CCL-EAR Committee Review Of The Grove Dictionary of Art Online June, 1999

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1 CCL-EAR Committee Review Of The Grove Dictionary of Art Online June, 1999 The California Community College Libraries, Electronic Access to Information Resources Committee (CCL-EAR) undertook a two-week "hands-on" study of the Web version of The Grove Dictionary of Art Online. This database is published by Grove Dictionaries, Inc. The Dictionary of Art is a comprehensive art reference work covering all forms of the visual arts: painting, sculpture, architecture, graphic and decorative arts, and photography, from prehistory to the 1900's. The online version also provides over 10,000 web links to museums, galleries and art collections around the world. Online access is offered to all of the print versions 41,000 articles covering people, places, historical and country surveys, schools and 720,000 index entries. The electronic version also offers the advantage of frequent updating. In December of last year, Grove announced a partnership with The Bridgeman Art Library which will bring up to 100,000 additional color images to the database by the end of The Bridgeman Art Library Online represents the art of over 750 musuems and other collections worldwide. Each CCL-EAR committee member independently, or in concert with other qualified professionals on their campus library staff, reviewed and evaluated The Grove Dictionary of Art Online. Assessments were submitted on a Review Reply Form specifically designed by the Committee for this purpose. Though other staff may have helped in the review process, completion of the form was by the CCL- EAR committee member only and not transferred to another. Ratings were based upon the potential value of the proposal to the California Community Colleges as a whole and not solely on the needs of any specific campus. Attributes of the information resource were assessed on a scale of 1 to 4 with 1 representing the "least value" and 4 representing the "most value". The following attributes were examined: INFORMATION DATABASE Consider its functionality, the appropriateness of format (bibliographic/full-text), the content of the information, the adequacy of coverage (retrospective, current), and its value to the California Community Colleges as a whole. SEARCH INTERFACE Consider the functionality and ease of use of the interface. Is it intuitive or is an excessive amount of training required? Are any crucial features missing from the search interface? USER SUPPORT SERVICES If documentation is required for successful use of product, is it available, comprehensive, and well written? Is online help adequate and user friendly? Does vendor supply training if it is needed? Is a telephone helpline available?

2 COST If cost is available, does it seem reasonable in terms of comparable products? ACCESSIBILITY OF SERVICE Is access/connection to product reliable and stable? Is response time adequate? OVERALL ASSESSMENT #1 --- No Support #2 --- No Support at this time. Future support conditional upon enhancements noted below in Comments Section. #3 --- Support and Recommend proposal be forwarded to California Community College libraries for their acceptance or rejection. Would like to see enhancements in product noted below in Comments Section. #4 --- Outstanding offer and opportunity. Recommend proposal be forwarded to California Community College campus libraries for their acceptance or rejection. Following are the results of the CCL-EAR Committee's review as well as comments taken from the individual Review Reply Forms. INFORMATION DATABASE: (4, 3, 4, 3) Grove's Dictionary of Art is a full-text comprehensive art database for worldwide coverage of the visual arts from pre-history through the 1900's. In addition to full-text, there is access to over 30,000 searchable color images. The treatment of material is scholarly in comprehensiveness and easily accessible to a wide general audience in terms of reading level and presentation of the material. The on-line version of Grove's Dictionary of Art contains the same articles as in the print version without the illustrations and diagrams that accompany the print articles. To make up for this they provide links to resources found at other sites. This works for some of the entries but for those that have architechural illustrations this could be a drawback. Also, the links are not to the same image as

