Where to Search for Books
Method | What's there |
|
|
IUCAT | Books, journals, maps, etc. already at IU (both physical copies and e-resources). | Covers most topics, materials often immediately available. | |
Worldcat | Books, journals, maps, etc. that may or may not be at IU. | Covers all topics, can find material regardless whether IU happens to own it. | |
Interlibrary Loan | Use this service to order materials that are unavailable at IU (either because IU doesn't own it or it is checked out). | Use alongside Worldcat or when you don't find a book, journal, etc. in IUCAT. | |
Google Books |
|
Ideal for journals and books in the public domain (usually published before 1923). Preview can help locate particularly useful sections. | |
Hathitrust | Scanned books and journals, often the same materials as Google Books | Navigation is often more cumbersome than Google Books, but locating specific journal issues is often easier. |
Here are the top six recommended databases for architecture research. For further options, look at the Specialized Databases page.
Resource for the study and practice of architectural design, based on Birkhäuser's professional architecture books. Includes a large international collection of contemporary buildings, from housing and offices to museums, schools and other building types.
There is a focus on floor plans and other architectural drawings. A large part of the drawings are vector-based.
Resource for the study of architecture, urbanism, and interior design.
Bloomsbury Architecture Library consists of two separate collections: the Core Collection and Architecture Design & Practice Online.
The Bloomsbury Architecture Library Core Collection offers a collection of resources to exploring 5,500 years of the world’s architecture through Sir Banister Fletcher’s Global History of Architecture 21st edition. Browse through an interactive visual timeline of global architectural history; study in-depth buildings pages; or undertake research through Bloomsbury’s library of architecture ebooks.
the Architecture Design & Practice Online collection includes over 200 titles focusing on studio design and professional practice. This fully cross-searchable resource includes introductory texts for students as well as guides for professional architects. It consists of in-depth design guidance and technical detail, up-to-date peer-reviewed content, a wealth of case studies and technical drawings, and over 15,000 images.
Art research database covering fine, decorative and commercial art, as well as areas of architecture and architectural design.
Features full-text articles as well as detailed indexing and abstracts for an array of journals, books, podcasts and more. Also includes periodicals published in French, Italian, German, Spanish and Dutch. Designed for use by art scholars, artists, designers, students and general researchers. Supersedes Art Full Text and includes all the material available from that database.
Full-text archive of magazines comprising research material in the fields of art and architecture, dating from the late-nineteenth century to the twenty-first. Access is for Art & Architecture Archive Collection 1 and 2.
Subjects covered include fine art, decorative arts, architecture, interior design, industrial design, and photography. Includes full-color page images.
Published by the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University, this database indexes journal articles on architecture and design, covering subjects such as the history and practice of architecture, landscape architecture, city planning, historic preservation, and interior design.
Coverage includes international scholarly and popular literature as well as publications of professional associations, state and regional periodicals, and major serial publications on architecture and design of Europe, Asia, Latin America and Australia.
Online audiovisual archive of architecture, founded in 2012 by Chilean architects Felipe De Ferrari and Diego Grass along with psychologist Claudio Mesa. Please note: to access, select the “On Architecture” link on the EBSCO page.
Includes more than 150 interviews and more than 250 portraits of buildings.
Scholarly journals, including those that publish peer-reviewed articles, are a major source of scholarly communication about architecture.
Use the checkbox in these databases to limit your search results to only scholarly articles or peer-reviewed articles.
Art research database covering fine, decorative and commercial art, as well as areas of architecture and architectural design.
Features full-text articles as well as detailed indexing and abstracts for an array of journals, books, podcasts and more. Also includes periodicals published in French, Italian, German, Spanish and Dutch. Designed for use by art scholars, artists, designers, students and general researchers. Supersedes Art Full Text and includes all the material available from that database.
Provides searchable full-text of historical runs of important scholarly journals in the humanities, arts, sciences, ecology, and business.
JSTOR, a not-for-profit organization established with the assistance of The Mellon Foundation, provides complete runs of hundreds of important journal titles in more than 30 arts, humanities, and social science disciplines. These scholarly journals can be browsed online and searched, and the page images can be printed for those available in full-text. The IUB Libraries subscribe to current content for only some titles available through JSTOR. Includes access to the following collections: Arts & Sciences, Business, Hebrew Journals, Ireland Collection, Lives of Literature, Public Health Collection, Security Studies Collection, Sustainability Collection.
All journals in JSTOR start with the first volume. Many include content up to a "moving wall" of 3-5 years ago, although some journals have a fixed ending date for their content in JSTOR. Please check individual journals for exact dates of coverage.
For information about access to this resource for IU alumni, contact the Indiana University Alumni Association.
