Art Law
Finding a Topic:
Online Art-Related Newsletters
Arts Journal (digest of arts and cultural journalism, including links to the original articles)
The Art Newspaper
Art Daily
Arts & Letters Daily
Newsletters on Lexis and Westlaw
Westlaw
contains databases of current legal newsletters on a myriad of topics.
You can search the LEGNEWSL database of all the legal newsletters currently available on Westlaw. Lexis
has a smaller newsletter database: search Combined Legal Newsletters on Lexis.
You can also search general (non-legal) news sources on both Westlaw and Lexis. Westlaw's ALLNEWS file includes newspapers, magazines, journals, newsletters, and more. You can restrict your search to materials published recently. The 90DAYS database in Lexis includes general news articles published in the past 90 days.
Blogs
The Art Law Blog
Brian Cave's artlaw blog
The Cultural Property and Archaeology Law Blog
Museum Law Blog
Before you commit yourself to your topic, it's a good idea to perform a preemption check to make sure no one has already written on the same subject.
Researching Your Topic:
Finding Books and Articles
The library's new catalog, Encore, enables you to find books AND articles using a simple keyword search.
To limit your search to books in Hastings' collection, search our Classic Catalog. Start with keyword searches for broad topics. After finding a book on point, focus your search for other titles by using the subject links in the record to find other books on the same subject. Relevant subject searches include:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- United States
Art thefts
Artists -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- United States
Artists' contracts -- United States
Copyright -- Art -- United States
Cultural property -- Protection
Law and art
Law and art -- United States
Museums -- Law and legislation -- United States
You can search "WorldCat" on FirstSearch to find out if any books exist on your topic at local and worldwide libraries. If you find a book on your topic that we don't have at Hastings, you can submit a request to borrow the book through interlibrary loan (ILL). Simply click on the "ILL" button at the upper left corner of the WorldCat record. It can take up to two weeks to get books through ILL, so plan ahead.
Noteworthy treatises and overviews on art law include:
Art and Museum Law: Cases and Materials [KF4288.A7 L56 2002 / 5th Stacks]
Art, Artifact, Architecture, & Museum Law [KF4288 .D37 2010 / Research Alcove and Westlaw]
Art Law Handbook [KF4288 .A948 2000 / Research Alcove]
Art Law in a Nutshell [KF4288.Z9 D8 2006 / Circulation]
Art Law: The Guide for Collectors, Investors, Dealers, and Artists [KF390.A7 L47 2005 / Research Alcove and online through Westlaw and Lexis]
The Deskbook of Art Law [KF4288 .D8 1993-2010 / Research Alcove]
Law, Ethics, and the Visual Arts [KF4288.A7 M47 2007 / 5th Stacks]
Museums and the Holocaust: Law, Principles, and Practice [K3788 .P35 2000 / 5th Stacks]
Finding a journal article discussing the area of law about which you plan to write is a great way to start your research or to solidify an important point in your paper.
While Lexis and Westlaw allow full-text searches of their law review databases, it's often helpful to search an index first to tailor your search to articles specifically on your topic. LegalTrak and the Index to Legal Periodicals & Books are great for this purpose. For articles related to foreign and comparative law, try the Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals.
Westlaw has both created a specialized page on which it has collected its art law-related databases and titles. It's listed under "Topical Materials by Area of Pratice" as "Art, Entertainment, & Sports Law".
Noteworthy art law journals include:
Art and the Law
Art, Antiquity, and Law
Cardozo Arts and Entertainment Law Journal
Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts
Entertainment, Publishing, and the Arts Handbook
International Journal of Cultural Property
Journal of Art and Entertainment Law
Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society
Media and Arts Law Review
Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities
Other Online Databases
Proquest Research Library - A large collection of full-text articles from journals, magazines and newspapers for information on a broad range of general reference subjects such as business, political science, art, literature, law and psychology. Click on "Select multiple databases" and then select the Arts Module.
JSTOR - available to San Francisco Public Library cardholders. Includes the full-text of academic journals going back to 1838.
Art Full Text (Wilson) - available to San Francisco Public Library cardholders. Includes the full text of articles from an array of art journals going back to 1997. Subjects include Advertising Art, Antiques, Archaeology, Architecture and Architectural History, Art History, Computers in Art, Crafts, Decorative Arts, Fashion Design, Folk Art, Graphic Arts, Industrial Design, Interior Design, Landscape Architecture, Motion Pictures, Museology, Non-Western Art, Painting, Photography, Pottery, Sculpture, Television, Textiles, and Video.
Getting Help:
The reference librarians at Hastings are available to help you formulate your research strategy and find the resources that might be useful in writing your paper. Feel free to ask questions at the Reference Desk during the hours it is staffed or contact us via chat, email, or telephone. For more in-depth assistance, use the online form to schedule an individual appointment with one of the librarians.
Created and updated by Hilary Hardcastle, Head of Reference Services (August 2011).