3 in the print version. But this is still an excellent art resource and with the different ways to search the database it could be a good addition to a library's database collection. This database is a treasure trove for students of art history and art lovers in general: 41,000 scholarly articles on world art, with links to images and additional art-related information in museum and other web sites. It claims to cover "all aspects of the visual arts from prehistory to the 1990s", including influences on the production of art such as trade, geography, history and politics. One obvious advantage of an online version is that is can be easily updated, and Grove is already adding artists which did not get included in the print version. (I didn't see any indication of what the update schedule is, if there is one). The text is an online version of the 34-volume print set, but many of the images from the print version are not in the online version (copyright problems, I assume). Instead, the online text is supplemented by thousands of links to images elsewhere on the web, usually in museums. Of course anyone can view these images on the web, but it's very convenient to have them all brought together into one place and set next to the many scholarly articles included in the Dictionary. A partnership with the Bridgeman Art Library has provided access to an additional 30,000 searchable, high quality color images which are 'not' freely available on the Web, with another large infusion to come by December. The Bridgeman images are disappointingly small (I didn't see any larger than about 4"x6"), but what a rich collection! I do wish they'd remove the index entries for images which are not actually viewable (copyright?). I did one search which turned up nothing but little yellow squares telling me that the images were not available and that I should "contact the library to view. You can tell that the text parts were just lifted out of the print version and plunked into the online version. I wish that the image links and related pages were better integrated with the text. There are many obvious links which could be made to topics already in the Dictionary which at present are just text. I wish there were more information in this database (as well as in its print counterpart) on specific pieces of art. References to works of art are found in the article on the artist, but the ones I saw were brief and individual titles have not been indexed in most cases. The reading level of this tool seems quite high, and some community college students (ESL, remedial, learning disabled) will probably have difficulty with that. However our print version is heavily used. The quantity and quality of the contents is excellent. A very nice touch is the indication of the length of the article following entries in the browse index. However, some of the articles on living artists do not seem to include the most recent information. SEARCH INTERFACE: (3, 3, 3, 2) The Grove search interface is attractive in presentation and well organized for providing quick, intuitive access to the information provided. There are extensive searching strategies including concept, pattern, boolean and expert modes. Searching by adjacency and with wildcards is also

4 provided. The user can also limit a search to an entire article or the full-text of any articles referencing the desired subject. Bibliographies, contributors to the dictionary, and captions of art works can also be searched. Once an article has been located, the user is presented with a link to appropriate; available images; maps, charts and diagrams and; an explanation of abbreviations used in the text. An outline of the contents of the entire article is also available, allowing the user to get a sense of the scope of the material and to access a specific section of the article, if desired. Cross-references and image links within the article are also provided. And finally, there are links to museums and art-related websites outside the database. I consistently had problems searching the Bridgeman Art Library Archive. I was able, for example, to search "cubism" and retrieve 12 items, but I was always met with the same message: image not available online-please contact the library to view. This product provides many ways to find information, a simple and advanced search mode, an index search and a browse mode. All are easy to use without much help needed. On the article page are arrows to go forward and backward in the article and to go forward and backward in the result list. The frame to the right of the article tells the user if there are linked images available, charts and graphs and offers an abbreviation help. I liked the abbreviation help feature, many times in the print version it is difficult to tell what they mean or to figure out where the piece of artwork is. By typing in the abbreviation (but don't use periods!) you can find out easily what they are talking about. It is clear on the main search page how to customize a search. I found the browse and index modes useful. For those who are not familiar with how to print from frames, there should be better instructions for printing. This interface is clean, understandable and visually beautiful (as you would hope in an art source). Button captions are clear, and buttons are well located. Two broad search methods are offered: 1) a basic keyword search of either "article topics" or "article contents" or 2) any of a variety of "Index" searches. The KEYWORD SEARCH method (labeled simply "Search") offers two types of search: search article topics (presumably from headings and titles) or search text of articles. Basic search tips (wildcards, capitalization, etc) are presented right on the search page. An article text search offers three additional choices: a concept (i.e. thesaurus) search, a pattern search (finds similarly spelled words), or a Boolean search. Search terms are highlighted in the retrieved articles and, in case you can't figure out how you got the results you did, an "Explain search results" option explains how highlighted terms were derived from the search terms you entered. An expert search mode offers more precise search options for advanced searchers. The INDEX reproduces the index of the print version. When you select the search mode labeled "Index," each index entry is followed by a hyper-linked list of all the places that name or term appears in the index. When you select the search mode labeled "Browse" all Index entries are listed in straight alphabetical order. In both cases, you can either a) view the index list page by page, or b) select a letter of the alphabet and jump to that part of the list or c) enter a word and jump to it in the list. I think that this plethora of search options could confuse quite a few of the students we deal with (I'm picturing working with an ESL student who is a new computer user), especially because the buttons in the navigation frame lead you to believe there are three ways to search ("Search," "Index" and "Browse"), when in fact there are two main search categories: 1) Search [articles] and 2) Index, with several options for each. Actually, there are really four basic options: Search article topics; Search article contents; View Index Topics; and View Index Words. It would be a nice feature to allow libraries to customize the way these these search options are presented in the

