT to see if we own a journal title in print or if we have electronic access to it. If it is available in print, it will be shelved in either the Current Periodicals section on the main floor of Olin Library (materials are held here for the current calendar year or current volume in print) or alphabetically, by title, on the first floor of Chalmers Library. To download electronic journals, you need to choose the link for the PDF or the HTML file of the full text. If you need assistance downloading an article in PDF format seek assistance from a librarian.

GETTING ARTICLES NOT AVAILABLE AT KENYON

To obtain articles in journals which our library does not own you must place Interlibrary loan requests online. If the journal is in another Consort or Ohiolink library you will normally receive a xeroxed copy of the article in 2-3 weeks. If the journal is not in either Consort or Ohiolink it make take longer for our staff to locate a copy elsewhere in the country. Please allow yourself plenty of time when requesting a copy of a journal article.

GETTING STARTED - Searching Journal Indices

Whenever I research a topic I find it useful to keep a list of terms and subject headings on hand (see examples below). I make notes about the terms, the indexes where I found search results and how many citations were located. Often I print the first page of any 'results list' to record my search strategy, this printout will usually also include the first page of citations, the name of the database and the date of the search. It is also useful to print out the individual journal citations from these databases if you find additional subject headings to add to your word list.

• cathedrals and britain (Consort word search/85 books)

   

• cathedrals and britain (Ohiolink word search/346 books)

   

• canterbury - england - cathedral (Art Abstracts/31 citations)

   

• romanesque and cathedral (Art Abs/132 citations)

   

• church architecture -- england -- 12th century (Art Abs/8 citations in subject heading)

   

• church and architecture and england (Academic Search Premiere/32 citations)

If you find a citation that appears confusing (you may not be able to determine if it refers to a book or a journal) or the information is incomplete be sure to print the screen and ask for assistance from a staff member.

HOW TO BROWSE THE STACKS:

While learning to search library catalogs is the core of research, one should not overlook the wonderful serendipity of browsing in the stacks. Most scholars have a story or two of how they happened on just the right book, that they would have never discovered otherwise without browsing the shelves. Browsing becomes especially critical because many titles of books while dramatic and interesting do not effectively convey their contents. Books with titles such as Art, Thought, and Revolution sound intriguing, but they do not reveal their specific content to the casual catalog searcher.

The best way to browse shelves is to first locate a good book on your topic through the catalog. Go to where it is on the shelf and look at the books surrounding it on the shelf, up above, down below, and around the general area. This is helpful because, although the titles may not reveal their contents, librarians who catalog the books know their content and try to place them accordingly. When something intrigues you, pull it off the shelf and flip through it, carefully examining the table of contents, the illustrations, etc. If it does not suit your topic, leave it on a nearby table to be reshelved by the library staff.

Other good browsing techniques include a general knowledge of the Library of Congress and Dewey Decimal cataloging system. (Most libraries have switched to the Library of Congress system, but as this is monumental process, they usually have a good portion of books still cataloged under the Dewey Decimal system.) Art books are generally cataloged under the N's in the Library of Congress system and under the 700s in the Dewey Decimal system. Do a general check of these areas. Also check these same numbers/letters in the Quarto and Folio sections, where the larger format books are stored. Beyond that look at the 900s under architecture, the 300s under general history (for Dewey) and under the Religion (B's) and History (D's) sections (for LC).

Finally, locate and look through re-shelving areas for art and history books (note that in the Kenyon Library each individual shelf in the re-shelving area is in call number order).

This assignment should help you to:

• gain a general understanding of the Library of Congress (LC) system (the art call number begins with "N");

   

• browse the shelves close to one book located via the Consort Catalog;

   

• where are the Folio and Quarto books located;

   

• browsing history and religion sections (D's, B's);

   

• locate and look through reshelving shelves for art and history books (note that each individual shelf is in call number order);

UTILIZING FOOTNOTES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SCHOLARLY BOOKS AND ARTICLES:

 

Many useful sources do not have helpful titles or their titles do not let you know the extent of what material they cover in their writing. Thus, one of the best ways to discover relevant material for your topic is to look at the footnotes and bibliography of scholarly works. When a scholarly work you are reading states something of interest, look to see if it is cited. Look up the citation. Is it a primary source? A secondary source? How can you access the material? Is there a copy of the item in Consort? In Ohiolink? Does it circulate outside of it's home library or must you travel to that library to use the material? (Some materials may be housed in a Special Collections room due to age or fragile condition.)

ASSIGNMENT:

• Two sources must be located using the online Consort Card Catalog

   

• Two sources must be located using the online Ohiolink Catalog

   

• Two journal articles located using electronic indices including Art Index, RILA, Eureka, Art Abstracts, etc.

   

• One source located by browsing the stacks

   

• One source located on WorldCat

   

• One source located by using electronic serials

   

• One source located by using scholarly footnotes and ordered through ILL (Interlibrary Loan). During the final steps of requesting an ILL article/book/exhibition catalog, the online ordering system will as you if you would like a copy of your request sent to your email account. Please say 'yes' and included that request in the assignment packet.