Finding images
Searching for images isn't the same as searching for, well, anything else in the library.
Just think: most of what the library gives you access to is words--books, articles, databases. They're full of words, and you use words to locate what you need from that collection of words. Images (and visual media in general) often don't work the same way. They might be described using words (known as metadata, which can consist of the title, creator, technical specifications, or other information about the information), but generally those are going to be more limited in scope than, say, searching the contents of an entire book to decide whether it's relevant.
And yet, most collections of images ask you to use keywords to locate items.
So to find images, it's a good idea to switch up the approach and be aware of the way the images are described and organized just as much as you're thinking about what types of images you're looking for.
While there aren't a lot of rules that apply to every single image collection, there are a few that are broadly applicable:
ALWAYS USE FILTERS
BE FLEXIBLE WITH SYNONYMS AND ALTERNATE KEYWORDS
CONSIDER YOUR USE AND REUSE
What does this mean in practice? JSTOR iMAGES, a mostly closed collection available through the library, can offer some insight into this.
The following are a selection of image collections, libraries, and archives that are generally intended to be used for study, though some may be in the public domain or licensed for reuse. For images explicitly licensed for reuse and modification, check the next tab.
- ARTstorMore than one million digital images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences with accessible suite of software tools for teaching and research. Contains some open access and public domain images.
- Underground and independent comics, comix, and graphic novelsPrimary source database focusing on North American and European adult comic books and graphic novels. The collection includes original material from the 1960s to today along with interviews, commentary, theory, and criticism from journals, books, and magazines. Includes online access to The Comics Journal, distributed by Fantagraphics. At completion, this collection will include more than 100,000 pages of materials, including 75,000 pages of primary materials, and more than 25,000 pages of materials about comics--interviews, commentary, theory, and criticism--from The Comics Journal as well as other secondary sources.
- WGSNAn image and analysis database for the design world. WGSN follows and forecasts trends in fashion worldwide, interior design, store and window design and promotion. Areas covered include: designer shows, street style, marketing, retail, marketing, & business trends, textiles, and graphics
- Vogue archiveFull page images of all of Vogue, from 1892- latest issue. “The Vogue Archive is an essential primary source for the study of fashion, gender, and modern social history.” Fashion, retail, women’s studies, sociology, psychology, history, art, & design researchers will all find useful data in these pages.
- Asian historical architectureProvides photographs of monuments, buildings and other significant examples of Asia's architectural heritage arranged by geographic location. Bibliographic citations and links to related electronic resources are also included.
- NYPL Digital CollectionsExplore 889,967 items digitized from The New York Public Library's collections. This site is a living database with new materials added every day, featuring prints, photographs, maps, manuscripts, streaming video, and more. Contains some open access and public domain images.
- Getty Research PortalThe Getty Research Portal is a free online search platform providing worldwide access to an extensive collection of digitized art history texts from a range of institutions. This multilingual and multicultural union catalog affords art historians and other researchers the ability to search and download complete digital copies of publications devoted to art, architecture, material culture, and related fields. Contains some open access and public domain images.
- The Met CollectionWhen The Met was founded in 1870, it owned not a single work of art. Through the combined efforts of generations of curators, researchers, and collectors, our collection has grown to represent more than 5,000 years of art from across the globe—from the first cities of the ancient world to the works of our time. Contains some open access and public domain images.
- UbuwebA large web-based educational resource for avant-garde material available on the internet. UbuWeb was founded in response to the marginal distribution of crucial avant-garde material. It remains non-commercial and operates on a gift economy.
- Archives of American ArtWith over 20 million items in its continually growing collections, the Archives is the world’s largest and most widely used resource dedicated to collecting and preserving the papers and primary records of the visual arts in America.
- Google Arts and CultureGoogle Arts & Culture is an online platform through which the public can access high-resolution images of artworks housed in the initiative's 2000+ partner museums.
