Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations. It is also very useful for seeing if other scholars have cited a book, article, etc. Search on the title, and then follow the "Cited by ..." link.
There are over 90 databases covering art, architecture and the applied arts in the Columbia Library system. May of these are specialty databases covering the creative output of a particular culture, period or discipline. Below you will find some of the most commonly used databases in art history. You can find a complete list in CLIO. The two most comprehensive journal databases for western art history are:
A comprehensive bibliographical database of scholarly writing about the history of western art, containing "abstracts and indexes of current publications in the history of art, including scholarly journals, conferences, book, exhibition reviews, and exhibition catalogues." The abstracts may be in English or in French, and index terms (descriptors) are in both English and French. BHA and RILA cover European and American visual arts material published between 1975 and 2007.
Covers a broad range of related subjects, from fine, decorative and commercial art, to various areas of architecture and architectural design. This database features full-text articles as well as detailed indexing and abstracts for an array of journals, books, podcasts and more. International in scope, Art Source includes periodicals published in French, Italian, German, Spanish and Dutch and is designed for use by a diverse audience, including art scholars, artists, designers, students and general researchers.