How Resource Library differs from paper-printed art magazines and journals

How Resource Library differs from paper-printed art magazines and journals

Advertising and selection of content

Resource Library, an online publication of Traditional Fine Arts Organization (TFAO), is 100% non-commercial. It does not accept paid advertising and publishes no publicity articles or calendar listings for commercial gallery exhibitions. For information on acceptable content please see submitting materials

The editorial content of some paper-printed magazines is not influenced by paid advertising, others do not share that policy. Many paper-printed magazines favor articles and calendar listings for commercial gallery exhibitions or individual artists, while other magazines favor coverage of museum exhibitions.

Content organization

Articles and essays in Resource Library are permanently archived in multiple ways: chronology, topic , source and author, Access is immediate by using any of the index methods. There are thousands of articles and essays archived in the index sections. Institutional sources are indexed alphabetically and by geography.

For paper-printed periodicals reference librarians direct readers to individual issues of a periodical. For online-published periodicals such as Resource Library, search engines direct readers to individual phrases or words within pages or to individual images.

Issues of paper-printed periodicals are usually archived in chronological order by publication date. There are also available through commercial sources paper-printed and cd-formatted lists and abstracts of materials within previously published issues. These compilations are published often on an annual or semi-annual basis.

At the time when Resource Library publishes more than one article or essay concerning an institution or non-profit organization, editors create, as an additional resource for readers, a sub-index page containing: 1) links to each article and essay concerning that institution or non-profit organization, plus 2) available information such as the location.

Since Resource Library 's chronology of texts serves an archival function for the benefit of scholars and others, each article or essay has an identifying time reference. The date of publication of the article or essay is contained in the sub-index page for the source. The latest date of publication concerning a source is also noted in the museums index or academies, associations, and societies Index as applicable. The article or essay further contains a date reference in order to place the text in the correct time context. For instance, if a source submits text referencing an exhibition, but does not provide the year of the exhibition, Resource Library adds the appropriate year in order to provide clarity. Resource Library want readers to be confident of the dates of an event or exhibit when reading a previously published article years later.

Deadlines and publication timing

The nature of paper publishing requires periodicals: to be printed in a series of issues, to have deadlines for submissions, and to have content aggregated for publication at a future date.

Since Resource Library is published on the Web there is no need for deadlines. Content may be published immediately upon receipt. The absence of deadlines allows readers to have more timely access to texts and in the case of future exhibitions, more time to plan for visitation. The content published in Resource Library is indexed in time segments through a chronological index, although individual articles and essays are often added on a daily or weekly basis. Frequently content is published within hours of receipt of source material. Resource Library strives to publish new content at least on a weekly basis and to have the lag time between receipt of material and the publication date less than one month. In the case of calendar entries, material received from sources at least one month prior to event dates are published with first priority.

Persons making travel plans find Resource Library to be an in-depth and up-to-date source of information available on both temporary institutional exhibitions and permanent collections of American representational art.

Distribution

Resource Library is distributed without charge online to viewing stations in libraries, schools, colleges, universities, private locations and all types of mobile devices throughout the world. Resource Library is 100% electronic.[1] No paper copy is distributed.

Paper-printed American art periodicals, with few exceptions, are distributed by the postal service to paid subscribers and in certain instances, larger book stores, mostly in the United States.

Resource Library publishes statistics on reading sessions and actual pages read in its readership information section.

Paper-printed periodicals aimed at broad audiences publish circulation statistics on a periodic basis. These statistics indicate the number of subscriptions and copies sold in retail channels.

Editing of content

In Resource Library whole essays are republished wherever possible from exhibition catalogues and other sources. In Resource Library Content provided by a named author is never altered without permission of the author. For further information please see click here.

Articles and essays submitted for publication by paper-printed magazines are often edited in order to shorten the texts. This editing may be necessary because of various constraints and policies of the publications.

Environmental protection

From an environmental perspective, Resource Library conserves energy in distribution of its content relative to distribution costs of paper-printed magazines, and conserves forest resources and landfills. Also, viewing of pages at a reader's home computer may reduce the fossil fuel energy needed for trips to a physical library. Resource Library further encourages institutions that publish exhibition catalogues and brochures to lessen paper-printed copies wherever feasible.

TFAO's website is hosted by an organization with its offices and data centers 100% powered by wind energy. The machines hosting the our website and e-mail are fully eco-friendly. (right: Forest in Grand Teton National Park. Photo © 2008 John Hazeltine)

TFAO also prevents the use of paper in its overall operations wherever possible. Every effort is made to store correspondence and documents online.

Errors and omissions

For information on how Resource Library attends to errors and omissions please see click here. Paper printed periodicals by their nature are unable to provide similar services in the original publication.

Multimedia connectivity

In Resource Library editor's notes following many articles and essays are links to earlier articles and essays published in Resource Library related to the subject of the texts. Also, links are made to appropriate Topics in American Art, a robust TFAO Catalogue which contain links to online audio and video materials and texts from sources outside of Resource Library, plus references to DVD videos and paper-printed books and magazine articles. Links are also provided to America's Distinguished Artists to enable readers to access further biographical information on artists referenced in the articles and essays. Resource Library informs readers about related information from all forms of media. TFAO Catalogues are updated on a continuous basis.

Paper-printed periodicals articles employ sidebars, addenda and footnotes to serve this purpose. Articles in paper-printed periodicals, once published, cannot be updated as new information becomes available.

Protections for sources

Art images are stored and published at 72 dpi as limited pixel width and height, high-compression, jpeg images in Resource Library to speed download times and to deter illicit paper-based reproposing of the images.

Paper-printed periodicals' art images are usually stored digitally in mega-pixel pre-press files and then often printed on four-color presses providing images at many hundreds of dots per inch. Paper-printed images can be scanned or copied for unlawful uses at a higher quality of reproduction than those in Resource Library.

Service to diverse publics

As would be the case with a public library serving the needs of diverse publics, Resource Library is of service to a broad spectrum of individuals in terms of intellectual development, physical ability, and education. Resource Library includes aspects of both a popular magazine and a scholarly journal. It maintains a balance between both emphases.

Paper-printed American art periodicals usually do not co-emphasize popular and scholarly material and serve a narrower spectrum of publics.

Resource Library complies with generally accepted VI standards to facilitate reading by the visually handicapped. Also, by the use of text-to-speech software, visually impaired individuals can listen to the text contained in Resource Library's pages.[2]

HTML utilized by Resource Library facilitates text translation for the benefit of readers not proficient in English. Paper-printed periodicals sometimes publish multiple editions by language. In the case of American art magazines this is not presently done.

Special uses

Technology helps people appreciate art in museums, but still can't duplicate the experience of being there. Having said that, at some exhibits with thick crowds it's hard to comfortably read wall panels and extended object labels. Increasingly, visitors are using tablets and smartphones to solve this problem by either reading the texts online distant from the art objects while in the galleries or before their visit. For several years Resource Library has provided this solution for numerous exhibits, plus related information, at no charge to the public.

Reference list of paper-printed art magazines and journals

Please see American art publications to view a partial list of paper-printed art magazines and journals.

Notes:

1. see Library of Congress number ISSN 1550-8420

2. see "Selecting Internet Access Tools for Blind and Visually Impaired (VI) Users" from School of Information, Communication and Library Studies, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

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