,

 

Resource Library: Indexes and information retrieval

 

 

Indexes

Articles and essays in Resource Library are permanently archived in multiple ways: by date published, by author, by Topics in American Representational Art, through institutional source and state location of each institution. Access is immediate by using any of these index methods. The Resource Library indexing methods allow for fast and convenient pursuit of knowledge by readers. Each subject index constitutes a magazine in its own right as each subject index is rich in periodically published new content. An alternate way to identify specific texts is to use Resource Library's search feature provided by Google..

 

Use of browser refresh or reload feature

Browsers such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Apple's Safari, Netscape, Opera, Firefox, Mozilla and others have a page refresh or reload feature. This feature lets you request a fresh copy of a Web page. When you access a page on the Web that has changed since the last time you saw it, you need to click on the refresh button to see the updated version of the page. This is because your computer will remember and display the last seen version of the page until you refresh or reload it. Resource Library and TFAO pages containing catalogues, indexes and lists are frequently changed to add additional information. Always refresh those pages to view the latest updates.

 

Use of search engines beyond Resource Library's search feature [1]

Search engines give nearly instantaneous results but they are not very smart. If you go to the reference desk in a library, and ask the librarian help in finding information on a specialized subject, the librarian will ask you some questions to get a better idea of what you are looking for. Search engines don't yet do this -- yet. If you spend time looking up information on the Web, it pays to learn how to use search engines to your benefit.

A way to refine search results is to use the Yahoo Search advanced search feature and limit the search to keywords within domains. For instance, if you select .org you will obtain results from museums and other nonprofit organizations. If you select .edu you will retrieve information from university museums. [2]

When searching for information about a specific artist and there are too many search results, do the search again by adding additional keywords to limit the results. Types of additional keywords can include:

Google Book Search provides a powerful tool that allows people to search the full text of a large number of books to find ones of interest and learn where to buy or borrow them. See Google's page About Google Book Search to learn about the full features of this free service.

 

Search advice

Here are web sites with advice on searches:

 

Use of membership search services

A firm named HighBeam Research, Inc. provides enhanced research capability through its HighBeam Library membership service. HighBeam says that "the vast majority of HighBeam Library content isn't available on the free open web." They offer a free "Basic Membership" use of HighBeam Library.

 

Use of an online reference librarian

AskNow provides information without charge from expert reference librarians at over 100 libraries throughout California -- 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Questions may also be answered by librarians in other states through QuestionPoint.

 

Use of catalogues and lists

There are the following TFAO online catalogues and lists to help locate information:

American Art History

American art museums:

American private art collectors:

American art scholars:

Artists:

Audio online TFAO's catalogue of online streaming audio recordings

Books general reference books published on paper

Illustrated audio online streaming online narrated slide shows

Interactive media CD-ROM format

Magazines a comprehensive list of paper-published magazines and journals

Online Articles and Essays hundreds of substantive texts published outside of Resource Library

Videos online a comprehensive catalogue of free online full motion videos

Videos -VHS an authoritative guide to videos in VHS and DVD format

 

Dictionaries

For art terms the 3,300-term Artlex.com useful. If a solution isn't there onelook.com will search over 600 dictionaries at the same time. AskArt.com has a well-presented art glossary.

 

Translations

Through free Web services readers can translate pages to many languages.

 

Text to speech conversion

Quite reasonably priced software is available that allows persons to listen to Web pages instead of reading them on a monitor screen. This software also allows people to create audio files for playing on an MP3 player such as an iPod. Many voice types are available in several languages. After text is translated, it can be converted to speech in an alternate language.

 

Go to:

Notes:

1. Readers using search engines directly access words or phrases in any Resource Library page without going through a "portal" page. Increasingly, search engines are also able to retrieve images such as those in Resource Library. Resource Library does not change the URL addresses of its own content pages once published in order to guarantee long term stability of readers' bookmarks and search engine listings. See the TFAO-dl sections on Content retrieval and Usage for more information. As of April 7, 2004 all content for Resource Library is posted at its new domain name, tfaoi.org. Content published previous to April 7, 2004 remains available at the prior domain name, tfaoi.com. This is a courtesy to readers who created bookmarks for specific Resource Library pages in their browsers prior to the establishment of tfaoi.org. Because of the way search engines operate when two related domain names remain active, advanced searches within only Resource Library's pages require the use of "tfaoi.com" rather than "tfaoi.org" in order to receive complete results.

2. To provide examples of search results using varying approaches Resource Library used two search engines in 2004 to search the Web for pages concerning three well-known American artists. Here are the results when the keywords were the name of the artist:

Andy Warhol

Thomas Hart Benton

Fitz Hugh Lane

For a less well-known, yet considered important, artist such as Augustus Dunbier:

3. Other artist lists

 

rev. 12/6/06

This study will be amended as TFAO adds content, corrects errors and reorganizes sections for improved readability. Refreshing or reloading enables readers to view the latest updates. Links to sources of information outside of our web site are provided only as referrals for your further consideration. Please use due diligence in judging the quality of information contained in these and all other web sites and in employing referenced consultants or vendors. Information from linked sources may be inaccurate or out of date. Traditional Fine Arts Organization, Inc neither recommends or endorses these referenced organizations. Although Traditional Fine Art Organization, Inc. includes links to other web sites, it takes no responsibility for the content or information contained on those other sites, nor exerts any editorial or other control over those other sites. For more information on evaluating web pages see Traditional Fine Arts Organization, Inc.'s General Resources section in Online Resources for Collectors and Students of Art History.

Search Resource Library for thousands of articles and essays on American art.

Copyright 2008 Traditional Fine Arts Organization, Inc., an Arizona nonprofit corporation. All rights reserved.