Where to Search for Books
| Method | What's there | Why use it |
| 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 | Books and journals that Google has scanned from many Library collections. Many items are available only in preview or snippet view. | 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 |
Book Catalog Search Tips
What Expert Researchers Know
| Type of Book | How to Use These Books |
| Exhibition Catalogues |
These titles document museum and gallery shows; are often the best source for high-quality images; and usually include artist biographies, curatorial essays, artist interviews and/or writings, and career chronologies. Use the term "Exhibitions" as part of your keyword or subject search in IUCAT. |
| Monographs | These are books by or about artists published independent of any exhibition. Usually, these are in-depth writings that analyze or provide context for an artist and his/her work. Look for words like "Criticism and Interpretation" in the subject heading of a book. Search in IUCAT using "criticism" or "analysis" as keywords. |
| Catalogues Raisonné | The catalogue raisonné is an important tool for provenance research and for establishing the oeuvre of an artist; it normally contains provenance for each version of a work of art. Each work is pictured, with scholarly opinions, provenance, literature about the work, and sales information (when known). Search this Catalogues Raisonnés resource from the International Federation for Art Research to locate published and forthcoming titles. Use IUCAT to locate catalogues raisonné in IU Libraries |
Here are the top six recommended article databases for art and art history research. For further options, look at the Specialized Databases page. Articles may be published by scholarly journals, magazines, or newspapers. In addition to news and criticism, you can find exhibition reviews and artists interviews in these 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.
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.
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.
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.
Scholarly literature for European art from late antiquity to the present, American art from the colonial era to the present, and global art since 1945.
The International Bibliography of Art (IBA) is a resource for scholarly literature on western art. IBA is the successor to the Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA), and includes the most recent index records that were created by the Getty Research Institute as part of BHA. These records were created in 2008-2009, and cover scholarship up to 2009, including retrospective records for material published in previous years.
ProQuest uses the Getty Research Institute’s own thesaurus and authority files. The bibliography provides authoritative coverage of international scholarship within the following broad parameters: European art from late antiquity to the present, American art from the colonial era to the present, global art since 1945, visual arts in all media, plus decorative and applied arts, museum studies and conservation, archaeology and classical studies, antiques and architectural history, and related fields. Contains scholarship from at least 500 core journals, and includes detailed coverage of monographs, essay collections, conference proceedings and exhibition catalogues. Includes international coverage, with at least 60% of records from non-English-language publications (principally German, French, Italian and Spanish).
The databases below provide a wide variety of image of visual artworks. Printed books are often the best source of images, when looking for a specific artwork; use IUCAT to look for books about the artist or artistic movement. 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.
If you setup your A&AePortal account using your @indiana.edu email address, you will need to update the address to your @iu.edu email address before December 31, 2025. Please use the following instructions to update your account:
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.
If you setup an Artstor account using your indiana.edu, you will need to update the address to your iu.edu before December 31, 2025. Please use the following instructions to update your account:
Note: While this updates the email address associated with your account, your username will not change. If you used your indiana.edu email address as your username, you may optionally contact Artstor support at support@jstor.org to request that they update your username to match your iu.edu. This step is not required.
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.
Over 14,000 Kodachrome slides by amateur photographer Charles W. Cushman (1896-1972) about his travels in the United States and abroad.
Taken by amateur photographer Charles Weever Cushman between 1938 and 1969, the images document an amazing cross-section of American and international subjects, from inner-city storefronts and industrial landscapes to candid portraits and botanical studies. The collection is part of the Indiana University Archives. The richly saturated Kodachrome slides add color to an era primarily recorded in black and white, "a world that we had long since resigned ourselves to viewing only in shades of gray," writes Eric Sandweiss, IU Carmony Chair and Professor of History, in an essay included on the collection's Web site. "In Cushman's work," he observes, "the past becomes, for an instant, impossibly present."
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.
Provides fulltext access to a hard-to-find comics, from the pre-Comics Code era to the present. Also includes materials about comics--interviews, commentary, theory, and criticism--from The Comics Journal and other secondary sources. Includes access to Volumes 1 through 3.
Covers pre-Comics Code era horror, crime, romance, and war comics that fueled the backlash leading to one of the largest censorship campaigns in US history. Selections include works by visionaries such as Alex Toth, Boody Rogers, Fletcher Hanks, Steve Ditko, Joe Kubert, Bill Everett, Joe Simon, and Jack Kirby, along with essential series such as Crime Does Not Pay and Mister Mystery, and many others both famous and infamous. Also includes modern material from artists such as Basil Wolverton and Harvey Kurtzman, R. Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, Harvey Pekar, Spain Rodriguez, and Vaughn Bode, and modern masters including Peter Bagge, Kim Deitch, Dave Sim, Dan Clowes, and Los Bros. Examines trends and developments particular to the current state of comics in North America — digital creation tools, innovative shifts in art and narratives, and the rise of independent publishing houses and diverse voices. It also provides in-depth coverage of the history and creators of some of the most popular comics and graphic novels ever created.
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.
Searchable, full text of Vogue magazine.
The Vogue Archive is a fully searchable, full content run of the U.S. edition of Vogue magazine from its first issue in 1892 to the present month. It includes every page of each issue (articles, advertising, covers) and high-resolution color images. You may search for advertisements, articles, contributors, covers, fashion shoots, fiction, letters From The Editor, letters to the editor, masthead, poems, cartoons, charts, diagrams, illustrations, infographics, logos, and photographs.
In general, start your search in ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. If you are looking for an IU dissertation and cannot find it in ProQuest, search IUCAT. If it is not in IUCAT, search WorldCat.
For search tips, visit the IU Libraries' guide to Finding Dissertations & Theses.
Comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses from around the world, including millions of works from thousands of universities. Each dissertation published since July, 1980 includes a 350-word abstract written by the author. Master's theses published since 1988 include 150-word abstracts. Simple bibliographic citations are available for dissertations dating from 1637.
Includes the following:
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses: UK & Ireland
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses: A & I
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses: CIC Institutions
The Indiana University online catalog.
IUCAT, Indiana University's online library catalog, provides comprehensive access to millions of items held by the IU Libraries statewide, including books, recordings, US government publications, periodicals, and other types of material. Users can access IUCAT from any Internet-connected computer or device, whether in the libraries, on campus, or off campus.
WorldCat.org lets you search the collections of libraries in your community and thousands more around the world.
Includes popular books, music CDs and videos—all of the physical items you're used to getting from libraries. You may also find article citations with links to their full text; authoritative research materials, such as documents and photos of local or historic significance; and digital versions of rare items that aren't available to the public. Because WorldCat libraries serve diverse communities in dozens of countries, resources are available in many languages.
The Libraries' subscription includes access to a book recommendations AI research tool. This tool is in beta, and may be removed from the Worldcat site without advance notice.
If you created an optional WorldCat account using your indiana.edu email address you will need to update the account to use your iu.edu email address before December 31, 2025.
Free database providing access to records for more than 1.2 million electronic theses and dissertations from around the world.
Includes content from American Doctoral Dissertations, a comprehensive record of dissertations accepted by American universities, the print index Doctoral Dissertations Accepted by American Universities. Searched by author, title, subject and university.
Looking for examples of IU MFA theses, including accompanying images? Email archives@indiana.edu with your request.