Specialist bibliography of modern and contemporary art from 1974 to the present.
Includes abstracts of journal articles, books, essays, exhibition catalogs, dissertations, and exhibition reviews. Also incorporates book records, including those drawn from the collections of the Tate Library and the Bibliothèque Dominique Bozo, Musée LAM. Covers performance art and installation works, photography, video art, computer and electronic art, body art, graffiti, artist's books, theatre arts, conservation, crafts, ceramic and glass art, ethnic arts, graphic and museum design, fashion, and calligraphy, as well as traditional media including illustration, painting, printmaking, sculpture, and drawing.
International index to design and craft journals; contains references to 500+ journals published since 1973 and data on over 50,000 designers, craftspeople, studios, workshops, etc.
DAAI, an international index to design and craft journals, contains references from more than 500 design and craft journals published since 1973 as well as data on over 50,000 designers, craftspeople, studios, workshops, firms etc. Coverage includes all areas of design and crafts. DAAI contains four supplementary databases: an education directory of universities and colleges which offer courses in design and craft subjects; an organizations directory of design and craft organizations, societies, associations, and centers; an archives directory of design and craft archives and special collections; and a periodicals directory of design and craft journals.
The databases below provide a wide variety of images of architecture. Printed books are often the best source of images when looking for a specific artwork; use IUCAT to look for books about the architect or architectural style. Find directions for citing images in the Image Citation: Formats and Best Practices guide.
The A&AePortal is an authoritative eBook resource that features important works of scholarship in the history of art, architecture, decorative arts, material culture, photography, and design.
Also provides access to images that accompany scholarly texts.
Digital image library of over 2.5 million digital images in the areas of art, architecture, the humanities, and social sciences. To save or download images, users must register for an individual account.
Users who create an account also gain access to a set of tools for sharing images, curating groups of images, downloading them directly into PowerPoint presentations, and comparing and contrasting images.
Online digital library of images sourced from over 8,000 locations covering the world’s major museums, art collections, and historical sites. Includes access to over 3 million images, all copyright-cleared for educational use.
Image Collections Online showcases image collections curated by libraries, archives, and other cultural-heritage institutions of Indiana University.
Image Collections Online (ICO) includes a variety of historical photographs and images of cultural objects from the Lilly Library, the IU Archives, the Archives of African American Music and Culture, the Liberian Collections, the IU Map Collections, and others. Collection managers interested in submitting their collections for inclusion in ICO should contact the IU Libraries' Digital Collections Services department.
Encyclopedia articles about artists, architects, and artistic movements & periods, as well as bibliographies for further research. Also includes thousands of searchable images.
Provides access to Oxford’s art reference works, including the Grove Art Online, the Benezit Dictionary of Artists, the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms, the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, and the Oxford Companion to Western Art.
An online collection of more than 140,000 images of rare and unique library, museum, and archives collections across the United Kingdom.
The Visual Arts Data Service (VADS) is a Research Centre within the Library and Learning Services Department at the University for the Creative Arts, and specializes in the management, storage, presentation, and archiving of digital images and other arts-based assets. VADS was founded to provide services to the academic community 14 years ago, and since that time it has built an online collection of more than 140,000 images of rare and unique collections from libraries, museums, and archives in universities and colleges across the UK, which are made available online for the purposes of learning, teaching, and research.
The following databases provide streaming films.
500 hours of documentaries and interviews illustrating the theory and practice of a variety of art forms and providing the context necessary for critical analysis.
Covers Renaissance, Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Modern, and Contemporary art. Also includes video on applied topics such as architectural and graphic design.
Access to masterclasses, documentaries, interviews. Includes thousands of videos from top artists and producers.
Includes films across all art forms: from performing to performance, from music to electronic media, from physical to spiritual, from visual arts to photography, fashion and later included philosophy and religion, gastronomy, history and politics and psychology.
Collection of issues-based documentary films from leading film producers and distributors.
Subjects covered include: environmental studies and sciences, sociology, anthropology, global studies, area studies, women’s studies, history, political science, criminal justice, health, psychology, and the arts.
Streaming educational video. Covers a wide range of curricular subjects, including history, biology, business and economics, engineering, computer science, technical and trade skills, art and architecture, music and dance, philosophy and religion, geography, environmental science, anthropology, language and literature, mathematics, psychology, sociology, political science, and more.
Includes titles produced by A&E, PBS, BBC Learning, National Geographic, ABC News, NBC News, CNBC, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, HBO Documentary Films, PBS NewsHour, Open University, Bill Moyers, California Newsreel, Annenberg Learner, TED, Films for the Humanities & Sciences, and more.
This collection assembles hundreds of documentary films and series from the history of the Public Broadcasting Service into one online interface.