Guide To Navigation—electricka's resource shelf

Electricka is pleased to offer you a comprehensive list of citations of arts-related resources and reference works called Electricka's Resource Shelf. Many of these resource and reference works works are instantly available online at other web sites and may be accessed directly from Electricka's web site. Others may be found at places where reference works are traditionally found, on bookshelves at libraries, book stores, or at home, school, or office.

Use the list to find arts-related resources and reference works that are related to you interests. Then use the works you find as you would any reference work to find materials, uncover facts, or delve at length into all kinds of arts-related topics.

about Electricka's resource Shelf

Electricka's Resource Shelf cites resources and references of the kinds you might find at a library reference desk, buy at a bookstore, or use at home, school, or office.

Read more about the Shelf at Electricka's page called Welcome To Electricka's resource Shelf: click here.

about the catalog and resource reviews

Electricka's Reference Shelf contains two sections: 1) The Catalog, and 2) Resource Reviews.

the catalog

The Catalog is an electronic index in the form of a searchable table that lists scores of off-line and online arts-related reference works and other resources. For each entry, it displays the resource's name, type, and a synopsis of what kind of information is available in or at the resource and how to access it. The table allows you to easily and quickly find, sort, print, and otherwise arrange items in the table for analysis.

If a cited reference work or other source of art information is available via the Internet, you can access it directly from the table.

• Visit the Catalog now: click here.

resource reviews

Resource Reviews are a collection of in-depth reviews of arts-related resources. Each Review contains amplifying information that explains a single Resource—a description of its nature or contents, an evaluation, the history of the sponsoring organization (if any), key figures, awards given or received, products or services produced, bibliographies, biographies, etc.

Each Review is contained on a page at Electricka's web site, a page dedicated to the Review. All Resource Review pages are co-located in a single section of Electricka's web site.

• Visit Resource Reviews now: click here.

When to use the resource shelf

You may decide to look for resources because you want to know more about something you're exploring at Electricka's web site; or you may want to look for arts-related resources because you want to follow up on a question that's come to you from out of the blue—from a book you're reading, a movie you've seen, school, work, a family member, or any other source.

You are the best judge of when it's time to explore the arts with the aid of the resources and references filed on Electricka's Reference Shelf. Think about employing the Shelf whenever you want to learn about, look up, consult, access, identify, find, or experience an arts-related resource or reference. For example, with the help of the Shelf you can:

• Research some specific aspect of the arts—an artist or personality, art movement, place, historic period, or the like. Check details, facts, topics, or subjects.
• Discover or look up art objects or works of art such as books, plays, sculptures, photographs, movies, paintings, sound or video recordings.
• Find institutions of learning—training academies, schools, art colonies, classes and courses at universities and local institutions.
• Identify and consult definitive catalogs or authoritative reference works—biographies, lists of artist's life works and opuses, encyclopedias, dictionaries, timelines, histories.
• Find places to visit online or in person; plan what you'll do when you arrive—museums, artist's estates and homes open to the public, concert halls, historic buildings or sites, exhibits.
• Discover events to attend online or in person—exhibitions, performances, lectures, traveling exhibits, tours.
• Identify arts resources to examine or acquire when you walk into libraries or bookstores or when you visit online bookstores or marts.
• Identify web sites that provide free or paid online access to resources and references—dictionaries, encyclopedias, fan clubs or clubs dedicated to artists or collections, online museums, award-granting institutions, repositories, databases, news media:
• The Shelf is itself an electronic index of arts information. Take advantage of automated features to investigate, learn about, and find artistic creations such as books, plays, movies, paintings, sculptures, pictures, audio recordings.

about the Electricka's Resource Shelf Icon

Electricka and her muses will alert you if and when they think there could be a reason to access the Resource Shelf based on something you're exploring at one of their pages by placing an Electricka's Resource Shelf icon on the page or feature in question. The icon looks like this:

Resource Shelf

About The Resource Shelf The Catalog Reviews

—note— about electrcicka's resource icon   Not every page at Electricka's web site contains one of these icons. Its presence on a page indicates only that a muse believes that Electricka's Resource Shelf may contain resources or references that will help you if you choose to explore further. The Resource Shelf icon is merely a suggestion, an invitation to explore with the help of Electricka's Resource Shelf; there is no guarantee that if you look in the Shelf you will find additional material related to your needs or interests.

Look for this icon at a page's right side.

how to Access the catalog and the Resource reviews

Electricka's Resource Shelf consists of two sections: the Catalog and Resource Reviews. To use the Catalog or the Resource Reviews, you first must access them. To access the Catalog or the Reviews, visit the page where it resides. Here's how.

Each section is located on a page of its own; each can be reached by either of two methods: 1) menu navigation, or 2) employing the Electricka's Resource Shelf icon:

menu navigation

Electricka's Resource Shelf is an item on the Top Menu and on Electricka's Menu.

1. On the Top Menu, select the text which reads Electricka's Resource Shelf. Then select the Resource Catalog or Resource Reviews on the menu that flies out and the page you want will open.
2. On Electricka's Menu, select the text which reads Features. Then select the text which reads Electricka's Resource Shelf on the menu that flies out. Select the Resource Catalog or Resource Reviews on the menu that flies out and the page you want will open. 

navigating with the Electricka's Resource Shelf icon

The Electricka's Resource Shelf Icon provides a fast, easy way to get wherever on the Shelf you might want to go. On the Electricka's Resource Shelf Icon (see above):

• Click the text that reads About Electricka's Resource Shelf and the page that explains the Resource Shelf will open.
• Click the text that reads the Catalog and the page that contains the Catalog will open.
• Click the text that reads Reviews and the page that contains the Reviews will open.
• Click the image of the library cart that contains the books and other resources and references on Electricka's Resource Shelf and the page that contains the Catalog will open.

how to use the catalog to find resources and references

When you arrive at the page which contains the Catalog, you will find it open in a new window and ready to conduct searches.

