Welcome to the Curation: Contemporary Art and Cultural Management Subject Guide
Use this guide to help you make the most of the library and information resources and services.
Click on the images to access the tutorials.
Search across the print and online collections for books, chapters, articles, journals and lots more.
For more in depth research in databases and archives, use the A-Z Databases List.
Academic DatabasesThe following databases will help you discover material related to art history and visual culture. You have access to further resources via the Art History and Visual Culture subject list area in the A-Z Databases list
Business DatabasesThe following databases will help you discover business resources. You have access to further collections via the Business, Accounting and Finance subject list area in the A-Z Databases list.
The Business, Accounting and Finance Subject Guide is a good gateway to the wider collections we hold and also provides online training and tutorials.
Research DatabasesResearch databases index the global literature and provide references to journal articles, books, conference proceedings, reports etc that match your search criteria. They help you to find information about previous publications in your research field.
Use the How to Search JSTOR LibGuide for an introduction to the database or click here for a video on how to use JSTOR ebooks.
Theses are academic sources of information and the result of substantial primary research into specialised topics. They provide very detailed data and analysis, and can provide information that is unavailable elsewhere. Their bibliographies can be a useful source of wider reading on a topic. They are extremely valuable sources of information.
Search for University of Exeter, UK and international theses here: Theses LibGuide.
Use the A-Z Database List to access the full list of databases the library subscribes to.
You can browse by subject e.g. Art History and Visual Culture or type (e.g.maps, news, images etc.) or search to find your required resource.
Allied subjects include Classics, Drama, Film Studies, and Business. You will also find LibGuides available for these and other subject disciplines.
Explore research materials available elsewhere
Library Hub Discover - Search the catalogues of over 100 major UK and Irish national, academic and specialist libraries to find books, journals and other materials
WorldCAT - Search the collections of over 10,000 worldwide libraries
The European Library - Access to the collections of the 48 National Libraries of Europe and leading European Research Libraries.
The Library of Congress - Catalogue records of the print and digital resources held in the Library of Congress collections (USA)
LibWeb - Find online library catalogues worldwide
CORE - Search the world's largest collection of open access research papers
Magazine archives
You are likely to use a wide range of different types of information sources for your research. As well as academic sources such as books and journal articles, you may want to use audio-visual sources such as images, illustrations, film and sound; primary materials such as 3-dimensional objects, maps; ephemera etc. Use the online support highlighted here to guide your searching
Online Books
You have online access to hundreds of online books that cover art history and visual culture. Use the Library Search to search by topic to discover relevant content. Take a look at the following to give you an idea of how you can search and browse online books like these.
Print Books
The Forum Library print books are arranged in Dewey Decimal Classification order. This means that books on similar topics are grouped together. Find out more with our Classmarks guide. The majority of books on art related subjects will be found at number 700 in the library, for example:
| 700 | The Arts (General) |
| 701 | Art philosophy and theory |
| 708 | Galleries and museums |
| 709 | Art history |
| 730 | Sculpture and sculptors |
| 740 | Drawing, graphic design and decorative arts |
| 750 | Paintings and painters |
| 770 | Photography and photographers |
| 791 | Film and cinema
|
| 792 | Stage and theatre |
However, art history and visual culture is a wide ranging discipline and you are likely to wish to consult materials from other areas such as History, Philosophy and Sociology - to name just a few! Library Search will help you locate these materials.
The vast majority of our journal articles are available in digital format, although we do keep older print journals in the Forum Library.
Our journal databases may offer full text access or abstracts only, or sometimes a mixture of both.
Our wide range of archive collections contain digitised copies of documents, letters, books , photographs and other primary sources. The Primary Sources libguide introduces the library’s collections and provides links to as well as some freely available archival collections online.
It’s worth remembering that not everything you require will be available online! You may need to make research trips to access print material as well. Don’t forget the Library’s Special Collections archive holds primary source material you can use.
A full list of image databases can be found here in the A to Z database list.
There are lots of museum and gallery websites such as the British Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, Tate Galleries, National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery etc. that have quality images of their collections.
However, copyright restrictions apply to the use of images, and this will vary depending on who owns the copyright and how you want to use the image. Check the licence details on the website if in doubt. See our Using Images LibGuide for more information.
These are just a few of the audio-visual databases that we subscribe to. You can see a fuller list in the A to Z database here.
There are a number of collections that can be accessed locally in the Exeter area.
It is important to plan your search strategy, and manage your search results so that you get the most from your online searching.
Keep a record of all the material you need to cite in your assignments, papers, projects etc.
Use the Search Techniques and Referencing guidance to assist you.
As you search you need to keep track of all the material you will be using in your academic work so that you can cite and reference it appropriately.
Always check your module handbook for specific departmental guidance on the style required for your assessed works and dissertations. Check with your personal tutor or dissertation supervisor if you need clarification.
For more guidance take a look at:
Linking the University of Exeter Library to Google Scholar
Google Scholar is an online, freely accessible search engine for locating scholarly literature from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites. But not all full text content is free to access.
However, it is possible to link the University of Exeter online library to Google Scholar, making it quick to identify and access library full text content.
Just follow these instructions:
Click on Check for this @ Exeter or Access this @ Exeter options to view full text article:
Find out more here: Making the most of Google Scholar
Sage Research Methods Online (SRMO) is a great resource to use when you are planning and conducting your research.
It is targeted at social science researchers but is useful across all subject areas as it covers key research methodology topics that are applicable across the research spectrum.
Sage have produced a comprehensive LibGuide to help you get the best from the resource.
As a postgraduate student, at some point in your research, you may need to access resources held outside of the university library collections.
The library offers a number of services to help you access these materials. Find out more by exploring the guides below.
