Library Guides: Art History 4005W/7005: Art of the Book in Special Collections: Research Databases & Catalogs

Databases for finding articles

Discover@MU
A simple and fast search engine that helps you find relevant information on any topic from the University of Missouri Libraries’ collections. Results contain citations for scholarly journal articles, books and e-books, DVDs, magazines, newspapers, and dissertations.

Discover@MU searches the library catalog, ebooks, online journals, and most of our databases, including the Art Index.
However, we have additional databases that aren't covered by Discover@MU and need to be searched separately.

International Bibliography of Art
Indexes scholarly literature on art.
Subject coverage includes fine arts, decorative arts, museum studies, archaeology, folk art, material culture, classical studies, antiques and architectural history. IBA is the successor to the Bibliography of the History of Art.
Free account can be created for personalization.
Date Coverage: 2008-date
Maximum Users: Unlimited
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Art indexes from the Getty Research Institute
The GRI provides open access to the Répertoire international de la littérature de l'art (RILA) 1975-1989 and to the Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA) 1990-2007.
BHA and RILA cover European and American visual arts material including articles from over 1,200 journals. These citation databases, searchable together, cover material published between 1975 and 2007.

International Medieval Bibliography (IMB)
Covers all subjects pertaining to the European Middle Ages, covering Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The database includes articles, conference proceedings, essay collections, Festschriften and exhibition catalogues in many languages.
Date Coverage: 1967-present
Maximum Users: Unlimited
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Iter Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance
Includes bibliographies of secondary and primary materials related to the period of 400-1700 CE as well as several journals and an international directory of scholars.
Maximum Users: Unlimited

Labyrinth: Resources for Medieval Studies

Finding Books

While articles may seem less intimidating, they tend to be very specific in focus. Books may give a wider context or overview of a topic. In addition, humanities research is often published as individually authored chapters in a book volume or collection.

Discover@MU functions as our book catalog. To limit the results to books only, tick the UM Books box in the left sidebar. This displays books from all four UM campuses. You can request that physical books from other locations be sent to MU for you to use. They're usually delivered in about two business days.

The MOBIUS catalog searches most of the academic libraries in Missouri, including the very strong art history collections at Washington University and the Saint Louis Art Museum. You can request these books too and your MU ID card functions as a library card at any MOBIUS library.

Google Book Search is a system that allows you to search the full text within a book. Very helpful for finding specific information within a book on a broader topic. Although you may not be able to view entire books under copyright, you can identify which books include useful information and then find them in a library.

The Internet Archive also includes the full text of many books. They operate a system of "controlled digital lending", which allows you to register to "borrow" or view books still under copyright for a limited time.