IMAGES AND PHOTOGRAPHS

Typical questions

Points to consider

Where to look

Support services

JISC Digital Media

www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk

Provides advice, guidance and training to the UK's further and higher education community on still and moving images. Website has tips on tracing and using images legally.

Search engines

Most commercial search engines will retrieve some images. However, do remember to check copyright carefully!

Google Images

images.google.com

Has an advanced search form where you can restrict by image size and file format.

Digital libraries

For further examples of online libraries containing paintings and artworks see the Art section.

ARKive

www.arkive.org

Vast online library of images of the natural world (plants, animals, landscapes) from a project endorsed by leading conservation organizations.

British Cartoon Archive

www.cartoons.ac.uk

Located at the University of Canterbury. Extensive holdings of cartoons, caricatures and comics from 1904 onwards. Catalogue provides access to thumbnail images. Copyright information is on the website.

Flickr

www.flickr.com/search

Famous photo-sharing site, increasingly being used by museums and archives to post historic images online. For effective academic use choose the advanced search form. This enables more specific phrase searching and allows searches to be restricted to Creative Commons use.

JISCMedia Hub (subscription required)

jiscmediahub.ac.uk

Enormous store of still and moving image collections specially selected for UK academic use. Includes thousands of images from the Getty Library covering famous persons, locations and social history topics.

Wellcome Images

images.wellcome.ac.uk

Over 40,000 historic images from the collections of the Wellcome Library. Strong coverage of medical topics and public health.