The Catalog consists of rows and columns. Each row in the Catalog represents a specific resource or reference and contains the name of the resource. Each column in a row describes the resource further. Additional columns in a row describe the type or kind of resource or reference that is named in the row and the relevant muse.

The Catalog contains the names of all resources or references that have been recorded by the muses up to the time you arrived. The list grows indefinitely because new names are constantly being submitted for publication by visitors or added by ETAF staff. Because of this, the Catalog is large; finding just the resources or references relevant to your interests could be a tedious and laborious task.

Because of its size, scope, and purpose, the list of resource names probably contains more references that are irrelevant to your search than are relevant. The Catalog helps you save time and effort by automatically narrowing the list of resource names to just those you may want to explore further. It does this by searching the entire list of resource names while looking for rows that contain the text you supply. It finds just these names and displays them only if they match your search specifications.

The procedure for finding resources and references is three-fold:

Step 1—Narrow the list of resource and reference names initially in the Catalog to just those that are relevant to your interests or that are likely to be relevant.

Step 2—Decide which of the relevant names you want to explore further.

Step 3—Access the resources or references you decide to see.

Here's how to conduct a search:

Step 1—Narrow the list of resource and reference names initially in the Catalog to just those that are relevant to your interests or that are likely to be relevant.

• From the dropdown lists at the top, select the field in the list of names you want to search and the search condition you want to impose.
• Type the text you want to search for in the Search Box.
• Select the number of Resource Names per page you want to see when the results are displayed. Selecting the Show All button displays the entire Catalog.
• Click the Search button to begin searching.
• Results appear in the same window. They consist of just the Resource Names that are relevant to your search.
• Print the results page if you choose to work with paper.

—note— advanced searching The Advanced Search feature allows compound searches to be performed.

 

Step 2—Decide which of the relevant names you want to explore further.

• Inspect the list of Resource Names on the results page looking for relevant items.
• To see more information about any relevant item:
  • Look in the Description/Comments field. If the text —More— appears in the field, click it to see more information about the item than appears in the field. The extra information will appear in a new window.
  • Look in the Review field. If the text —More— appears in the field, a Resource Review is available. Click —More— to visit the Review. The Review will appear in the Catalog window.
• If the entry in the Type column indicates that there is a web site associated with the named resource, visit the web site by clicking the word Open in the Link column. The resource's web site will appear in the Catalog window.

—tip— about the description/comments field The Descriptions/Comments field contains information that defines the nature of a resource or reference. This information is important because:   You probably will want to see it when you decide on resource names to explore further (Step 2, above) If asked to search this field, the Catalog searches the complete text in this field, whether or not the complete text is visible.

Step 3—Access the resources or references you decide to see.

What you do to access a resource or reference depends on circumstances. For example, if the resource has a web site and your objective is to visit the web site, your search is over; or you may learn something at the resource's web site that leads you elsewhere. If your objective is to acquire a printed dictionary, you may decide to visit an online or walk-in bookstore.

how to use the Catalog to find Resource reviews

Resource Reviews are collections of reviews of arts-related resources, each of which is called a Resource Review. Resource Reviews are submitted for publication by Electricka's visitors or by ETAF Staff.

Resource Reviews may be thought of as extended Resource Catalog descriptions. Since the Catalog is designed for quick searching, the information it contains about entries is kept to a minimum. When there is more to say about a particular resource than there is room for in a Description/Comments field, Electricka provides the information in the form of a Resource Review.

—tip— about the Type field Look in the Review field. If the text —More— appears in the field, a Resource Review is available. Click —More— to visit the Review. The Review will appear in the Catalog window.

Important Tips for using the catalog

—tip— keep online reference works handy   The Catalog opens in a new browser window. To keep an online reference work like a dictionary or encyclopedia handy so you can refer to it frequently while working with Electricka's pages, do not close the browser window after you open it. Thereafter, whenever you want to look up something, navigate back and forth between the browser window that displays Electricka pages and the browser window that displays the reference work. NOTE: Most operating systems offer three ways to navigate back and forth between browser windows: (1) MOVE, MINIMIZE, and RESTORE. (2) Tab. (3) Tile.

—tip— about Links to other web sites If the Catalog cites a reference work or other source of art information that is available online, you can access (visit) it directly from the Catalog. This feature is analogous to the one that many web sites call "links to other web sites." All arts resources cited by the Catalog that are or have web sites can be reached directly from the Catalog. To visit a web site listed in the Catalog:   Locate all the arts resources in the Catalog that are relevant to your subject interest with the help of the Catalog's automated facilities for searching. All or some of them may be available online. For each resource that is available online, the Catalog provides a link that, if clicked, will open a window to the resource. Click the link for any or all resources you want to visit. NOTE: You don't have to leave (close your window to) Electricka's web site to visit another web site. Leave windows to the other web sites open if you want to use them while you explore Electricka's web site. Examples:   If you open a dictionary at another web site, leave it open; use it to look up the definitions of terms you find at Electricka's web site whenever you need to. Open a Window at another web site specializing in biographies. When a person's name is mentioned at Electricka's web site and want to know more about the person, look up his biography at the other web site.