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Images

A guide to searching and locating images.

Introduction

Welcome to the Images Library Guide

This guide will help you find images and provide information on how to use images in your work.

 

Finding images

Using images

 

All images in this guide are from the University of Melbourne Cultural collections and Research at Melbourne.  

See Images used in this guide section for details.

University of Melbourne databases

The Library subscribes to a number of databases that provide high quality images. These databases are restricted to University of Melbourne staff and students. 

Free online

Free online resources feature large collections of images with Creative Commons licenses or in the public domain. See the Copyright section of this guide for more on licenses and using images in your work.

These resources are collections of photos:

These resources include photos, illustrations, scalable vector graphics and video clips:

Collections & gateways

These websites provide access to images from the collections of key institutions such as libraries, museums, galleries and scientific organisations. 

These websites provide access to images of cultural material from the collections of art galleries, museums and libraries.

  • Art and Architecture (The Courtauld Institute of Art) 
    The Courtauld Gallery’s collection includes the complete collection of paintings, sculpture, decorative arts and drawings, as well as a selection of prints. The website also features historical photographic material from the Conway Library, devoted to worldwide architecture and sculpture.
  • Art guide - lists Australian galleries and their websites.
  • Art Resource - a photo archive of fine art with images of works from prehistoric times to the present. Includes photographs of painting, sculpture, architecture and the minor arts. Also functions as the official rights and permissions representative for many institutions in the United States and abroad.
  • Chinese-Australian Historical Images in Australia (CHIA) is a catalogue of historical images of Chinese, Chinese immigrants and their descendants.
  • Dumbarton Oaks’ online collections - images and scholarship in Byzantine, Garden and Landscape, and Pre-Columbian studies.
  • Europeana - provides access to millions of books, music, artworks and more from thousands of European archives, libraries and museums.
  • Fantastic in Art and Fiction - a visual resource for the study of the Fantastic or of the supernatural in fiction and in art from Cornell University.  
  • Frick Digital Image Archive - makes available digital files created through projects supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, The Henry Luce Foundation and METRO. The collections include photoarchive images and documentation, book materials, Frick Collection images, and archival documents.
  • Himalayan Art Resources This project exhibits and catalogues Himalayan and Tibetan art from collections around the world.
  • Joconde - joint image database of French museums providing access to works of art in French public collections. Includes 'fine arts' and 'decorative arts'.
  • Life Photo Archive (hosted by Google) Historical photographs from the 1850s on.
  • London Picture Archive - images of London from the Guildhall Library and the Guildhall Art Gallery, London. Categories include archaeology, architecture, history, abstract ideas, leisure, military and war, natural world, politics, religion and belief, society and trade and industry.
  • Metadata database of Japanese old photographs in Bakumatsu-Meiji Period - “Japanese Old Photographs of the Bakumatsu-Meiji Periods” at the Nagasaki University Library is the largest collection of old photographs taken all over Japan from the Bakumatsu through to the Meiji period.
  • National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) - A gateway to Australian visual arts and crafts. View recent online galleries for contemporary artists.
  • Photo Archive (Getty Research Institute)
    Provides pictorial research for the study of fine arts from antiquity to the modern period. "The archive's strength lies in the photographic reproduction of western art, architecture, and decorative arts."
  • Rijksstudio - from Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
  • Smithsonian Libraries Image Gallery - A selection of book illustrations, photos, drawings and other images from across the Libraries.
  • State Library of Victoria's image pool - more than 170,000 historical images including maps and architectural drawings. All images in this search pool are out of copyright and not culturally sensitive.
  • Trove - provides access to Australian online image collections.
  • WorldImages - a database of images from the California State University IMAGE Project. The coverage is global and includes all types of visual imagery.
  • Architecture and Interior Design for 20th Century America (Library of Congress) focuses primarily on architectural subjects, including interiors and exteriors of homes, stores, offices, factories, historic buildings, and other structures.

