Resource Library: Indexes and information retrieval (original) (raw)

Conduct keyword searches within our website and Resource Library, a collection of articles and essays honoring the American experience through its art, using the advanced search feature of these search engines:

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or, before entering keywords in a basic search, enter site:tfaoi.org

A word about AI...

Historically, search engine activity has been the largest driver of access to our site's contents. Because of the way search algorithms work, our page files often aren't included in the first or second page of search results, even though our content's quality often surpasses that served up by the algorithms. There are exceptions. Some of our Topics in American Art like California Art Historyare often listed on the first page of search results. Commercial organizations and large institutions spend vast sums on SEO to drive inquiries to their sites. We don't.

Here's where AI changes the game and amplifies the value of our content. AI large language models probably scrape the entire contents of our Free Online Digital Library. Our hundreds of thousands of words are sliced and diced into a stew that's reformulated into answers to AI users' prompts. We've played with prompts limited to our content. The results are often pretty good. Other prompts allow use of the entire sea of data besides ours accessed from the internet.

The public education element of our mission - via our site's contents - isn't constrained any more by search engines. It's reborn into endless results of AI prompts. We aren't getting credited for our data, so its quality can't be measured. That problem, along with copyright issues, is serious. However, the public benefit of the AI output is vast. Clever people can ask large language models to limit prompt results to our website, but even then we suspect they leak snippets from their ocean of data when answering prompts.

About Resource Library

Resource Library is a free online publication of nonprofit Traditional Fine Arts Organization (TFAO). Since 1997, Resource Library and its predecessor Resource Library Magazine have cumulatively published online 1,300+ articles and essays written by hundreds of identified authors, thousands of other texts not attributable to named authors, plus 24,000+ images, all providing educational and informational content related to American representational art. Texts and related images are provided almost exclusively by nonprofit art museum, gallery and art center sources.

All published materials provide educational and informational content to students, scholars, teachers and others. Most published materials relate to exhibitions. Materials may include whole exhibition gallery guides, brochures or catalogues or texts from them, perviously published magazine or journal articles, wall panels and object labels, audio tour scripts, play scripts, interviews, blogs, checklists and news releases, plus related images.

What you won't find:

User-tracking cookies are not installed on our website.Privacy of users is very important to us. You won't find annoying banners and pop-ups either. Our pages are loaded blazingly fast. Resource Library contains no advertising and is 100% non-commercial. .

(left: JP Hazeltine, founding editor, Resource Library)

Links to sources of information outside our website are provided only as referrals for your further consideration. Please use due diligence in judging the quality of information contained in these and all other websites. Information from linked sources may be inaccurate or out of date. We neither recommend or endorses these referenced organizations. Although we include links to other websites, we take no responsibility for the content or information contained on other sites, nor exert any editorial or other control over them. For more information on evaluating web pages see our General Resourcessection in Online Resources for Collectors and Students of Art History.

*Tag for expired US copyright of object image:

Links to sources of information outside of our web site are provided only as referrals for your further consideration. Please use due diligence in judging the quality of information contained in these and all other web sites. Information from linked sources may be inaccurate or out of date. TFAO neither recommends or endorses these referenced organizations. Although TFAO includes links to other web sites, it takes no responsibility for the content or information contained on those other sites, nor exerts any editorial or other control over them. For more information on evaluating web pages see TFAO's General Resources section in Online Resources for Collectors and Students of Art History.

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