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Reference Tool Types

Art Collection Index
An index, usually arranged by artist, to artworks owned by museums. Used to identify the location of specific artworks or museums with strong holdings for a particular artist. Used in conjunction with museum catalogs.* Search OBIS by the owning museum to locate specific museum catalogs..
* A list of a museum's holdings, museum catalogs typically detail the artist, title, date, technical information, provenance, exhibition history, and bibliographic citations for each work in their collection.

Biographical Dictionaries
The essays in biographical dictionaries typically focus on those who share a profession, nationality, gender, time period, or a combination thereof.

Databases and Indexes
Online or printed tools used to identify articles on specific topics.  Databases and indexes sometimes contain the needed information but typically lead to another source instead.

Dictionaries/Encyclopedias
Alphabetical listing of definitions and/or essays within a particular subject area

Handbooks
Manuals containing applied information or instruction on a particular subject; "how to" books

Iconography
Specialized dictionaries explaining the meaning of the subjects or symbols in a work of art, including a discussion of any relevant textual sources

Images
Digital or print tools that provide or lead to reproductions of art and architecture

Overviews
Introductory texts or surveys providing a narrative or context by clarifying overarching relationships and concepts

Primary Sources
Texts available to artists or architects as well as those written by them or their contemporaries.  Primary Sources may be translated, in the original language, or both.   Includes Ancient (ex: Greco Roman) texts