Course resource help for Photography

This list contains details of electronic databases available to Oxford Brookes staff and students on the web. Databases allow you to search for references for journal articles and other publications in your subject area. Some databases provide an indexing service only, some also provide abstracts (summaries) and others are full text. For more information on using these services see the How to search catalogues and databases page. The Library also provides direct access to many full text electronic journals.

Note: Databases are usually available on and off-campus. Most will prompt you to log in with your Brookes ID and password. The Library Electronic Resources pages provide details of passwords for resources not covered by this.

Academic Search Complete

A full-text database providing full articles, with their accompanying indexing and abstracts, across a wide range of subjects.

Art Full Text

A key source for the visual arts, including photography. Full text coverage from 1997, indexing from 1984. Includes the Art Abstracts database.

Communication & Mass Media Complete

Good for the social aspects of photography. Use also for photojournalism.

JSTOR

This database provides an archive of full-text articles from a wide range of academic journals, including some key photography journals. JSTOR does not give access to issues which are less than 3-5 years old but is very useful for older journal articles.

Performing Arts Periodicals Database

A very significant database for the performing arts, containing over a third of a million references to journal articles and reviews. Surprisingly good for photography and photographers, particularly those working with the performing arts. Full text articles are available for about 160 journal titles.

Factiva

International news database providing archive of over 12,000 sources from 152 countries in 22 languages. Leading national newspapers, trade and professional journals, the BBC Monitoring Service (transcripts of world radio broadcasts) are all included.

Lexis+

Lexis+ is a large database of cases, legislation, journal articles and practice-focused books on law. It also contains a number of local and national British newspapers.

Oxford Art Online

An encyclopaedia covering the visual arts from prehistory to the present day.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

An illustrated collection of articles providing the life stories of over 50,000 people who have shaped the history of the British Isles and beyond, from the earliest times to those who died in recent years. Includes pioneers from the history of photography to more contemporary photographers.

Oxford Reference

200 dictionaries and reference works published by Oxford University Press including dictionaries of art terms, art, artists and design together with the Oxford Companion to the Photograph.

ARTStor

Over a million images from collections world-wide. Covers the arts, architecture, humanities and sciences. Includes over 92,000 Magnum photographs and many other photographic collections.

Box of Broadcasts (BoB)

An online archive giving you access to thousands of recorded radio and TV programmes including films. It allows users to record programmes which will then be stored on the database. Log in when prompted with your Brookes username and password.

Bridgeman Education

A digital image library covering visual culture of all civilisations and historical periods from pre- historic to the present day.

A number of journals relevant to Photography are available online. Use the Journal titles tab from the Library homepage to search for a specific journal. Alternatively you can browse an alphabetical list of journals 

E-journals can also be found by searching LibrarySearch. If you are looking for journal articles on a specific topic the best place to start is by using an electronic database. See the Databases section above.

There are a large number of photography resources available on the Internet, and a few selected sites are listed below. There are many other useful and relevant sites available.

Organisations and societies

• Arts Council England : the national development agency for the arts in England. Links to information on funding and publications, many of which are freely available online.

• BIPP : British Institute of Professional Photography.

• NPS : the National Photographic Society.

• Oxford Photographic Society

• RPS : the Royal Photographic Society.

• The BPPA : the British Press Photographers' Association.

• UK Creative Industries

Galleries and museums

• Arnolfini

• Dimbola Museum and galleries ; the home of Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. Tells the story of her life and work. Galleries exhibit the work of contemporary photographers from around the world.

• Fox Talbot Museum : the story of the birth of photography.

• History of Science Museum

• Modern Art Oxford

• National Portrait Gallery

• National Science and Media Museum

• Pitt Rivers Museum

• Tate Britain

• Tate Modern

• The Photographers' Gallery

• V&A

• Whitechapel Gallery

• White Cube

Image sources

• ARTstor : over a million images from collections worldwide.

• Bridgeman Education - a digital image library covering visual culture of all civilisations and historical periods from pre-historic to the present day. Images are freely available for teaching, learning and research.

• Europeana Photograhy : the history of photography in 1,366,437 items from European collections. 

• Imageafter : free online collection of photographs and textures.

• MorgueFile : archive of photographs freely contributed by artists for use in creative projects by visitors to the site. 

• VADS: the online resource for visual arts : a free image catalogue for the academic community providing access to over 100,000 images that are freely available and copyright cleared for use in teaching, learning and research in the UK. Covers all aspects of the visual arts.

• Wikimedia Commons : database of over 4,000,000 freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute. Searchable by topic, location, type and author. Categories such as Featured pictures and Quality images are recommended.

Other sites you might find interesting. . .

• AMP: Artists Meeting Place & Resource Collective : offers support and networking opportunities to artists all over the world. Includes an International Arts Directory covering a wide variety of art resources.

• Eadweard Muybridge Collections

• MoMA Exhibitions Archive : freely available online archive of all the exhibitions held at MoMA since it opened in 1929. Includes 33,000 installation shots, thousands of out of print exhibition catalogues, artist lists and press releases.

• National Collection of Aerial Photography

• Wildlife Photographer of the Year

O'Reilly Safari Learning Platform : this is a collection of e-books, videos, tutorials (Learning Paths) and Case Studies on various aspects of information technology. The selection includes computer science, desktop publishing, digital media, e-commerce, programming, IT management and business applications. O'Reilly titles can also be found via LibrarySearch. O'Reilly is available on- and off-campus.

EBooks Central :  a collection of academic e-books for a range of subjects. Individual titles appear on LibrarySearch. You will need your Brookes login for on and off-campus access.

Open Access e-books : are growing in availability. See, for example, the Open Research Library or this list on Project Muse. 

Go to the Library's Ebooks page for more information.