On-campus, from the Decker Library Website (www.mica.edu/library) click on Find Journal Articles, then either Art Index, Art Index Retrospective, Art Museum Image Gallery, or Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature. 

NEW REMOTE ACCESS SYSTEM, effective May 2006: To access databases from off-campus, go to the Remote Access page. From that page, click on any database link, then enter your MICA user name and password (same as My MICA Portal log-in). The log-in will take you directly to the selected database for searching. For instructions on using the remote access system, see Remote Access Directions.

Browse for subject—a quick way to search for a particular artist
From left side-bar, select Browse. Type artist’s last name and click Start. When results appear, select desired entries and then click on Selected Entries at bottom of screen. 

–or–

Type keyword or phrase into a single text box (leaving the defaults: As drop-down list set on All-Smart Search, and Sort set on Relevance). No quotation marks are needed for phrases.  

–or–

Type keywords into several boxes connected by one of the following:
AND – each record retrieved must include both words – makes search more specific
OR – retrieves records containing either of the terms – makes search more general
NOT – returns records containing first term while excluding those which also contain second term

Special features of the search engine:
Try truncation of your search term
* (asterisk) substitutes for any string of letters or for no letters—if you want to find different forms of a word. For example, paint* retrieves paint, painter/s, painting/s
? (question mark) substitutes for a single letter or number—if you are unsure of spelling. For example, d??ben?orn finds the correctly spelled diebenkorn

Limits available from the Advanced Search screen include:
- Limit to full text (all articles found will be available online within the database)
- Limit to journals owned by the Decker Library
- Limit by date: to focus on art writing from a specific time period, e.g. 1960-1970 – default is ANY

Thesaurus on left side bar lets you type in keywords, then translates them into the special vocabulary of the subject index

Click Start and the search engine will produce a list of results.
 

Results are a list of references to articles in journals—default list is brief display with 10 items per screen. Click Full at bottom of screen to see full records including article summaries. Click Next to see next page of results.

Some provide full text online, indicated by a striped page icon and/or a PDF icon. Choose the HTML or PDF version to read online, email, or save to disk.

Journals held by MICA include a graph icon.

In the Full Display mode, look for the Library Holdings message, which indicates which volumes or years of the journal are owned by the Decker Library.  If a journal or book is not owned by the Decker Library, take the citations to a Reference Librarian to request an Interlibrary Loan, allowing up to 2 weeks for delivery.

The citation of each article is what you need to find the article in the library. It includes:
Title of article; Journal title / Volume / Number / Date. Page numbers

The citation of each artwork reproduction includes:
Title of artwork (media, date); reproduction; Journal title / Volume / Number / Date. Page number
 

As you view citations, place a check mark in the box at the top of each record to add it to a list which can be printed, saved to computer disk, or emailed to your address.

Click on the Print / Email / Save button in the left sidebar. Bring a floppy disk if you want to save your records. Saving or emailing the records not only gives you a good record of what you’ve found, but you can cut and paste the text into a bibliography without having to type it.
 

See citation examples for the following formats, online, courtesy of Western Washington University http://www.library.wwu.edu/lmt/page.phtml?page_id=698:

Examples from MLA (Modern Language Association):
Footnote or Endnote
¹⁰⁰Paul Michaud, "Paris exhibit puts Matisse and Morocco in focus," Art Business News 26/12 (Dec 1999): 26.

KEY: Number of note in superscript. Author first name, last name, "Article Title," Journal Title (italicized or underlined) Volume #/Issue # (Date): page of quotation source.

Citation embedded parenthetically within text
Blah blah blah, blah as Michaud says, "Blah, blah, etc." (Michaud 26). Blah blah blah etc.

(If bibliography contains just one work by Michaud, otherwise use Michaud a, Michaud b, etc.)

Article Bibliography, Basic Form
Michaud, Paul. "Paris exhibit puts Matisse and Morocco in focus." Art Business News 26/12 (Dec 1999): 26-27.

KEY: Author last name, first name. "Article Title." Journal Title (italicized or underlined) Volume #/Issue # (date): page numbers overall.

Full Text Article from an Online Database
Michaud, Paul. "Paris exhibit puts Matisse and Morocco in focus." Art Business News 26/12 (Dec 1999): 26-27. Art Full Text. The H.W. Wilson Co. 8 April 2002 <http://vweb.hwwilsonweb.dom>.

KEY: Author last name, first. "Article Title." Journal Title (italicized or underlined) Volume #/Issue # (date): page numbers overall. Database title (italicized or underlined). Database publisher. Date accessed. <URL where accessed>.