Art, Design & Visual Studies
Finding Library Databases Related to Art
You can use the left navigation menu to explore this guide. On this page you will find links to selected Art databases available through Albertsons Library, information on creating a search, information on setting your Library Links in Google Scholar, and more.
For research assistance, please send an email to Elaine Watson, Librarian, at ewatson@boisestate.edu. I am happy to meet with you in-person, or via Zoom or Google Meet.
Art Databases and More
To Find magazine or journal articles, use one of the Art databases below. If you are off-campus, you will have to ender your Boise State username and password.
Multidisicplinary (includes Art topics)
- Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
A leading multidisciplinary research database. Includes full-text peer-reviewed journals, magazines, newspapers, and other valuable resources.
- ProQuest Central This link opens in a new window
An aggregated database of periodical content bringing together complete databases across all major subject areas, including Business, Health and Medical, Social Sciences, Education, Science and Technology, and Humanities, as well as core titles in the Performing and Visual Arts, History, Religion, and Philosophy, and includes thousands of full-text newspapers from around the world.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Browse scholarly journals, books, and primary sources in the humanities, social sciences, and basic sciences from the earliest issues to within a few years of current publication. Now also includes the Artstor image collections.
- Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
Search scholarly literature across a wide variety of disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities, and other websites. Visit the Electronic Resources LibGuide-Google Scholar page to learn more about adding Find it at Boise State! library links to your Google Scholar search.
Art History and Visual Art
- Art & Architecture Complete This link opens in a new window
Art research database that offers more than 300 active full-text art journals and magazines, as well as a collection of more than 63,000 images provided by Picture Desk and others.
- ARTbibliographies Modern (ABM) This link opens in a new window
Note: Due to low use, this database will be canceled and no longer available after October 31, 2024.
Provides information on modern and contemporary art, covering all art forms from traditional media to performance art and installation works.
- Artstor This link opens in a new window
The Artstor platform was retired on August 1, 2024. All Artstor content is now available in the Artstor Collection on the JSTOR platform.
Collections of high-quality images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and social sciences disciplines, curated from leading museums and archives around the world.
- Bibliography of the History of Art This link opens in a new window
Managed by the Getty Research Institute, the Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA) covers European and American visual arts material from late antiquity to the present, indexes and abstracts art-related books, conference proceedings and dissertations, exhibition and dealer's catalogs, and articles from more than 2,500 periodicals.
- Getty Research Portal This link opens in a new window
The Getty Research Portal is a free online search platform providing worldwide access to digitized art history texts in the public domain. Through this multilingual, multicultural union catalog, scholars can search and download complete digital copies of publications for the study of art, architecture, material culture, and related fields.
- International Bibliography of Art This link opens in a new windowIBA is the successor to the Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA) and includes the most recent index records created by the Getty Research Institute as part of BHA, with new records created by ProQuest using the same thesaurus and authority files. Covers the history of art, global art from 1945, museum studies and conservation, and more.
- Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new window
Access and cross-search Oxford's art reference works, Grove Dictionary of Art and Benezit Dictionary of Artists. Provides global coverage of art, architecture, and design with peer-reviewed articles and images of works of art, structures, plans and artists signatures.
Theses & Dissertations
- ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new windowComprehensive collection of dissertations and theses from around the world, offering millions of works from thousands of universities. Full-text coverage spans from 1743 to the present, with citation coverage dating back to 1637.
Other Subject Guides
For databases in other subject areas, see the Subject Guides list.
Creating a Search for a Library Database
In a library database, you must connect your keywords using the Boolean connectors AND, OR, and NOT. Think of this as simple coding that enables the database to understand and execute your search.
julie mehretu AND paintings
julie mehretu AND (painting* OR drawing*) --> Terms separated with an OR must be enclosed in parentheses.
Search Tips
Use an asterisk to find variant endings of a word, or to find the plural of a word.
paint* will find paint, paints, painter, painters, painterly, painting, paintings
drawing* will find drawing, drawings
Use quotations to search for phrases.
kehinde wiley AND "hip-hop culture"
Research Assistance
If you need assistance creating a search on your research topic, contact your librarian.
Google Scholar - Linking to the Library's Find It Links and Catalog
Another place to search for journal and periodical articles is Google Scholar. Below you will find instructions for setting your library links for Boise State University which will allow you to link to full text articles available in the Albertsons Library's subscription databases. You will also be able to link to the Library's catalog for books.
- Go to Google Scholar.
- Select the 3-bar icon
in the upper left. - In the left menu, select Settings at the bottom of the list.
- On the next screen, select Library Links in the left menu.
- Type Boise State University in the search box.
- Select the two check boxes for: a) Boise State University - Find It as Boise State; and b) Open WorldCat - Library Search.
- Select the Save button.
- Now you will be able to see Find It at Boise State links on the right side in your results list. These links may link you to the full text article in a library database or on a publisher's site.
- If you're looking at a book citation in Google Scholar, select the double arrows
, and then select Library Search to search for the book at Boise State University's Albertsons Library. If Albertsons Library owns a copy, select Borrow at the bottom of the record to be directed to the library's site.