Library Guides: Find, Use, and Edit Online Images: Image Databases

Finding Images

Finding Images with Library Databases

Finding images online can seem easy, however images that are found with a quick Google search may not contain all of the artist and copyright information you would need to properly cite and use that image. Image databases from the library can be helpful in that they clearly list the artist, title, creation date and other information needed to cite the image. Images found from image databases or other scholarly sources will tend to have more accurate metadata and information associated with the image so that you can properly cite your image.

Image Source: Rathke, L. (2017, Jan 23). Food and Farm - Winter Farming. ID #17025743182303. Associated Press. Retrieved from
http://classic.apimages.com/OneUp.aspx?st=det&ids=Food%20and%20Farm-Winter%20Farming&showact=details&sort=date&prds=10134&intv=3d&sh=14&kwstyle
=and&adte=1485535786&pagez=20&cfasstyle=AND&rids=77bb6ebbca694940aa99d8fc5452f78c&dbm=PThirtyDay&page=1&xslt=1&mediatype=Photo

Library Image Databases

Image Databases

Below is a list of library databases to search for images:

Ad*Access
Draws on part of a large collection of magazine and newspaper ads within the Duke library's J. Walter Thompson Company Archives. Includes over 7,000 ads, mainly from U.S. publications dating between 1911 and 1955. Five broad subject categories are presented: Radio, Television, Transportation, Beauty and Hygiene and World War II.
AP Images
Contains photographs, audio sound bites, graphics, and text spanning over 160 years of history.
Artstor on JSTOR
A nonprofit resource that provides over 2 million images, videos, panoramas, and audio files contributed by museums, galleries, and other cultural organizations around the world. Artstor is now integrated with robust primary source collections accessible on JSTOR.
Britannica Image Quest
Access more than two million rights-cleared images from over 50 of the best collections in the world.
Ebsco Image Collection
Provides access to worldly images relating to people, natural science, places, history, maps and flags.
Oxford Art Online
A standard art reference resource. Lengthy, scholarly entries describe and define art terms and movements worldwide. Includes biographical information about artists.
Limited to 5 concurrent users
Smithsonian Collections Online
Smithsonian libraries, museums, and archives' content digitized.
Includes: Air & Space and Smithsonian Magazine Archive; Evolution of Flight, 1784-1991; Trade Literature & the Merchandizing of Industry; World's Fairs & Expositions: Visions of Tomorrow