Anyone who has ever studied art knows how difficult it can be to find rare titles. The hunt for the resources that one needs to complete a thesis paper or just to expand one’s knowledge of world cultures and the influence that art has had can be an onerous one; however, it has just gotten easier, thank to the Met.

New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art has started a new online resource that will open the door for users to be able access a multitude of its publications. Thursday was the first day the MetPublications could be accessed online. A description and table of contents for the majority of titles, along with information about the authors, reviews, awards and links will be included on the MetPublications.

Approximately 650 titles published from 1964 to the present will be available to readers and subjects from art, art history, collecting and more can be found. Museum administrators expect the popularity of the site will cause bulletins and journals that have been published by the museum since 1870 will soon be available online.

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The MetPublications collection is comprehensive, covering every artistic and cultural topic imaginable. The titles available range from American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life to Ancient Egyptian Calligraphy to The Art of Illumination: The Limbourg Brothers and the Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry to Dangerous Liasons: Fashion and Furniture in the Eighteenth Century. Users will even be able to obtain print-on-demand copies of 140 titles that are out-of-print.

This library of cultural history will, no doubt, become an invaluable resource for art historians and enthusiasts, as well as for students, who may not have had access to these rich texts otherwise. MetPublications is an important part of the online library of information that is making books and information readily accessible to people around the world.