As universities and grant funding agencies step up efforts to promote and stimulate interdisciplinary research and learning, arts researchers increasingly find themselves collaborating with their scientific colleagues and cross-listing their courses with other departments. The challenge for art librarians is to find ways to support this kind of hybrid scholarship through effective reference services. To help meet this need, library students in LBSC752: Information Access in the Arts (spring 2008) created this wiki-based research guide for artists and art historians. The guide includes the following information:

Library of Congress Classifications. This section briefly explains the LOC classification system in layperson's terms; identifies the letters and associated subject areas of LOC classes and subclasses that are frequently used by artists, musicians, and art historians; and suggests additional letters and titles of classes that may be relevant to the arts researcher whose work intersects with science and technology. The section includes specific examples of book titles found in each class or subclass mentioned, as well as sample research scenarios.
Interdisciplinary Library of Congress Subject Headings. This section explains LCSHs in layperson's terms; identifies LC subject headings of general interest to the arts researcher; and develops interdisciplinary research scenarios, suggesting useful LC subject headings for each one.
Multidisciplinary Indexes and Databases. This section identifies multidisciplinary databases and indexes to the journal literature of the sciences that may be useful to the arts researcher whose work intersects with science and technology. The page also offers sample research scenarios around these resources, giving specific examples of bibliographic records or citations discovered through each one.
Conferences. This section identifies relevant conferences and conventions that feature multidisciplinary, collaborative work authored by arts and science researchers. Included are examples of CFPs that encourage these kinds of presentations and conference programs that feature them.
Citation Indexes, Impact Factor, and PageRank. Quantitative methods for assessing the relative importance of a journal article or other work of scholarship are common in the sciences, but virtually unknown in the arts and humanities. This section explains how these systems work in layperson's language, provides specific examples of their use, and notes the controversies surrounding them. This page also provides a brief but informed assessment of why such systems haven't been widely adopted in the arts and humanities.