Images
The first resource listed below (DIRC) is helpful if you are wanting to use an image that is not clearly indicated as being open-access. Note that most resources from U.S. government agencies (including images) are not copyrighted.
You may also wish to explore collaborative image/photo websites which do not have copyright/royalty restrictions such as Pixabay. Check out the koala photos!
- Digital Image Rights Computator (DIRC) [via the Visual Resources Association]“The DIRC is an interactive decision tree program to help you determine what you need to do to legally use a specific image for a specific purpose. At each stage it has a brief description of the issue at hand as well as links for more detailed discussions of those issues.“
- Biodiversity Heritage LibraryOver 100,000 botanical illustrations and photographs from the collection have been uploaded to the BHL Flickr account.
- National Digital Library (US Fish & Wildlife Service) This link opens in a new windowFree online digital media library from US F&WS. Wide assortment of selected images, publications (including historic documents, oral histories and more), video and audio clips, and maps that are in the public domain.
- NOAA Photo Library This link opens in a new windowThis digital photo collection includes "the work, observations, and studies that are carried on by the scientists, engineers, commissioned officers, and administrative personnel that make up" NOAA. This "collection spans centuries of time and much of the natural world from the center of the Earth to the surface of the Sun" and "includes thousands of weather and space images, hundreds of images of our shores and coastal seas, and thousands of marine species images ranging from the great whales to the most minute plankton. ... The geographic range of NOAA work encompasses polar region to polar region and much of the World's oceans."
- Internet Bird Collection“A free collaborative collection of photos and videos from amateur and professional photographers workwide with 93.86% of all known bird species included. As of August 2022 includes: 116,899 videos; 202,652 photos; and 14,381 sound files. Collection managed by Macauley Library, Cornell Lab of Ornithology and eBird. "The Internet Bird Collection (IBC) is a non-profit endeavour with the ultimate goal of disseminating knowledge about the world's avifauna. ... While the initial aim is to post at least one video or photo per species, the long-term objective is to eventually include material showing a variety of biological aspects (e.g. feeding, breeding, etc.) for every species."
- USDA Image Gallery - Insects and Other ArthropodsSelected insect photos provided by the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) ARS (Agricultural Research Service).
- Animal Science Image GalleryThe Animal Science Image Gallery began as a partnership between the Animal Science Education Consortium (fifteen colleges and universities in the northeast and mid-Atlantic states) and the National Agriculture Library (NAL), funded (2003-2007) by a USDA Higher Education Challenge Grant.
- Morphbank : Biological Imaging This link opens in a new window"Morphbank: Biological Imaging is a continuously growing database of images that scientists use for international collaboration, research and education. Images deposited in Morphbank :: Biological Imaging document a wide variety of research including: specimen-based research in comparative anatomy, morphological phylogenetics, taxonomy and related fields focused on increasing our knowledge about biodiversity. The project receives its main funding from the Biological Databases and Informatics program of the National Science Foundation (Grant DBI-0446224). "
- AP Newsroom This link opens in a new windowCollection of historic and current photographs, most of the images date from 1995 forward includes top news stories, photos, audio clips and print graphics, as well as descriptive captions and source information. Formerly, AP Images. This site is an ever-changing collection of over 700,000 photographs from the Associated Press news service, historic images.
[Coverage: 1844-present; current file contains 1995-present]