5 navigation frame, i.e. rearrange the list of options with the ones most useful to their users listed first, or hide some of the options which their clientele are less likely to use, etc. While librarians and faculty will probably make use of the Index options, I suspect that most students will take the path of least resistance. It would be helpful if the words "Index" and "Browse" appeared prominently at the top of their respective pages so that at least users could tell immediately which list they were looking at. I'd like to see the list of external images in the right frame sorted into some discernible order, preferably alphabetical. The list of images for Cezanne, for example, has well over 100 images listed, but in order to find a specific image, you have to scroll through the entire list. I'd also like to see the font size in this list increased; on a monitor set at 832 x 624 the type is positively *tiny.* I shudder to think what it must look like at 1024 x 768 or higher. Netscape or Explorer versions 4 or higher are required for this database. However, some problems seem to occur with Netscape 4.5. For example, when the thumbnail images in the list of off-site images disappeared, a Grove rep told me it was "a browser issue," and Netscape 4.04 would allow us to see the thumbnails. (We will not be loading an old browser to accommodate the idiosyncrasies of one product.). A monitor resolution of 800 x 600 is also required, which will make the Dictionary inaccessible to many people out there who are using older computers which don't support that monitor resolution. Why couldn't this product be scaled, like other online databases we use? The screen design is rather busy and confusing because of the multi-frame format. With search buttons on the left, search results buttons at the bottom of the screen and table of contents on the right, the search entry box seems somewhat 'hidden" at the top of the screen. The difference between entering a search and the potential search options available from the search button are not clear. It is difficult to discern which part of the entries in the right frame are links and what they will link to. Good cross references from variant forms of a name. Potential for finding information is excellent, but the various search options are not clearly defined and results are hit or miss without a good deal of experience with the interface. Searching is somewhat confusing when using the external image links. When using Netscape as a browser, additional Netscape screens open in the task bar and it is frequently difficult to determine which to open to view a particular image. Some of the links are out of date returning a "404 file not found" message. USER SUPPORT SERVICES: (4, 4, 3, 3) The documentation provided online for successfully using Grove's database is easily located, clearly explained and comprehensive in allowing a wide variety of approaches to the material. I'm not sure whether the vendor supplies training. There is an icon on the home page for accessing user support services and another icon for communicating feedback on the product. I thought this product had a very complete set of help screens that were easy to understand. Options for tech support are: Online Help or support. The online Help is EXCELLENT-- thorough, clear and well organized. Users can either start at the top level Help index and select the

