Visual Communication Resources

Altavista.com
Use Altavista to search for images, MP3/Audio or Video files. MP3/Audio and video file searches can be limited by duration (less than a minute, more than a minute).

adFlip
“adflip.com is the world’s largest searchable database of classic print ads. You can search by category, by decade [from the 1940s], even by year. The ‘what are you looking for’ search box allows you to type in a brand name and even a specific model name. We won’t guarantee that you will always get a match, but you may be surprised at what is lurking deep in our archives.” To take full advantage of the site, membership is required.

American Memory from the Library of Congress
“American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience.” Although the Library of Congress provides some copyright information about the items in this collection, “it is the researcher’s obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the Library’s collections.”

Clip Art, Sounds and Fonts Galore
Created by Earl Sande, Secondary School Librarian, International School of Tanganyika. Part of the Educational CyberPlayground.

ClipArt Searcher
Provides a page of forms to search several search engines for photos, fonts, animations and clip art.

Creative Commons
You can search for audio, video, images, text, and more. “Creative Commons offers a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors and artists. We have built upon the “all rights reserved” of traditional copyright to create a voluntary “some rights reserved” copyright. We’re a nonprofit. All of our tools are free.” Creative Commons also offers a search tool.

Ditto.com
Self-described as “the world?s leading visual search engine.” “Ditto provides visual search of the web using pictures. Users are linked to the originating web site on which the pictures are located. Should you wish to use any picture, photo or artwork you see during the search process, you must obtain the appropriate permission from the owner of the material.”

DK Clip Art
Dorling Kindersley, British market leader in illustrated non-fiction publishing, provides a “mini site will help support class and homework activities with downloads of DK’s famous photographs that can be included in your school projects.”

Finding Images on the Web
Compiled by Ruth S. Thomas, Art/Art History Bibliographer, Mugar Memorial Library, Boston University Libraries

FindSounds
“A free site where you can search the Web for sound effects and musical instrument samples.”

Flickr.com
This photo sharing site requires free registration for use. Designed to assist people in sharing photos with family and friends, it is also a great place to search for photos. Site managers encourage you to “Look around, see whose photos you like. Check out The Flickr Blog, which has great photos daily, or keep an eye on the page with Everyone’s photos.”

Free Graphics, Clip Art, Icons
A compilation of links to graphics collections, including Eyewire and Microsoft and to search engines, such as Yahoo. Part of the Meriam Library Digital Media Bank at Chico State University, the unnamed compiler states: “I tended to skip or de-emphasize sites with backgrounds files, gif animations, lines, bars and rules.”

FreeFoto.com
“The photographs are free to private non-commercial users and for sale to other users.”

Google
Use the Images search to find graphics. Some may be copyrighted. Advanced Search options will focus your search, allow you to choose file types and sizes, and filter mature content.

Stock.xchng
Known as the “leading free stock photography site.” Photographers can share their photographs with others. Collection is browsable by subject. The gallery contains “over 100,000 quality stock photos by more than 9,000 users.”

Library Databases
ACC Library Services subscribes to several databases that offer image searching. You can use some of these images for ideas, but if you wanted to manipulate the original for a project, it would be best to acknowledge the source of it. Many of these are from API and other news sources. To get to the databases, begin at the library home page, then select A-Z List of Resources under Find Articles and Research Information. From that list, you might choose: Academic Search Premier, AccessScience, eLibrary, MasterFILE Premier, and Military & Government Collection. The eLibrary database offers audio and video as well as images.

Lycos Multimedia Search
You can choose to block offensive content before searching. If you do not choose “Always” from the block options, you must read and agree to the terms of the “Warning” page regarding mature content to continue a search.

Merriam Library Graphics Sources
from Chico State Library.

