Getty Library Phased Reopening

Access to the Getty Library currently is limited to Getty staff, Getty residential scholars, Getty docents, Getty Library Research Grant Recipients whose 2020 visits were deferred, and registered Extended Readers residing in Southern California by appointment. We plan to expand access further in the coming months. Thank you for your patience and understanding during our phased reopening.

Keep checking here or at the Getty visit page for updated information.

Feel free to reach out to us if you have questions in the meantime by calling the Reference Desk at (310) 440-7390 or emailing reference@getty.edu.

Getty Library remains closed for now

Even though the Getty Museum at the Getty Center will soon reopen, the Getty Library remains closed for a while longer as we prepare to welcome readers back safely to the physical library and the special collections reading room. In the meantime, contact Reference@getty.edu or call (310) 440-7390 for assistance with research from home or with any questions. If you are a Library Reader and wish to visit the Getty Museums, you must reserve free timed-entry tickets. Your reader badge will not give you on-site access.

Keep checking here or at the Getty visit page for updated information.

Getty Research Portal tutorial video

The Getty Research Portal has created an overview and tutorial video in response to this past year’s experiences with remote teaching and learning. The video, which is approximately 10 minutes long, provides a brief introduction to the Portal’s background and virtual holdings, and demonstrates how to use it. Institutions are encouraged to link to the video in order to share this resource.

The Portal is a free online search platform that provides access to digitized volumes on art, architecture, material culture and related fields. With 180,000 volumes contributed by nearly forty international art libraries and museums at present, the Portal offers literature ranging from rare early publications to contemporary catalogs.

Questions and comments about the Portal are welcome! Contact portal@getty.edu.

Image Search and Research Survey – Invitation to Participate

We welcome your participation in a Getty Research Institute field survey aimed at understanding how and why scholars search for images in support of their research.

This survey is being conducted as part of PhotoTech, a multiyear project that will digitize a significant portion of the GRI’s Photo Archive and explore new digital methodologies like computer vision and machine learning to enable advanced research into issues of cultural and artistic influence, historical transmission of visual ideas, and networks of exchange.

The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete and will be available until February 5, 2021.

Take the survey

Photographs of reproductions of Johannes Vermeer’s The Lacemaker (ca. 1669) and accompanying annotations from the Photo Archive. Study Photographs of Dutch Paintings and Drawings. Getty Research Institute, 76.P.60

Happy Holidays and Closure Update

In this holiday season, we hope you and your loved ones are well and that you can find solace in re-creating traditions for this moment and connecting with friends and family in new ways.

While the Getty Library remains closed to onsite visitors, Library Reference staff continue to work virtually from home until the holiday break.

The Virtual Reference Desk will be closed from Thursday, December 24, 2020, through Sunday, January 3, 2021.

Virtual services will resume on Monday, January 4, 2021.

Happy holidays and our very best wishes for 2021!


Ice Castle and Condora, Montreal Winter Carnival, 1885. The Getty Research Institute, P990012**

Thanksgiving Holiday

The Virtual Reference Desk will be closed Wednesday, November 25 – Friday, November 27, 2020 for the Thanksgiving holiday. We will respond to all inquiries on or after Monday, November 30.

The Getty Library remains closed to readers at this time as we work to bring some of our staff back onsite and prepare our spaces and collections for safe use. While we don’t yet have a date for when we’ll be able to welcome readers back to the physical library and the special collections reading room, our reference team continues working from home to help you as possible. Over the coming months we hope to increase our remote services to researchers. To receive updates as more information becomes available please subscribe to this blog.

For general information regarding the Getty Center and Getty Villa locations check this webpage.

Library Update

We hope you and your loved ones are well. We miss seeing you at the GRI and know there is no substitute for being in the library, working with the materials, and having spontaneous hallway conversations. We look forward to the time when we can safely welcome you back. Please see Getty’s Coronavirus Update for further information.

Even though the library remains closed for physical access, we want to be sure you’re aware of the following Getty Library services available to you now:

Virtual Reference Desk: The Reference team is working from home. Feel free to contact Reference with any questions by submitting a Request Form or calling 310-440-7390 and leaving a message with your call back number. We monitor the phone and email regularly Monday through Friday.

Reproductions and Permissions: Currently we can provide you with existing digital files and permission to publish. We can also grant “permission only” for requests if we can verify remotely that the material is held in the Library’s collections. Please submit a Reproductions and Permissions Request Form applicable to your use(s).

(When we cannot answer questions or provide reproductions without having access to original materials, you’ll receive a reply from us noting that your request will be placed in a queue to be handled when additional staff are able to return to work on-site.)

Freely Available Online Resources: A collection of links to freely available Getty and other online resources is available in our Guide to Open Access Resources.

If you’ve not done so already, please make sure to subscribe to the Getty Library Blog. We’ll post updates regarding services and access when we have more to share. Feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns, or just to say hello and let us know how you’re doing.

Kathleen, Sally, and Sarah

Kathleen Salomon, Chief Librarian & Associate Director | ksalomon@getty.edu
– Sally McKay, Head, Research Services | smckay@getty.edu
– Sarah Sherman Clark, Manager of Reference & User Engagement | ssclark@getty.edu

New on the Getty Research Portal: 900+ free digitized Japanese art exhibition catalogues

While the physical holdings of our respective institutions may not be accessible at the moment, an ongoing collaboration between the Getty Research Institute (GRI) and the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TNRICP) has resulted in the digitization of more than 900 exhibition catalogues on Japanese art, which are now freely available and downloadable on the Getty Research Portal. A Japanese announcement is also available.

These titles comprise a collection of rare catalogues held by the TNRICP, which document domestic industrial exhibitions, world expositions, and major group shows from the end of the 19th century through the first half of the 20th century.

Look out for an announcement regarding another group of digitized texts from this collaboration—more than 800 woodblock print books from Japan’s Edo period (1615—1868)—to be made available on the Portal later this year.

– Annie Rana, Senior Project Manager, Getty Research Portal