Amy,
 
If you have a good local image database, you may already have that "magic database." I also get these kinds of questions all the time and, being both an image cataloguer and a reference librarian, I put all kinds of subject headings into my image records. It's the most fun part of cataloguing for me and it's very satisfying when I get those questions and can quickly find a bunch of artists in the database - with images already attached. If you don't have a good local database, but have ARTstor, you can still do some subject searching, though you can only use keywords in ARTstor and your results all depend on what the particular image suppliers included in their records.
 
Karen Bouchard
Brown University

On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 3:07 PM, Amy Naughton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hello ARLIS members,

I am wondering if you might have some suggestions for me. At my art and design school library, I frequently field reference questions concerning identifying artists working with a certain topic or issue.  My current request is for artists doing work on/about their mothers, communicating with their mothers or their mothers illness, mental or physical.  Other recent examples includes maps, compost and memory. Subject headings in article databases and library catalogs are generally too broad to be helpful, especially  if it is only a part of an artist's work or I am looking for contemporary artists.  I can usually find a few artists, but I am frequently left with an unsatisfactory feeling that my search was missing some good examples.

I know this type of question will keeping coming up.  I have this fantasy of a magic database of artists that I can search with keywords and it isn't Google!

Any ideas or strategies?

Kind Regards,
Amy


Amy Naughton
Public Services Librarian
Minneapolis College of Art and Design

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--
Karen A. Bouchard
Scholarly Resources Librarian for Art and Architecture
Rockefeller Library, Box A
10 Prospect Street
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912  USA

Phone: (401) 863-3218

[log in to unmask]

http://library.brown.edu/sr/profile.php?id=14

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. Cicero.

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Mail submissions to [log in to unmask] For information about joining ARLIS/NA see: http://www.arlisna.org/join.html Send administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc) to [log in to unmask] ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance: http://lsv.arlisna.org Questions may be addressed to list owner (Judy Dyki) at: [log in to unmask]
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