Scholarly Texts from Institutions
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
by named authors published online in Resource Library and a list
of authors of those texts, please click here.
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 to information
- Few libraries in the United States hold numerous exhibition
catalogues, brochures and gallery guides related to American art. Copies
are nearly non-existent outside of the USA. 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.
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- 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 articles and essays in four ways:
by chronological date of Resource Library
publication, by source including non-profit art
museums, galleries and art centers or academies,
associations, ateliers and societies, by author
name and by topic.
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- 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 other methods.
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- Privacy of users is important to TFAO. User tracking
cookies are not installed by TFAO on its website.
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- A benefit of avoiding cookies is accelerated page access.
TFAO users access pages very quickly, often within a fraction of a second.
There is no time lost to cookie site communication. The high quality of
servers used by TFAO also accelerates page access.
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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)
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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.
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Freedom from economic constraints
- Since Resource Library does not bear the cost
burden of printing and distributing articles and essays on paper, complete
texts can be economically published online instead of condensations imposed
by some magazines. Also, there is no charge to readers.
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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.
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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.
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Multimedia connectivity
- In Resource Library editor's notes following many
articles and essays are links to earlier articles and essays published
in Resource Library related to the subject of the texts. Also, links
are made to appropriate Topics in American Art,
which contain links to online texts from sources outside of Resource
Library, audio and video materials, plus references to DVD videos and
paper-printed books and magazine articles. Links are also provided to America's Distinguished Artists to
enable readers to access further biographical information on artists referenced
in the articles and essays.
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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's method
of online presentation makes possible
the option of printing online contents on paper.
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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.
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Other Issues
- Please see more on issues
regarding scholarly texts being addressed by Resource Library
Why is this publication
valuable to the institutional copyright holder?
Fulfillment of Mission
- Texts from museums published online in Resource Library
advance the fulfillment of the education element of mission statements.
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Increased visibility and stimulus for sale of paper-printed
catalogues
- TFAO's website is among the world's most
visited sites devoted to American art. Resource Library increases
visibility of copyright holders' texts, guides viewers to copyright owners'
websites and provides stimulus for physical site visitation plus additional
catalogue sales -- at no cost to the owners of the texts -- to a large
audience. Sources and source documents are thoroughly identified and credited.
Complimentary links are provided to copyright holders' websites and appropriate
phone numbers are provided.
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- Texts are usually unaccompanied by images and related
captions to encourage libraries and the public to purchase publications
from the institution's store and other distribution channels. Members of the public who want images accompanying
texts are generally those seeking to purchase coffee table books. Online
texts without images, however, are valuable to students and scholars conducting
research -- and who are less likely to purchase books.[1]
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- To stimulate sales, many university presses
and commercial publishers including Abbeville have made available on their
websites 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.
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- 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."
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- Please see these texts published online
by Resource Library as examples:
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.
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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. For each
essay or article by a named author, Resource Library posts with
the text information describing its source of permission. This permission
information informs readers that the text is not owned by Resource Library
and provides a cue to contact the copyright holder for permission to further
use the text.
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Protection from unauthorized editing and posting
- Unlike Wikipedia and similar open-editing websites, 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.
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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 institutions 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 an institution 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 an institution 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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reserved.