Bilma (clapsticks) Unknown maker (Northern Territory, Australia, c. 1850–1955. University of Melbourne Library, Rare Music Collection.
  • Google Art Project   is a collaboration between Google and 151 acclaimed art galleries and musuems from across 40 countries, showcasing artwork such as paintings, drawings, sculptures, historic and religious artefacts, photographs and important manuscripts
  • Artsy  - works of art, architecture, and design from galleries, museums, private collections, foundations, and artists’ estates spanning diverse cultures and time periods. Artsy provides one of the largest collections of contemporary art available online.
  • Artchive - database of Mark Harden's scans of artwork.
  • VADS (UK) is an online resource of visual art collections with particular strengths in fashion and design.
  • Trove (including Picture Australia) Search photographs, negatives, artworks, drawings, posters, postcards and other pictures, as well as physical objects such as puzzles, instruments and clothing.
  • State Library of Victoria holds a collection of digitised pictures and images of biographical, cultural, environmental, historical, sociological and topographical images relating to Victoria.
  • Web Gallery of Art is a searchable database of European fine arts and architecture (3rd-19th centuries), currently containing over 49.500 reproductions.

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Theo Strasser (1956–) Ghost bones Melbourne: Anajah Press, 2017.

 

 

These websites provide access to images from the collections of museums, scientific organisations and libraries.

  • Discovery Centre - images from collections in the Melbourne Museum, Scienceworks, Immigration Museum. Some online exhibitions are included.
  • NASA images - image galleries from NASA including current and historical images of space and astronomy.
  • Hubble gallery  Explore the universe through Hubble's eye, and witness the most dangerous, spectacular and mysterious depths of the cosmos 
  • Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Search for aircraft, spacecraft, engines, rockets, uniforms, spacesuits, balloons and artwork
  • Science and Society Picture Library  Representing the visual collections of the Science Museum, Media Museum and Railway Museum in London.
  • Medical Artifacts Collection (Virginia Commonwealth University) includes surgical, dental, and diagnostic instruments, therapeutic devices, uniforms of healthcare professions, and medical furniture related to the history of health care in Virginia since 1838
  • U.S. National Library of Medicine  Images from the history of Medicine provides access to the History of Medicine Division (HMD) of the U.S National Library of Medicine (NLM)which includes portraits, photographs, caricatures, posters, and graphic art illustrating the social and historical aspects of medicine dated from the 15th to 21st century
  • National Geographic galleries include: Animals, Nature and Weather, Landscapes, People and Culture, Travel and Underwater
  • Galaxy of Images (Smithsonian Institution Libraries) images digitized from printed books and manuscripts in the collections of Smithsonian Institution Libraries
  • New York Public Library Digital Gallery - images from the collections of the New York Public Library including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints, photographs, illustrated books, printed ephemera, etc.
  • Archivision - architecture and visual arts photo library supplying high quality images for educational and commercial usage.
  • Structurae  A database with images of bridges, tunnels, buildings,dams, infrastructure projects, and products relating to structural and civil engineering. 

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Quantum dots generated using density functional theory calculations are enlarged to macroscopic proportions and plunged into a tank of water. Image: Nbrawand CC BY 4.0

 

dirt road crossroads with pubs, building and church in background

Adapted from St Kilda Junction, date unknown. Architecture, Building and Planning Library: Glass Slides Collection.

In print

Physical resources at the University of Melbourne Library.

There are a couple of different ways to find a book with images via the library catalogue. 

You can do a Keyword search using the term illustrat*  eg. illustrat* war  or illustrat* fashion  This will find books that are illustrated or have a listed illustrator. 

Another useful keyword term is pictorial works eg. Australia pictorial works or planet pictorial works

You can also try a Subject search, using 'in art' eg. women in art or death in art

 

To confirm that the book you have located on the catalogue has images, simply look at the physical description.  Here are two examples showing that illustrations are included in the book.

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Veiwing book at the University of Melbourne library

 

University collections

The University Library and Cultural Collections hold original artworks, published and unpublished images.

 

Baillieu library print collection

What's in the collection? 
Prints from the fifteenth to the twentieth century. Includes etchings, engravings, mezzotints, lithographs, woodcuts and wood engravings. Visit the Print Collection's webpage for more information.

How to search?
Search via online database.

What's online? 

Over 7000 items have been digitised and are available online via the database.

How to visit?
To view prints in person, please submit a request via the Reading Room website.

 

Potter Museum of Art

What's in the collection?
Art in all media with a strong Australian focus, but also covers areas such as classics and archaeology collections, international Indigenous cultural material, decorative arts, and a collection of 20th century poster designs. Visit the Potter Museum of Art's website for more information.

