- St. Olaf Libraries
- Research Guides
- Art 350: Methods of Art History
- Using Catalyst, the Library Catalog
Art 350: Methods of Art History
LibKey Nomad
Research and Instruction Librarian for Music & Fine Arts
Catalyst: Books, articles, scores, recordings
Want to find materials in specific formats? There are several ways to tell Catalyst what kind of material you want.
Use the buttons on the top: Make sure you are in the "Advanced Search" module of Catalyst. You can get there by clicking the "Advanced Search" button on the library's homepage. The "Audio/Visual" button along the top tells Catalyst you wants recordings. The "Books" button will search for both books and scores.
Use the Material Type menu: Make sure you are in the "Advanced Search" module of Catalyst. You can get there by clicking the "Advanced Search" button on the library's homepage. On the right is a section headed "Material Type." Click the dropdown menu to select the format you want. You can limit your search to scores, film/visual recordings, or sound recordings. This side menu will default to electronic recordings and videos; if you are looking for physical formats like CDs, use the top buttons instead.
A few more tips:
- Once you are in your results list, use the menu on the left to filter out whether you want physical materials or online materials.
- While Catalyst can be a good place to start your research, not all our online library resources will show up in your results, so be sure to check out the individual databases, too!
- Materials at Carleton may be requested directly from Catalyst and are delivered twice a day Monday through Friday!
Search Term Tips
You may not be able to search for books or articles by doing a general search using the name of a particular art object. Unless it is a piece as major as the Mona Lisa, discussion of an individual artwork will probably be included in the context of a book or article covering a particular artist, historical period, genre, or culture.
For example, if I search Catalyst for "Rain Shadows" by environmental artist Andy Goldsworthy, all Catalyst gives me is is resources about meteorology and climate.
Instead, before starting your search, map out some possible strategies for finding the literature. Here are some examples of things to consider -- you can mix and match them in your search.
Artist's Name (if known): Andy Goldsworthy, Alma Thomas, Claude Monet
Culture: e.g. Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Japanese, etc.
Historical Period: e.g. 2nd Century, Egypt - Middle Kingdom, etc.
Material: e.g. ceramic, granite, bronze, etc.
Object: e.g. figure, deity, jar, boat, relief, etc.
Theme: e.g. paradise, family, marriage, offering, agriculture, etc.
Genre: e.g. sculpture, painting, architecture, etc.
Here's a sample search for Japanese paintings of animals:
