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Research & Writing Tutors
Research and Instruction Librarian for Music & Fine Arts
Guide to Imagery
Search Catalyst to find books in this series. Do a Keyword search with the words "Guide to Imagery". Please make sure to include the quotation marks. Here are some examples of books in the series:
- Food and Feasting in ArtCall Number: N8217.F64 M2513 2008
- Nature and Its SymbolsCall Number: N7680 .I4713 2004
- Death and Resurrection in ArtCall Number: N8217.D5 D4313 2009
Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Other Digital Collections
Digital Collections at St. Olaf
The St. Olaf College Digital Collections facilitates learning and scholarship by transforming images and books into online formats which allows for greater sharing of research and teaching materials within our community at St. Olaf and, where possible, the Internet.
Art Cyclopedia
A guide to art on the Internet.
ARTstor
ARTstor is a database where images are stored just as Jstor is a database where journal articles are stored. You can view images within the database, enlarge them, print or copy them. When you create your final project you can copy images and include them in a PowerPoint presentation or you can use ARTstor's own tool for this which is called the Offline Image Viewer (OIV).
ARTstor Account
You do not need to create an account with ARTstor in order to do basic searching, however if you want to copy, print, or store images in a folder on the ARTstor server, then an account is required. Once you click on the "Enter Here " button to enter ARTstor, a screen will appear with a "Register" link in the upper right hand corner of the page. Just follow the link to set up an account. Please use your St. Olaf e-mail address so that ARTstor will recognize you as a St. Olaf student.
Online Help and FAQ's
ARTstor provides an extensive collection of pdf's, videos, etc. to assist you in using the database effectively. Just click here.
Finding Images on the Web
Open-Source Image Sites
If you use images in research papers or presentations, they need to be cited just like any other resource you use. Please check the citation guide for the style you are using, e.g. MLA, Chicago, Turabian. If you are publishing your work either in paper form or digitally on the internet, you will also need to figure out how to be in compliance with copyright requirements. A research librarian can help you figure this out.
- Creative Commons Search
Not a search engine itself, but a gateway to collections featuring media using CC licenses (including Flickr, Google, YouTube, Wikimedia, Europeana and more).
- Google Images
- …but, more specifically, the hard to find Google Advanced Image Search.
- Limit by usage rights at the very bottom of the screen.
- Depending on the reliability of the sources that you’re finding, you might consider adding terms like digital, collection or archive to your search to target institutions like universities and museums.
User-Generated Images- Flickr Creative Commons
“Many Flickr users have chosen to offer their work under a Creative Commons license, and you can browse or search through content under each type of license.”
- Other paths to Flickr images
- Compfight
A search engine targeting Flickr images. After you search by keyword, you can limit your results to Creative Commons licensed photos.
Other Sources for free, open, or public domain images
- Wikipedia: Public Domain Image Resources
A gigantic list, also subdivided into sources by subject. - Wikimedia Commons
Public domain and freely-licensed media content. - Flickr Commons
Usable digital images from the collections of a growing number of institutions. A great source for government-produced images. - Library of Congress: Prints and Photographs Online Catalog
“The collections of the Prints & Photographs Division include photographs, fine and popular prints and drawings, posters, and architectural and engineering drawings. While international in scope, the collections are particularly rich in materials produced in, or documenting the history of, the United States and the lives, interests and achievements of the American people.”
- Wikipedia: Public Domain Image Resources
- Compfight
- Flickr Creative Commons
- Last Updated: Feb 14, 2024 9:38 AM
- URL: https://libraryguides.stolaf.edu/art
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