Getty Publications produces a wide variety of award-winning titles spanning the fields of art, photography, archaeology, architecture, conservation, and the humanities resulting from or complementing the work of the J.Paul Getty Museum, The Getty Conservation Institute, and the Getty Research Institute. The center recently launched their Virtual Library–a continuation of their Open Content Program– which will provide free access to more than 250 of its backlist titles available to read online or download as PDF’s making it even easier for those of us who aren’t based in California to view the J.Paul Getty Museum’s extensive archives.

For scholars and art history buffs (and the general public), this news is particularly exciting. The Virtual Library will allow any computer literate individual the chance to access hundreds of art-related works to further their education in the art world, for free, with new titles added on an ongoing basis. The Open Content Program made thousands of images of works of Getty’s collections from public domains or which the Getty Museum held all the rights freely available. “As a next step in our increasing digital engagement, we are now making hundreds of publications—many of which are out of print—freely available to scholars and the interested public around the world,” said Getty President and CEO James Cuno in a release.

The publications, dating back to 1966, span the Getty’s rich publishing history. These publications include collection catalogues that highlight masterpieces from Getty collections, translations of groundbreaking texts on the visual arts, essential works of art historical research, exhibition catalogues, journals, and publications that serve as key resources in the conservation of the world’s cultural heritage, as well as titles published by the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Conservation Institute, and the Getty Research Institute.

This new Virtual Library will be extremely helpful for anyone who needs to conduct art-related research, as well as anyone in the general public who wishes to further their knowledge of art. The Virtual Library will provide users with the ability to search for titles, view an accompanied description of most of the titles, along with a table of contents and author biographies, with links to help locate a print edition in a local library through WordCat or to purchase books available for sale. To learn more about what the Virtual Library has to offer, or to get started on title browsing, visit the Virtual Library Homepage and begin your journey.