Critical and Creative Studies

Lots of our resources can be found by utilizing the Library's general search bar on the Primo homepage. However, if you want to conduct a more specific search, or if you're looking to access resources not found during a general search of the catalogue, you can access databases individually. 

Note: make sure you are signed in with your AUArts credentials in order to access the full content of these databases. 

• Primo Homepage
  Conducting a search in Primo allows you to search multiple databases at once. You can refine your results by using the left hand "Tweak your results" menu. You can filter your results to peer-reviewed journals, by publication date, subject terms and more. For information on how to search using Primo, check out the Using Library Primo Guide.  
• Electronic Resources (AKA: our Database list)
  A list of databases that the library subscribes to including newspaper databases, eBook libraries, and image databases.

• Academic Search Complete
  • Database for scholarly research with full-text journals and peer-reviewed journals focusing on STEM research, as well as for the social sciences and humanities.
• Archives of Sexuality and Gender: LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940
  • With material drawn from hundreds of institutions and organizations, including both major international activist organizations and local, grassroots groups, the documents in the Archives of Sexuality and Gender: LGBTQ History and Culture since 1940, Part I present important aspects of LGBTQ life in the second half of the twentieth century and beyond. The archive illuminates the experiences not just of the LGBTQ community as a whole, but of individuals of different races, ethnicities, ages, religions, political orientations, and geographical locations that constitute this community. Historical records of political and social organizations founded by LGBTQ individuals are featured, as well as publications by and for lesbians and gays, and extensive coverage of governmental responses to the AIDS crisis.
• Art, Design, Architecture Collection
  • A comprehensive survey of current publications in the fields of visual and applied arts, the Art, Design & Architecture Collection includes ARTbibliographies Modern (covering modern and contemporary art), Design & Applied Arts Index (for all aspects of design and crafts), and International Bibliography of Art (covering scholarship on western art history), together with a complementary collection of current full-text Arts & Humanities journals.
• Art and Architecture Portal (A&Ae Portal)
  • Featuring eBooks on the scholarship of the history of art, architecture, decorative arts, photography, and design. The site includes many out-of-print titles, key backlist, recent releases from academic and museum publishers and image search functionality to find related publications.
• Britannica Online
  • For fans of Wikipedia, this database is for you! A combination of the Encyclopædia Britannica and Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus, magazines, periodicals, and many other research tools.
• Bibliography of Indigenous Peoples in North America
  • Covers all aspects of native North American culture, history, and life. It covers a wide range of topics including archaeology, multicultural relations, gaming, governance, legend, and literacy. Contains more than 190,000 citations for books, essays, journal articles and government documents of the United States and Canada. Dates of content coverage range from the 16th century to the present.
• JSTOR
  • JSTOR Arts & Sciences + Essentials collections have extensive coverage in the humanities, social sciences and sciences, including literature, film, art, music, religion, classical studies, history, education, economics, political science, and sociology. This collection includes Full text articles, and a broad range of subjects.
  • NEW! Artstor is now on JSTOR! The Artstor Digital Library is an image database featuring a range of images from some of the world's leading museums, photo archives, scholars, and artists in one easily-navigated repository. All images are accompanied by comprehensive metadata and are rights-cleared for educational use. Note: See My library account for details on registering and creating a personal account for full access to Artstor resources.
• Library Stack
  • Library Stack provides access to a variety of digital materials covering the topics of art, design, theory, and architecture. It is a database, archive, publisher, and distributor. The collection includes eBooks, software, books on media theory, philosophy and technology, artists’ magazines, experimental fonts, podcasts, museum catalogues, essays and pamphlets, critical journals and project ephemera from the field of architecture, sound works and writings on experimental sound pieces and publications focused on the cinema.
• Literature Resource Center
  • Full-text articles from scholarly journals and literary magazines are combined with critical essays, work and topic overviews, full-text works, biographies, and more to provide a wealth of information on authors, their works, and literary movements.
• Oxford Art Online
  • Database allows users to access—and simultaneously cross-search—an expanding range of Oxford’s acclaimed art reference works: Grove® Art Online, the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, The Oxford Companion to Western Art, and The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms, as well as many specially commissioned articles and bibliographies.
• World History in Context
  • This database spans world history from the ancient world all the way up to recent current events, putting issues of interest in their historical context. Multi-media content includes journal articles, primary source documents, historical maps, news sources and web links.