Fletcher Library at the West Campus
Photographs and Digital Images
| Photo Collections | Search engines for locating photos |
| Identifying photos from ASU Libaries | Copyright |
Photo Collections
For a listing of additional image resources to which ASU subscribes, see the Photos and Images.
ARTstor Digital Library
Over 60,000 works of art digitized by the Art Museum Image Consortium members.
AP Digital Photo Archive
Approximately 700,000 current and historic photos drawn largely from the Associated Press database of images. The archive includes contemporary news images, historical figures, celebrities, and images drawn from key events of the 20th century. The earliest photograph available was taken in 1840. Updated daily.
Corbis Picture Experience
500,000 online photos provided by Corbis, a private company. This collection can also be searched through Alta Vista's PhotoFinder. All images are copyrighted.
Flickr
This online photo management and sharing software includes millions of photos.
Library of Congress American Memory Project
Over 100 historical collections including 7 million digitized items.
New York Public Library Digital Library Collections
A rich resource for U.S. history and culture, this is a growing body of primary source materials created for the Web that includes digital versions of books, manuscripts, photographs, engravings, and other items.
Smithsonian Photographs Online
Search through almost 1,000 gif files covering topics ranging from Air and Space, to Science, Nature, Technology, History, People-Places, and Current Events. There is also a link to another server with .gif and .jpg formats.
Search Engines for Locating Photos on the Web
Google Image Search (Advanced)
Currently indexes more than 425 million images. Easy to use. Includes advanced image search.
Identifying Photos from ASU Libraries
Finding Photos in Books
Photos can also be found in the collections at ASU. You can find books that contain images by adding some of the following words to a keyword search in the ASU Libraries' Catalog:
photograph*
pictorial
illustrated
e.g. Mexico and (photograph* or pictorial or illustrated)
You can check the description field of the records you find to determine if a book has images. The term ill. means that the item has illustrations and col. indicates that they are in color. The description field is highlighted in red in the sample record below:
|
| LOCATION | CALL # | STATUS |
|---|---|---|
| HAYDEN STACKS | N6537.D446 A4 1985 | SHELF |
| WEST STACKS | N6537.D446 A4 1985 | SHELF |
|
Finding Photos in Journals
You can also find photos in the magazines and journals at ASU West:
- Choose a database such as Academic Search Premier
- Enter a search to find articles on the topic of the photo you are looking for.
- Although graphics are often not included with online articles*, there is often a description of any accompanying images at the end of the article or abstract. Look for clues such as il for illustration or por for portrait in the record for the article.
- To locate, use Journal Title Lookup
- If we do, find the article in our collection and make a copy of it.
* Note that Academic Search Premier and others are now including images as part of their fulltext articles.
Copyright Issues
Many of the images made available over the Internet are protected by copyright. Always check the restrictions surrounding an image before use and receive appropriate permission or authorization from the author. Limited scholarly use of images may be permitted under 'Fair Use.' Fair use is an exception to the exclusive protection of copyright under American law. It permits certain limited uses without permission from the author or owner. Depending on the circumstances, copying may be considered "fair" for the purpose of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship or research.