Microsoft Office Clip Art and Media Home Page
The site provides a list of topics you can be browsed by category or, you can search the collection and limit your search by type of resource: clip art, photos, animations, sounds, etc. You can also suggest new content.

morgueFile.com
This site, which contains high-resolution digital stock, is maintained by Michael and Kevin Connors “to provide free image reference material for use in all creative pursuits.” “The morguefile contains photographs freely contributed by many artists to be used in creative projects by visitors to the site. To acknowledge the artist’s accomplishments, we ask that you credit the photographer when possible.”

National Geographic Online
Long recognized for the stunning photography that accompanies its articles, the online site provides a photography section that features photo galleries by subject and more.

Northridge Library maintains a file of pictures from magazines, pamphlets, book jackets, and other sources on various topics. The items are arranged alphabetically by subject in filing cabinets and can be borrowed for two weeks.

The NYPL Picture Collection Online
“The digital collection of images presented here … is taken from the in-print collection of images that New York Public Library has been collecting since 1915. …the organization and cataloging of the online collection is what makes these images so valuable. Users can browse the collection by name, title, subject, and author, and quick and advanced search options are available. The subject and physical descriptors for each image are extensive, and a source is given for each image. Images can be added to a ‘My Gallery’ save function for viewing or ordering, and can be printed, emailed or saved to disk. Users who wish to order images for commercial use may do so by paying a fee to cover the cost of permissions and licensing.” [ALA|MARS Best Ref 2004, Reviewed 9 March 2004]

PhotoObjects.net
Royalty-free stock photograph images that already have clipping paths “and ready to drop into any background, combining high-resolution stock photo image quality with the simplicity of vector art.” Images can be searched by keyword, by category and by color. This new search option may retrieve “photo object images you may not have found by using the more traditional keyword or category searches.” Requires a subscription or pay-per-download.

Pics4Learning.com
Has photographs and an “ImageBlender” where you can edit digital images. “Copyright friendly images for education” available for use in teacher or student projects.

Picture History
“Describing itself as a ‘?digital library of high quality images and footage illustrating more than 200 years of American history,’ this site has indexed still images of maps, postcards, photographs, cartoons, stereo cards, periodicals, and more, in addition to video and audio clips. The resources can be accessed through rather broad categories, simple keyword searches, or by using the very good advanced search tool, which allows keyword searches to be limited by such attributes as date, medium, color, broad subject area, original format, or photographer. Images can be licensed, purchased or sent as a free e-card from the website.” [ALA|MARS Best Ref 2004, Reviewed 23 March 2004]

Public libraries have collections of children’s books that include many of the topics one would find in books for adults, as well as picture books and fantasy literature. Books for very young children, in particular, are usually heavily illustrated with drawings or photographs and are a great resource for artists and designers.

Retrographix
Free retro clipart from common graphics stock supplied for use in advertising sections of newspapers. © 2003 Robert J. Falk

WebSEEk: Content-based Image and Video Search and Catalog Tool for the Web.
Developed by John R. Smith at the Digital Video and Multimedia Lab at Columbia University under the supervision of Prof. Shih-Fu Chang, “WebSEEk is a new effort to catalog the visual information on the World Wide Web. WebSEEk has so far catalogued over 650,000 images and videos from many sites on the WWW, and maybe even your own!” Search by topic, type (graphic, video, gray images, color photos). Images found can be further manipulated by clicking on either: col–”search the image/video list by color using this item,” web–”search the whole WebSEEk catalog by color using this item,” or his–”manually tweak this item’s histogram to make another search (Java).”

Yahoo! Creative Commons Search
In Beta testing (as of July 8, 2005), this utility limits searches to audio, images, text, video, and other formats that are free to share online and whose authors allow you to re-use it for some purposes without paying royalties or asking permission. Creative Commons also offers a search tool, but Yahoo! seems to cover more sites with more content. Yahoo! also offers search limits for “content I can use for commercial purposes” and “content I can modify, adapt, or build upon.” (Greg Notess, “Internet Search Engine Update,” Online, July/August 2005, p.15).

Source : Austin Community College