Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Getty Research Portal?

The Getty Research Portal is a free online search platform that provides worldwide access to an extensive and continually growing collection of digitized published materials on art, architecture, material culture, and related fields. By aggregating resources from libraries and institutions around the globe, the Portal enables researchers to discover and download complete digital copies of works that would otherwise be dispersed across many collections. This collaborative initiative expands access for scholars, students, and interested readers everywhere and supports comparative research across diverse holdings.

What kinds of materials are included?

The Portal focuses on the printed literature of art history, including rare books, foundational texts, exhibition catalogs, auction catalogs, and related materials. It does not include archival documents or unpublished manuscripts.

Why do we need the Portal when other search services exist?

Unlike broad platforms such as Google Books or Internet Archive, the Portal is discipline-specific and curated for art history research. It offers unrestricted, multilingual access to fully digitized published materials—resources that might otherwise be difficult to find. By aggregating materials that no single library could provide alone, the Portal enables comparative research across diverse collections and is especially valuable for scholars and students who lack access to major art libraries.

Who supports the Portal?

The Getty Research Institute funds and administers the Portal, hosting the site and managing contributions. Equally vital is the work of our contributing institutions, whose staff prepare and share catalog records and digitized materials. The Portal reflects the collective effort and commitment of a global community of art libraries, united by an ethos of collaboration and open access that powers the vision of making art historical literature freely available worldwide.

Who contributes to the Portal?

More than 50 libraries contribute digitized published material to the Getty Research Portal. A complete list of contributing institutions can be found on the Contributors page.

Are all materials in the Portal public domain?

Not always. Some materials are under copyright and are shared with permission from the rights holder. Review the Terms of Use on the hosting institution’s website for each digitized text.

Will I find multiple copies of the same text?

Yes, as different copies may yield unique annotations or other features. If more than one institution has digitized the same work, each copy will appear in search results. Metadata reflects the language and cataloging standards of the contributing institution, so results may include multilingual records.

Does the Portal offer additional features?

Yes. You can export citations to tools like EndNote, Zotero, and Mendeley.

In addition, some items include International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) manifests, which allow you to load them in a IIIF-compatible viewer. These viewers support high-resolution zooming and enable side-by-side comparison of digital objects, making it easier to study details across multiple works. Items that include IIIF manifests can be accessed in two ways:

1. Directly in a Portal-supported viewer by clicking the “Open in IIIF Viewer” link on the item detail page.
2. In your IIIF viewer of choice by clicking the “IIIF Manifest” link and loading the manifest URL into the viewer.

Can I search the full texts of all books in the Portal?

Not across the entire Portal. Searches return catalog records, but full-text searching is often available once you click through to the hosting institution’s site.

What are Curated Collections?

Curated Collections are thematic groupings of digitized materials. These collections bring together materials from multiple contributing institutions and help highlight works that may have limited metadata or fewer points of discovery in standard search results.

How are Curated Collections compiled?

Curated Collections are created either programmatically—using defined metadata fields—or curatorially by subject specialists who assemble materials around a particular topic or area of research.

I have an idea for a Curated Collection. Whom should I contact?

We welcome suggestions for new Curated Collections. Contact the Getty Research Portal to share your idea.

How can my institution contribute materials to the Getty Research Portal?

The Getty Research Portal is undergoing an infrastructure upgrade, and new contributions are paused while we implement a new content management system. The updated system is expected to launch in early 2027, and we anticipate resuming acceptance of new contributions at that time.

See detailed guidelines about how to contribute to plan for a future contribution.

For additional questions or to discuss potential contributions, contact the Getty Research Portal.