Scholarly Texts from Institutions
An emphasis of Traditional Fine Arts Organization's Resource
Library publication 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
from paper-printed sources published online in Resource Library and
a list of authors of those texts please click here.
Why is this publication
valuable to the public?
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 texts from exhibition catalogues and
other sources.
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- Resource Library's use of
HTML word wrap feature allows for widths of lines of text to automatically
adjust to fit
various screen sizes. Word wrap makes
it possible for Resource Library pages to be easily read on all
devices that connect to the Internet including computers and hand held
devices. (right: the Apple iPhone, which contains a browser, is
a recent example of a device that provides access to the full contents
of TFAO's web site. Image courtesy Apple Computer)
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- 100% of the content of texts in Resource Library
is searchable both by external search engines and internally, sharply reducing
the time needed to find relevant information.
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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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Ease of quotation
- Resource Library
allows contents of articles and essays to be copied and pasted into offline
documents in order to facilitate placement of quotations into texts being
prepared by students and scholars.
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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, whole
texts can be economically published online instead of condensations. 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 narrative biography of the author
to enable readers to become familiar with the author's education and accomplishments.
This knowledge helps readers judge the quality of the scholarship.
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Offline reading convenience
- From time to time, some individuals will 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 on paper its online contents.
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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 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 sales
- TFAO's website is the world's most
visited site devoted to American art. Resource Library increases
visibility of copyright holders' texts, guides viewers to copyright
owners' web sites 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' web
sites and appropriate phone numbers are provided.
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- Texts are usually unaccompanied by images and related
captions to encourage readers to purchase publications from the institution's
store and other 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]
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- 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.
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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. Conversely, no payment is made to copyright
owners for published texts. 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.
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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.
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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.
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Copyright 2008 Traditional Fine Arts Organization, Inc., an Arizona nonprofit corporation. All rights
reserved.