Oxford LibGuides: Art History for Continuing Education short courses: Home

Who can use which resources?

Short course students

(including WOW, Weekly Class and short online courses)

Students enrolled on a Continuing Education short course which includes a written assignment can:

register to borrow books and films from the Continuing Education Library.
access electronic resources such as e-books, journal articles and databases from within the university network, for example in the Library or in the resources room at Ewert House. Weekly class students cannot access subscription e-resources from home, but there are many free online resources available. (See the tabs below for information about subscription and free resources).

Undergraduate and postgraduate students

(including students enrolled on Certificate, Diploma and Masters courses)

Students enrolled on an undergraduate or postgraduate Continuing Education course can:

register to borrow books and films from the Continuing Education Library.
become a member of other Libraries within the Bodleian Group of Libraries (for example the Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library and the Bodleian Library). See a full list of Bodleian Libraries
access electronic resources such as e-books, journal articles and databases from any internet connection using your Single Sign On.

Finding books

Oxford has a wide range of books (including ebooks and print books) for Art History. For more detailed info about finding books visit the books tab on this guide.

SOLO
Search SOLO, the University's resource discovery tool, for print and ebooks at Oxford. You can search by author, title or subject and limit to a specific library or online resources.
SOLO user guide
If you need help with SOLO, take a look at this guide for tips on searching, managing results and using your SOLO account.

Key journals

You can search for individual journal articles in SOLO by searching for the author and/or article title and/or subject keywords.

To check whether Bodleian Libraries provides access to a particular journal, use advanced search in SOLO, then sort & filter results by Material Type > Journals.

You can also use BrowZine (coverage from 2005 onwards).

Below are a few key journals for Art History. See the journal tabs of this guide for more information.

Apollo
Art news, comment, reviews and exclusive interviews with leading artists, curators and collectors.
Art Journal
Journal arranged thematically under a guest editor including articles by and about artists, exhibition reviews, book reviews and lists of books and catalogues received.
SOLO
Search SOLO, the University's resource discovery tool, for print and ebooks at Oxford. You can search by author, title or subject and limit to a specific library or online resources.

Oxford Online Resources

Oxford subscribes to many scholarly databases. They can be used to locate journal articles, conference proceedings, books, patents, images, data and more. You can find some of the key databases for Art History below. Take a look at the 'Oxford's online resources' tab of this guide for more information.

Oxford Art Online
Alternative names: Grove Dictionary of Art ; Grove Art Online

The most comprehensive online reference resource for all aspects of the visual arts worldwide from prehistory to the 1990s.
VADS (Visual Arts Data Service)
VADS is the online resource for visual arts. It has provided services to the academic community for 11 years and has built up a considerable portfolio of visual art collections comprising over 100,000 images that are freely available and copyright cleared for use in teaching, learning and research in the UK.
VADS offers advice and guidance to the visual arts research, teaching and learning communities on all aspects of digital resource management from funding, through delivery and use, to preservation.

Databases A-Z
A full, browsable list of Oxford's online databases.

Free Online Resources

There are many scholarly resources which are freely available on the web. Key free web resources are listed below and on the 'Free Online Resources" tab.

ArtCyclopedia
7,500 + artists with links to images online.
Web Gallery of Art
The Web Gallery of Art is a virtual museum and searchable database of European painting and sculpture of the Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassicism, Romanticism periods (1000-1850), currently containing over 29.000 reproductions.

Finding images

Oxford subscribes to many images databases. If you use image databases purchased by Oxford University, you will be assured of a higher quality product, and images on these databases are copyright cleared for educational use. You can find some of the key images databases for Art History below. Take a look at the 'Finding images' tab of this guide for more information.

ARTstor
Alternative name: ART stor

ARTstor is a non-profit initiative, founded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with a mission to use digital technology to enhance scholarship, teaching and learning in the arts and associated fields. The ARTstor Digital Library Charter Collection is a repository of hundreds of thousands of digital images and related data and the tools to actively use those images.
The ARTstor Library is a collection of collections. It is the product of a growing number of collection development partnerships with individuals and institutions in the US and abroad. The ARTstor Library may be searched as an integrated whole or by its constituent collections.
Users of ARTstor may not use the content in ARTstor for any commercial purpose, including incorporating content in print or electronic publications distributed through a press (whether commercial or non-commercial). Additionally, users may not distribute widely ARTstor content, such as through unrestricted websites.
Bridgeman Education
Alternative name: Bridgeman

Bridgeman Education is an expanding resource currently comprising over 300,000 images representing objects from museums, galleries and private collections, as well as buildings and monuments. Its images cover visual culture worldwide, from pre-History to the present day. Media covered include photography, fine art, engravings, sculpture, architecture, the decorative arts, artefacts and applied arts. It addresses the interests of such disciplines as art, architecture, archaeology, anthropology, & ethnography, history, science & medicine.
All images are cleared for educational use.

Databases A-Z
A full, browsable list of Oxford's online databases.

Rewley House Continuing Education Library

The Library

Contact info

Rewley House Continuing Education Library
Rewley House
1 Wellington Square
Oxford
OX1 2JA

Tel.01865 270454

Email library@conted.ox.ac.uk

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Key Libraries

Here are some of the key libraries for Art History, a full list of libraries is on the Bodleian Libraries website:

Continuing Education Library
The Rewley House Library is your home library and buys many of the books for your course.

Radcliffe Camera
The Radcliffe Camera is home to the History Faculty Library (HFL).
Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library
The Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library is one of the Bodleian Libraries’ principal research libraries, with collections focusing on the study of art as well as other subjects.

Art History for Continuing Education short courses: Home

Purpose of this guide