Scholarly Text from Private Sources

 

 

An emphasis of Resource Library, a publication of Traditional Fine Arts Organization (TFAO), is making available to its online readers scholarly texts beneficial for the study of representational art in the United States covering numerous topics and artists throughout the nation's history. For both a count of articles and essays with named authors published online in Resource Library and a list of authors of those texts please click here.

While the majority of texts published by Resource Library are accepted from institutional sources, topical articles and essays from individuals and other private sources are also published. Texts with solid educational and historic value are welcomed from individual writers, artist organizations and commercial galleries. Texts from galleries are usually essays from exhibition catalogues.

 

Why is this publication valuable to the public?

 

Comprehensive source

Resource Library is the most comprehensive online source of information on American representational art. It is of value to scholars, teachers, students, individuals Shaping an Art Collection and the general public worldwide.

 

Access

Few libraries hold numerous scholarly texts related to American art. Resource Library readers from all corners of America and the world have access to extensive texts and images provided by many institutional and private sources. Click here to view an estimate of TFAO's total quantity of image and text files. Some text files contain many thousands of words.
 
TFAO is unaware of any other online source of information within its field of interest that provides indexes with the depth of those found on TFAO's website. TFAO indexes all articles and essays in four ways: chronological date of Resource Library publication, sources including non-profit art museums, galleries and art centers plus academies, associations, ateliers and societies, authors and topics.
 
All content in Resource Library is searchable both by external search engines and internally, sharply reducing time needed to find relevant information when compared to most brick an mortar libraries.
 
Privacy of users is important to TFAO. User tracking cookies are not installed by TFAO on its website. A benefit of this policy is that users access pages online very quickly.
 
Resource Library's "word-wrap" method of online content presentation allows widths of lines of text to automatically adjust to fit all screen sizes. Pages to be easily read on all devices that connect to the Web including hand-held devices such as the iPhone and iPad. (left and right: the Apple iPhone and iPad, which contain Web browsers, are recent example of devices that provides access to the full contents of TFAO's web site. Images courtesy Apple Computer)
 
 
 
 

Aid for the handicapped

Visual impaired individuals can easily increase the size of Resource Library texts they are reading on the screen. This benefit is possible by the way in which Resource Library publishes articles and essays.
 

Freedom from economic constraints

Since Resource Library does not bear the cost burden of printing and distributing articles and essays on paper, whole texts can be economically published online instead of condensations. Also, there is no charge to readers.
 

Information on authors

For each article or essay attributable to a named author, Resource Library welcomes a 100-150 word narrative biography of the author to enable readers to become familiar with the author's education and accomplishments. This knowledge helps readers judge scholarship quality and provides stimulation for seeking out more of an author's works.
 

Information on catalogues

Where applicable, accompanying each essay Resource Library welcomes a 100-150 word description of the catalogue containing the essay, a photo of the front cover of the catalogue, plus guidance to readers on where to purchase the catalogue.
 

Offline reading convenience

Some individuals prefer to print on paper texts for later reading. Other individuals find uncomfortable the reading of lengthy texts on a computer screen. For these reasons Resource Library makes possible the option of printing online contents on paper.
 

Translation

One of the features of Resource Library's method of presentation is that every published page can be easily translated to a variety of languages through simple online instructions.
 

Other Issues

Please see more on issues regarding scholarly texts being addressed by Resource Library

 

Why is this publication valuable to the copyright holder?

 

Increased visibility and stimulus for sales

Resource Library increases the visibility of copyright holders' texts, guides viewers to copyright owners' web sites and provides stimulus for additional sales -- all at no cost to the owners of the texts -- to a large audience. TFAO's Web site is among the world's most visited sites devoted to American art. Sources and source documents are thoroughly identified and credited. Complimentary links are provided to copyright holders' web sites and appropriate phone numbers are provided.
 
Texts are usually unaccompanied by images and their captions to encourage readers to purchase publications directly through the source's distribution channels. People who most want images accompanying texts are generally those seeking to purchase coffee table books and add them to their collections. Online texts without images, however, are very valuable to students and scholars conducting research -- and who are less likely to purchase books. [1]
 
To stimulate sales, many university presses and commercial publishers including Abbeville have made available on their web sites online essays from art-related titles. In addition, numerous publishers have cooperated with Amazon and Google Books to allow online access to texts in their books. In the case of art books, often these texts are Introductions.
 
Michael Lesk, a professor at Rutgers University, provides related insight into consumer purchasing behavior. He says: "The National Academy Press has, for a few years, been putting all their new books on the Web for free access, and providing the complete text of each book. To the surprise of many, the result has been an increase in their print sales. Similarly the Brookings Institute has put 100 of its books online free, and the paper sales of those books have doubled. This result is perhaps similar to the experience of record companies, which found years ago that having their records played free on the radio increased disk sales."
 
Please see these Resource Library texts for examples:
 
The Pursuit of Form; essay by Peter Campion (11/6/08)
American Printmakers and the Federal Art Project; essay by Mary Francey (10/18/08)
The Art of Vermont; article by Mickey Myers (8/28/08)
Indiana Women Artists: Then and Now; essay by Rachel Berenson Perry (7/7/08)

 

No charges to sources

Resource Library does not charge for publication of articles and essays. Choice of content is not influenced by gifts or sponsorships. Also, Resource Library does not accept advertising.
 

Protection of copyright

Texts are usually republished from paper-printed exhibition catalogues and gallery brochures. Approval is given by the owner of a text for one-time republishing -- with no dilution of the owner's copyright. Resource Library dissuades individuals from copyright infringement and plagiarism in its User Agreement page. TFAO encourages students to thoroughly learn about plagiarism and encourages teachers to explain the meaning of plagiarism, how it may occur, the harm it causes and the legal penalties for its practice. TFAO discusses plagiarism and copyright infringement in the General Resources section of its Resources for Collectors, Life Long Learners, Students and Teachers of Art History.
 

Protection from unauthorized editing and posting

Unlike Wikipedia and similar web sites, texts published in Resource Library cannot be edited or directly posted by the public. To provide oversight of source authenticity, TFAO's director has personally approved all content for publication since Resource Library's inception. Content provided by a named author is never altered without permission of the author. For further information please see errors and omissions, acquisition and deselection of content for the TFAO Digital Library and digitizing initiatives.
 
 

Other texts

Individuals are invited to submit by email information on artists mentioned in previously published Resource Library articles. This information may be intended to enhance or correct previously published information. Accepted text will be placed after the end of the article within a new editor's note. The source of the new information will be given credit for the submission. The name of the source will be accompanied by contact information such as a postal address, email address or phone number. For further information please see errors and omissions.

 

Next steps

 

For next steps, please see information on guidelines for submitting materials. Also please see Resource Library's complete content presentation guidelines.

 

Additional options

 

Resource Library also suggests that private sources of texts consider:

 

Note:

1. Although image captions are usually not included, captions for images included in paper-printed books may be appended to an essay at the request of the copyright holder, following a mutually agreed upon methodology. Also, as stated in Resource Library's Content Presentation Guidelines "In order to preserve the integrity of the original essay text, figure or catalogue image number references within the essay text are preserved. Examples are '...Western paintings (Cat. No. 4)' and '...classes at the Ferrer Center (figs. 23-27)'". 

If a source is in a position to grant to Resource Library permission for inclusion of agreed upon images of art objects with online texts, and wishes this done, the request may be accommodated. Since some images in the possession of a source may be held for the sole purpose of providing publicity for an exhibition or other restricted use, extra caution is in order to protect the usage licenses granted by copyright holders of images.

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