6 topic they want to read about or use context-sensitive Help as they are engaged in a search. For technical support, the only option appears to be to Grove. I spend half my life waiting for database vendors to return phone calls. If we are experiencing a technical problem or I have a technical question related to setup or performance, I want to be able to talk to a human being, preferably immediately, and I don't want to have to write a lengthy message describing the problem and giving the details of the configuration involved (e.g. works on G3 imac on the library LAN connected to a T1 campus line, but doesn't work on the Pentium sitting right next to it with the same connection. Grove should bite the bullet and hire a telephone tech support staff. I'd actually prefer to see online Help open in a separate browser window, so that I could read along as I'm trying the instructions. I can achieve this manually by simply opening another browser window and going to online Help, but it's cumbersome and I suspect many of our students don't even know it's possible to open a second browser window. Everyone I talked to at Grove during this trial was knowledgeable and pleasant, and they replied promptly to my s. The help index is somewhat limited and should be searchable in addition to having a list to scroll down. Intuitively, the screen looks like the index is searchable, but anything entered in the search box, searches the database index rather than the help index. Context sensitive help is available. COST (3, 4, 3, 3) I don't remember the exact cost but I know the product is expensive. It is probably reasonable in terms of the information provided but the cost for typical community college libraries is somewhat prohibitive. Many schools have already purchased the hardcopy version of the Dictionary and might not want to pay an additional access fee for online use. I think the cost is very good for this product. But I am not happy that we were deceived by Grove when they said they would not have an online product out this soon. I suspect that the consortium price for this product is probably affordable by most California community college libraries, though there might be some who don't consider an art encyclopedia a high enough priority on their campuses to pay the price. For those who do want it, it's a good price for such a rich database, about half the price quoted to us for a 10-user license when we had a trial in our own library several months ago. (I must say that it's rather galling to have spent $8,000 on the print version of this title a little over a year ago when Grove assured us that they were NOT going to be producing an online version. Libraries in this position should get a couple of years of online access FREE! In comparison with the print publication, the added benefits of online availability, and the plus or minus benefit of a very different set of illustrations, the price seems reasonable. ACCESSIBILITY OF SERVICE: (3, 4, 2, 3)

7 I found to the access to Grove's Dictionary of Art to be consistently quick and reliable. I also think that when I clicked on a link which led to a museum location outside the database, I didn't need to login again to get back to the Grove database. The accompanying Bridgeman Art Library archive, however, was slow when I tried to access "news," "help," and "search" icons, not to mention my consistent inability to retrieve images. I did not have any trouble accessing the product or maneuvering within it. I could not get the Bridgeman site to give me the full-size image. There was only one time when I could not access the site during the trial period. However, over a modem connection, the Dictionary hung my browser (Netscape 4.5) repeatedly and crashed the whole computer once. Having to restart Netscape over and over again is a serious disruption in a reference setting or when demonstrating or teaching a class; it shouldn't be required anywhere. What options are offered for non-passworded remote access when a proxy server is not available at a college? (referring URL? other?). There were no problems accessing the database, although occasionally pages loaded slowly. The interface design and complexity make it unlikely that it could be used successfully by students with visual impairments. OVERALL ASSESSMENT: (3, 3, 3, 3 ) For those libraries with adequate budgets, I think Grove's Dictionary of Art is an excellent product both in terms of comprehensiveness of material and ease of use. The Bridgeman Art Library component needs to be working more reliably, however, before I could unconditionally recommend the package. This is a decent transfer of a print product to electronic format. I wish there were some of the illustrations from the print version (especially the architectural renderings). There could also be more than two links (which is what I usually had from my searches) with the articles. The product has improved immensely in the few months since we had a trial of it in our library. The new interface is much easier to use though it is still not completely right. The browser problems remain. Previous problems accessing the Bridgeman Archives have been corrected. There is no doubt that this will be a major reference tool for art research. I would like to see an interface that would be more accessible to community college students. It needs to be made clear that the "search" box is only searching the index and that more advanced search methods are available by clicking on the search button in the left frame. Rating for home campus only: (2, 2, 4, 3)

8 In terms of the priority of purchasing online databases, we are more inclined to spend our limited funding on full-text periodical and newspaper databases. A specialized resource such as Grove's excellent product would be a nice acquisition given a generous acquisitions budget. However, we already own the hardcopy version and even that resource is not in high demand by our users. We do not have a great need for this product on our campus. We have the print version which serves our students well and a pretty good art collection in reference and circulating and there are plenty of art images on the web. And though there are art papers out there they do not impact us a whole lot. Our Art Department chairperson was ecstatic when we purchased the print version of this Dictionary and even more so when we had a trial of the online version in our library. We have students each semester who must write a major paper on a particular piece of art and its artist. The print version of the Dictionary is already an essential source for this assignment, and the online version will be even better since it is more easily updated and provides links to thousands of related web sites. The source will also be useful in Humanities and other art-related classes. Our students in art history and graphic arts programs could benefit from this resource, however, I anticipate that a great deal of instruction and assistance by library staff would be necessary to overcome the intricacies of the interface. Last Updated: February 26, 2002

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