Note that many image databases linked elsewhere might include open access and/or public domain images and often are able to be filtered accordingly. The following are resources that primarily feature images licensed for reuse and/or that are in the public domain.
- Digital Public Library of AmericaThe Digital Public Library of America brings together the riches of America's libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world. Licenses vary across collections.
- EuropeanaDiscover inspiring cultural heritage from European museums, galleries, libraries and archives. Licenses vary across collections.
- Flickr CommonsThe key goal of The Commons is to share hidden treasures from the world's public photography archives. Licenses vary.
- FlickrFlickr is an image hosting service and video hosting service. Browse images by license using the advanced search.
- Wikimedia Commons.A collection of tens of millions freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute.
- CDC Public Health Image LibraryMuch of the information critical to the communication of public health messages is pictorial rather than text-based. Created by a Working Group at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the PHIL offers an organized, universal electronic gateway to CDC's pictures.
- Classic Illustrated Zoologies And Related Works, 1550-1900Made available by the New York Public Library. Illustrated zoologies are both scientific documents and repositories of examples of reproductive printmaking before photomechanical processes became the primary method of producing book illustrations. These woodcuts and wood engravings, metal plate engravings, and lithographs constitute an enormous body of art. With the exception of the colorful prints of artists such as John James Audubon, Mark Catesby, and John Gould, this art is familiar mostly to specialists.
- LANDSAT 7 satellite imagesLANDSAT 7 Satellite Images provides digital snapshots of Ohio from space. Images of Ohio are available for download or web viewing. Several views are provided, including infrared and true color composite. New imagery is available every 16 days.
- NASA imagesNASA content - images, audio, video, and computer files used in the rendition of 3-dimensional models, such as texture maps and polygon data in any format - generally are not copyrighted. You may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages. This general permission extends to personal Web pages.
- U.S. National Library of Medicine Digital CollectionsDigital Collections is the National Library of Medicine's free online repository of biomedical resources including books, manuscripts, still images, videos, and maps. The content in Digital Collections is freely available worldwide and, unless otherwise indicated, in the public domain.
- US Census Infographics and VisualizationsExplore infographics and visualizations created using US census data.
Sources of visual information & images
- Archives of American ArtWith over 20 million items in its continually growing collections, the Archives is the world’s largest and most widely used resource dedicated to collecting and preserving the papers and primary records of the visual arts in America.
- JSTOR Images (formerly Artstor)-More than one million digital images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences with accessible suite of software tools for teaching and research.
- Digital Public Library of AmericaHarvard Th Collection from Public Domain Review
- Digitized Department Store Catalogsfrom the Internet Archive (archive.org)
- EuropeanaEuropeana is the trusted source of cultural heritage brought to you by the Europeana Foundation and a large number of European cultural institutions, projects and partners. (website)
- Harper's Bazaar, 1867-1900Online copy of magazine. Good for historical images of costume & design.
- Life Photoarchive hosted by GoogleSearch millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today. Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Google.
- New York Public Library's Digital GalleryNYPL Digital Gallery provides free and open access to over 800,000 images digitized from the The New York Public Library's vast collections, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints, photographs and more.
- Oxford Art OnlineFormerly the Grove Dictionary of Art, this is the innovative new gateway into art research and the access point for Oxford art reference subscriptions and publications. Includes Grove Art Online, the Oxford Companion to Western Art, the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics and the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms.
- UnsplashBeautiful, free photos.
Gifted by the world’s most generous community of photographers. (Website) - Visual Arts Data Service (VADS) (PD)VADS is the online resource for visual arts. It has provided services to the academic community for 12 years and has built up a considerable portfolio of visual art collections comprising over 100,000 images that are freely available and copyright cleared for use in learning, teaching and research in the UK.
- World ImagesThe internationally recognized WorldImages database provides access to the California State University IMAGE Project. It has just been selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in its historic collection of Internet materials. It contains approximately 100,000 images, is global in coverage and includes all areas of visual imagery.