How to search?
Search via online database

What's online?
A sample of digitised items.

How to visit?
Closed for redevelopment 2020. Check opening times.

 

University of Melbourne Archives

What's in the collection?

Includes records from the University of Melbourne, businesses, trade union and other labour movements, history, professional, community, women's, peace and political organisations. Visit  the UMA website for more information.

How to search?
Search via the Archives online database.

What's online? 

Over 20,000 items digitsed.

How to visit?
Archives are not open to the public, but you can view items via the Reading Room.

 

Visual Cultures Resource Centre

What's in the collection?
Located in the School of Culture and Communication, the VCRC includes a collection of slides, 16mm films, a video and DVD collection, photographs and microfilms, as well as reference books, general texts, key journals and an  Honours thesis collection. Visit the VCRC webpage for more information.

How to search?
The collection is  for research purposes only and borrowing is not permitted.

How to visit?
Visual Cultures Resource Centre, RM E 361 East Tower, John Medley (Building 191), School of Culture and Communication The University of Melbourne.

 

Microform collection

What's in the collection?
Some prominent collections include: the Witt library and Conway collections, the New York Public library artists files and Leonardo da Vinci nature studies.

How to search?
See staff for assistance or visit the Using Microform library guide.

How to visit?
Head to the basement of the Baillieu Library.

Copyright

Using images in your research can be a great way to add meaning to your text. However, not all images can be reproduced in the same way. To understand how to work with images it's important to know the basics of copyright.

What is copyright?

Copyright is a form of intellectual property which attempts to balance the creator’s ability to control and generate an income from their work with the greater community’s need to use that work for socially beneficial purposes. It is important that we respect the rights of copyright owners and take the appropriate steps to prevent copyright infringement.

Copyright doesn’t protect ideas and information – only how they are expressed in material form. Your ideas are protected by copyright once you write them down as part of your essay or thesis, record them as a sound or video, when you take a photograph, or compose a piece of music. 

Copyright owners have the have exclusive rights to:

  • Reproduce their work, e.g. by photocopying, recording, and scanning.
  • Publish or make the work publicly available, in print or electronic format.
  • Communicate the work, make it available online, or email it to someone.
  • Adapt the work, such as translating the work or rearranging a musical composition.

If anyone else wants to do any of these things, they will generally need the copyright owner's permission. 

Copyright generally lasts for the life of the creator plus 70 years – but it does vary for different types of works.

Check the Copyright Office website for more information.

Using images compliantly

When searching for images in the databases we have identified in this guide or on the web, in general, it is important to keep in mind that images will have their own license or terms of use attached to it. It is important to comply with these conditions to ensure that you are not infringing copyright.

 

Public domain images

When a work is in the public domain, it means the copyright has expired or the creator has dedicated it to the public domain. Websites like Pixabay , Pexels and Unsplash offer free, searchable public domain images. You can also use images uploaded to Wikimedia , and public domain images you find using a filtered Google Image search . 

 

Creative Commons and other open-licensed images

Creative Commons is a global not-for-profit initiative which provides free licences for creators to allow legal sharing and remixing of their material. There are guides available on the Copyright Office website on searching for Creative Commons images.

Certain websites also allow individuals to use materials on their website under their terms and conditions.  For example, they may specify that the material on their website can be used for personal, non-commercial or educational purposes.  Check the terms and conditions of the website to check whether you are able to use images on their website compliantly.

 

Creative Commons licences

Creative Commons licences allow for creators to give permission for others to use the work in advance under certain conditions.




Attribution

BY

 

Whenever a work is copied or redistributed under a Creative Commons licence, the original creator (and any other nominated parties) must be credited and the source linked to.

 

This license applies to every Creative Commons work.




Non-Commercial

NC

 

Lets others copy, distribute, display and perform the work for noncommercial purposes only.




No Derivative Works

ND

 

Lets others distribute, display and perform only verbatim copies of the work. They may not adapt or change the work in any way.


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Share Alike

SA

 

Allows others to remix, adapt and build on the work, but only if they distribute the derivative works under the same the licence terms that govern the original work.

Seeking permission

You can also seek permission from the copyright owner. Keep a written record of the permission and all communication. In the written permission, you should ensure there are full details of the proposed use and any future uses.

