Individual Article:
University Library and WCAS ask faculty to review the ARTstor image database
Northwestern University has been invited to test ARTstor, a Mellon-sponsored image database with a convenient and powerful web-based viewer. Testing began last fall with 14 institutions and will continue this spring with an additional 20-25 institutions. Testing does not involve money or an obligation to acquire ARTstor when it is released in late summer or fall. Pricing has not yet been determined.
ARTstor's test database offers various image collections, including World Art, Art of Europe and America, and Art of Asia. Over 200,000 searchable images with extensive metadata are available. The images can be displayed in progressive detail.
A premier collection in the test database is the Mellon International Dunhuang Archive. The Art History Department at Northwestern University has been a major contributor to ARTstor. Sarah E. Fraser, Associate Professor, Northwestern, has documented Chinese Buddhist temples with new, interactive photography, laser technology, and metadata to build a complete resource of architecture and wall paintings on China's Silk Route. The work was conducted with a multi-million dollar grant from the Mellon Foundation from 1999-2003.
ARTstor can be accessed at:
http://test.artstor.org/
From the ARTstor home page, click "Enter the Library" at the left and you're in. You can search at this point without registering or logging on.
Introductory, explanatory materials and other ARTstor resources are available at:
http://extranet.artstor.org/
The explanatory materials section of the site is password protected:
username - leonardo
password - davinci
There are no standardized forms, format, or methodology for the testing. However, the WCAS Art History Slide Library is undertaking some organized curriculum-based testing. ARTstor is looking for a range of comments and reactions; for them, nothing is insignificant.
If you have a chance to examine ARTstor, please send your impressions and comments via email to Russ Clement at r-clement@northwestern.edu.
Russ Clement
Head, Art Collection
Northwestern University Library
r-clement@northwestern.edu
x7-6471
Ruth N. Reingold
Assistant Dean for Computing Technology
Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences
reingold@northwestern.edu
x1-2746
-- Russ Clement and Ruth Reingold