The AMICO Library is “a growing online collection of high‐quality, digital documentation of works of art from around the world” (www.amico.org/AMICOlibrary/contents.html). The library’s collection covers a wide variety of works of art, more than 100,000 items in all, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, watercolors, prints, photographs, textiles, costumes and jewelry, decorative arts, books, and manuscripts. The collection’s contents represent works from cultures around the world and cover a time period from prehistory to the present. Updated every July, the collection contains the most currently contributed holdings of its member organizations, which include the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, just to name a few. These contributions take the form of colour reproductions, available in thumbnail, medium and full‐size images.
The record for each work of art contains a host of information. This includes: object type; physical dimensions; subject headings; materials and techniques; dates of birth and death of the artist; artist nationality; date the work was created; narrative description; the owner of the work and owner credit; copyright information; year the work was added to The AMICO Library; physical description.
The Library’s collection is very user‐friendly. I accessed The AMICO Library through the interface provided by H.W. Wilson, one of its distributors. Within WilsonWeb, if the Library subscribes to more than one Wilson database, the initial screen requires users to select one or more of them in which to search. Once they are selected, the search screen provides the fields from which users can choose. I was able to navigate both basic and advanced searches rather easily. The initial screen of the advanced search contains three search boxes and three pull‐down menus for selecting search fields. These choices correspond to the fields found in the records for each work of art. Users can sort the results by date or relevance or customize the display, again based on the record fields. Date limiting is also available for any date within the last 12 months or a range of years. Finally, users can limit searches by document type and physical description, depending on the medium of the work of art in question. WilsonWeb’s screen presentation is clean, with appropriate colours that do not interfere with the searching activities. The text within the records is easy to read and has been properly edited. Using Georgia O’Keeffe (in the artist field) and Cross (in the title field) as my search terms in an advanced search, I was able to locate one record that had a reproduction of O’Keeffe’s Black Cross, New Mexico. Depending on the type of Internet access that users have, the download speed for the graphics will vary. For users who retrieve only one result, as I did for the O’Keeffe work, the download time will be quick. However, when I did another search using Brancusi (in the artist field) and Sculpture (in the object type field), I got 14 results, which took some time to download via dial‐up.
The search capabilities of The AMICO Library are contingent upon the interface used. Within WilsonWeb, I was able to perform both basic and advanced searches on a variety of fields using Boolean operators, and I was able to print, e‐mail, and save my results. These are all qualities that any level of user would find beneficial in their own searching endeavours. I combined my searching of the library with two other art‐related databases from H.W. Wilson, Art Full Text and Art Index Retrospective, and found this threesome to be very beneficial. With this combination, I was able to find articles, books, and art reproductions of the artists and works of art in question, making my searching that much more productive and less time‐consuming. By being able to find not only written scholarship but also reproductions of my topic all in one location, I found the research process to be more satisfying. This is a factor I am sure other research institutions would desire for their patrons as well. WilsonWeb provides access to help files for each of the databases in its collection. The AMICO Library’s help file contains explanations for each of its fields, as well as tips on how to use the limit fields to fine‐tune a search. There are also an online technical support e‐mail link and a toll‐free number to call for assistance.
The AMICO Library’s authority in its subject area is obvious, given that its member organizations are leaders in the art world. The educational mission of the organization further reinforces the value and quality of the collection and keeps any potential bias on the part of the materials included to a minimum, if not completely non‐existent.
In closing, I highly recommend this resource to all educational institutions, from K‐12 schools to universities and colleges to museums, as well as the libraries found within these places. The AMICO Library is easy to use, and it provides a unique component to art and art history research. It can also be used in many other humanities and social science areas of research, either independently for locating art reproductions or in combination with bibliographic tools like indexing or article databases. Perhaps the only change I would make would be more frequent updating, such as on a quarterly basis, rather than annually as at present.