 

Exemption under Fair Dealing

You can use a work under a Fair Dealing exemption which – under certain circumstances – allows the limited use of copyright material without requiring permission from the copyright owner. To rely on these provisions, the use must be genuine and not merely illustrative. So, if, for example, you are relying on the fair dealing provision for criticism and review of an image, you must be making a genuine judgement of the material or of its underlying ideas. 

 

detail from manuscript

Detail from Favāyid c.1800s. University of Melbourne Rare Books Collection.

Referencing & citing

Referencing images appropriately is one way of displaying good academic integrity as well as ensuring that you are keeping your use of the image copyright compliant.  Each citation styles will cite images differently.

Re:cite is the Library’s guide to citing and referencing in your research and writing, and can help you cite the images you are using appropriately.

Visit the Re:cite website

 

Further help

Quick question?

Chat online with a librarian.

Connect with the library
on social media

 
       

FAQs

Finding images FAQ

Think laterally about search terms in big databases like Unsplash.

What concepts or feelings are you trying to get across?

Try about different ways to describe what you are looking for, or associated words / synonyms. You can also look for images that complement the theme of your work, i.e. do I want an image that displays indecision, or solidarity?

 

Using images FAQ

Try a Google reverse image search.

Remember to investigate websites thoroughly to check the claims they are making.

 

6 people walking through scrub

Struggling through the rugged terrain of Gallipoli to survey the battlefield. Image: Sarah Midford, Research at Melbourne.

Images used in this guide

 


Adapted from Norm Beechey's #4 Monaro at a Shell Service station
Shell Historical Archive
University of Melbourne Archives

Original image: https://gallery.its.unimelb.edu.au/umblumaic/imu.php?request=multimedia&irn=1731&bestfit=yes&width=200

 

Adapted from Ortus sanitatis (or Hortus sanitatis)
Mainz: Jacob Meydenbach, 1491
George McArthur Bequest, 1903
Rare Books Collection
University of Melbourne Library

Original image:  https://library.unimelb.edu.au/teachingobjects/objects/ortus-sanitatis

 

Adapted from Portrait of Miss McCoy wearing an embroidered vest of unknown symbolism
10 July 1920
University of Melbourne Archives

Original image:  https://archives.unimelb.edu.au/resources/subject_guides/women-in-the-archives/womens-movements-1880-1960

 


Adapted from Burroughs direct adding machine
c. 1920s
University of Melbourne Archives

Original image:  https://archives.unimelb.edu.au/resources/subject_guides/early-computing/machines-in-the-collection

 


Adapted from tattooed villain seeking a victim
Utagawa, Kunisada 
19th Century
Baillieu Library Print Collection 

Original Image: http://opus.its.unimelb.edu.au/umblprints/imu.php?request=multimedia&irn=13358&

 

Adapted from Cortinarius
Howie, Malcolm
1935
University of Melbourne Herbarium

Original image: https://library.unimelb.edu.au/exhibitions/botanicalillustrations

 


Bilma (clapsticks)
Unknown maker (Northern Territory, Australia)
c. 1850–1955
Rare Music Collection, University of Melbourne Library

Teaching with unique collections

 

Struggling through the rugged terrain of Gallipoli to survey the battlefield.
Image: Sarah Midford.
Research at Melbourne.

 

Theo Strasser (1956–) Ghost bones Melbourne: Anajah Press, 2017.
Research at Melbourne.


 

Quantum dots generated using density functional theory calculations are enlarged to macroscopic proportions and plunged into a tank of water.
Image: Nbrawand CC BY 4.0
Also appears on Research at Melbourne.

 

Vivienne Shark LeWitt "If the shoe doesn't fit must we change the foot?" 2008
Potter  Museum of Art


 

Viewing book in the University of Melbourne library
Image: University of Melbourne CC BY 4.0


 

The Crab and Its Mother
Hollar, Wenceslaus
1666
Baillieu Library Print Collection 


 

Studio portrait of a young man wearing a trilby hat. Family name White.
Howship, William John
1910 - 1930
Baillieu Library Print Collection 


 

Visual Cultures Resource Centre,
Image: Jane Brown
Visual Cultures Resource Centre Website


 

Librarian Norm looking at microform in the Baillieu library basement
Twitter

 


Detail from Favāyid, Fāsī, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad, 1373-1429 
c.1800s. 
University of Melbourne Rare Books Collection.