University of Essex
The Albert Sloman Library
Database Guide

Bibliography of the History of Art

The Bibliography of the History of Art is a bibliographic database which indexes and abstracts art-related books, conference proceedings, dissertations, exhibition catalogues and articles from over 4,300 periodicals. Encompassing writings from 1973 to the present, this database covers visual arts in all media, including traditional fine arts (painting, sculpture, drawing, architecture), decorative and applied arts, photography and performing arts. 

1. Accessing the Bibliography of the History of Art

Bibliography of the History of Art is available from the E-Resource and Database menu on The Albert Sloman Library website.

Search for Bibliography of the History of Art as Resource Name or select from the alphabetical list and then click on the title to access.

N.B. This database can be accessed from either on- or off-campus. See also the Guide to Accessing

E-Resources  page on the website for further login information.

2. Beginning your search

Firstly you need to select Bibliography of the History of Art by ticking the box(es) next to it in the list of databases offered. Then click start searching at the top right-hand side of the screen. Before starting to search, you may wish to click on the Database guide link at the top of the screen. This gives you access to information about the contents of the database and to detailed training material provided by the Bibliography of the History of Art. 

2.1. Choosing what type of search to do

You have a choice of Standard search or Advanced Search. You are automatically presented with the Standard search screen, but you can choose Advanced search from the toolbar at the top of the screen. Standard search is best used for simple searches with one search term and searching only in one field. For anything more sophisticated, Advanced search is recommended.

2.2. Constructing a search

The same rules apply in both Standard search and Advanced search. First, you should decide which sections of the database entries you want to search (title, author, subject, etc.). The default in both Standard search and Advanced search is to search for terms anywhere in the records, but you can use the pull-down menus to the right of the search box(es) to change this. Remember that you cannot search the full text of journal articles, only the fields offered here. You should also note that a greater number of options are available from the Advanced search screen.

It is possible to choose a specific year or range of years to search if you do not want to search the entire date range covered by the database. In Advanced search, you also have the option of limiting the search by language, and you can choose from the options in Document type to restrict your search to a specific type of material, e.g. only book reviews.

Phrase searching: if you enter more than one search term into any search box, the Bibliography of the History of Art  will automatically search for these words together as a phrase. To find records which contain two or more of your search terms in any order, you will need to use Boolean/proximity operators (see below).

Please note that the Bibliography of the History of Art is not case sensitive and does not take account of punctuation.

2.3. Using Boolean and proximity operators

You can use Boolean and/or proximity operators (and, or, not, near and with) to create a more precise query.

Use and to find records that contain both, or all of, your search terms, e.g. Whistler and London.

Use or to find records that have one of your search terms, e.g. Whistler or London, but not necessarily both of them. Although using or can be useful for finding synonyms, alternative spellings and abbreviations, it can give you a very large number of results, many of which will be irrelevant. For this reason, it should be used with caution.

Use not to find records that include your first term but exclude your second, e.g. Whistler not London.

Use near to find records with both search terms in the same sentence. For example, Whistler near London retrieves records where Whistler and London appear in the same sentence (in any order). You can also add a number to specify exactly how close the two terms must be. Whistler near2 London retrieves records with Whistler within two words of London (in any order).

Use with to retrieve records with both search terms in the same field. For example, Whistler with London retrieves records with both Whistler and London in a single field (e.g. in the title field). 

2.4. Wildcards

Wildcards (*, ?) allow you to search for different forms of a word, thus:

* allows you to truncate a word, and can represent any number of letters. For example, sculpt* will find records containing sculpture, sculptor, sculptures, etc. 

? allows you to match one or no characters in the middle or at the end of a word. For example, colo?r will find records containing both color and colour.

2.5. Indexes

Use the Indexes to look up terms for searching, to find out the number of times a specific word appears within the database, or to search for multiple terms. Click on the Index button on the toolbar at the top of the screen.

3. Displaying your results

The Bibliography of the History of Art  will automatically display the first 10 results matching your search. The display at the top of the list tells you how many results you have found. If you have a large number of results, you will need to click on the arrow icons at the top of the list to move from one page to another. If you want to change the display to show different fields, or to sort your results in a different order, click on the Change display button at the top left of the list.

4. Exporting results

There are three ways in which you can export your results: you can print them out, save them, or email them. To select individual items which are of interest, rather than just exporting your entire list of results, you need to Mark the records you find most relevant. You can do this by ticking the box next to the record number. Once you have done this, click on the icon for either Print, Save or Email at the top right of the screen. You can then select whether you want to export just the marked records or the whole list, select which fields you want to output, and decide whether you want your search history included in the material exported. When you have made your selections, click on Print (or Save, or Send mail) at the top right of the screen.

5. Ending your search

It is important to end your session properly. To close your session on the Bibliography of the History of Art, please click on the Logout button at the top right of the screen.

6. Getting help

Online help can be accessed from within the Bibliography of the History of Art by clicking on the Help link at the top of the screen.

There is also an online tutorial for the WEBSPIRS software at:

http://www.silverplatter.com/training/index.html

If you require further assistance in using this database, please contact:

Esther Wilkinson
E-mail: ewilkin
Telephone extension: 3181 

If you experience technical difficulties when using this database, please contact: 

Caroline Checkley
E-mail: checkc 
Telephone extension: 3181

See also the Guide to Accessing E-Resources page on the Library website.

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Non-essex users should add @essex.ac.uk to create the full email address. Page last updated on 29 September 2011.