Library and Information Science Commons^™

Digital Image Databases: A Study From The Undergraduate Point Of View, Teresa Slobuski

Faculty and Staff Publications

This article investigates current metadata practices in art image databases. Searches were completed in the Bridgeman Education and ARTstor databases using only terms found in introductory art history texts. Details from the search results point to overalltrends in the data and offer comparisons between the databases for particular search sets. The examples reveal tendencies in precision,recall, and consistency, as well as identify some particular issues that may impede successful retrieval for the novice user. A short discussion on the usability of both of the databases' interfaces offers further insight into their respective strengths andpeculiarities.