ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries C&RL News m January 1998 / 11 IN T E R N E T R E S O U R C E S Locating public domain images Some sites to visit to enhance your Web page by Lorrie A. Knight I m ag e s a re p art o f th e ch a rm and the functionality of the Web. They serve to make sites visually attractive, to assist in site navigation, and to create logical content divisions. Backgrounds and emblems provide unifying themes. Web design for the artisti­ cally challenged may therefore pose new problems for librarian Web creators. Fortunately, the Web itself is an excellent source of images for those who do not wish to create their own. A click of a mouse but­ ton is all that is needed to save an image and use it on a Web page. Care should be taken to abide by the rules of copyright. Site au­ thors generally provide a statement as to use of their artwork, as well as the methods by which the images should be accessed. Surfing the Internet for images can be a time-consuming activity. The quality and rel­ evance of many graphics archives is ques­ tionable. The following are sites that have good design standards and many freely ac­ cessible images. T h e m a tic im a g e c o lle c t io n s Thematic image collections are plentiful on the Web. Included here are a selection of sites that offer graphics appropriate to edu­ cational Web-page design. • T he L ib rary ClipArt C o llection provided by Janet Meyers o f the Des Moines Public Library. This site is the Web weaver’s first stop for attractive and relevant Web im­ ages. There are images o f books (even one with turning pages!), computers, and clip art is o f people using library materials. A ccess: http://www.netins.net/showcase/meyers/ library_clipart/clipart.html. • O lson’s L ibrary Clip Art is offered by Chris Olson and Associates. Although most of the images at this site are copyrighted and may not be used without permission, there are a number of free ALA symbols for use on Web pages. They ask that you credit their site when using their graphics. A ccess: http:/ /chrisolson. com/A L A sy m b ols.html. • Music Related G raphic Im ages is au­ thored by Shirley E. Kaiser. Music lends it­ self well to Web graphics, and this site offers an ex­ s cellent collection o f them. e gci as u m Buttons, backgrounds, and M I : ic ph horizontal rules all have a it d aerc G r musical theme. There is ic hp t ed also very well designed a G r Re la clip art o f instrum ents, c le fs, and sin gle n o tes. A ccess: http:// www.skdesigns.com/internet/music/images/ index.htm. • Visit the T exas Agricultural E x te n ­ sion Service for an enormous collection of agriculture clip art. Most of the images are in black and white and are very large. This site hosts several different collections of agricul­ ture-related art. It is also keyword search­ able. Access: http://leviathan.tamu.edu/. • G raph ic Maps is a commercial site that specializes in custom maps for Internet or Intranet applications. They also offer a wide selection of freely available maps. The A b o u t the au th o r Lorrie A. Knight is electronic services reference librarian a t the University o f the Pacific; e-mail: lknight@uop.edu http://www.netins.net/showcase/meyers/ http://www.skdesigns.com/internet/music/images/ http://leviathan.tamu.edu/ mailto:lknight@uop.edu 7 2 / C&RL News m January 1998 categories include maps of the world, conti­ nents, countries, and states. Users may se­ lect several size and color options. In addi­ tion to maps, there are graphics of compasses and flags. The company even offers to add specific countries upon request. Access http:// www.graphicmaps.com/graphic_maps.html. A c a d e m ic s ite s Many universities offer online Web con­ struction assistance for students and faculty. As a part o f that process, a number of them have image archives available. • The Social Science Data Lab at the University of Colorado at Boulder offers an excellent resource kit for Web development. There are design tutorials, brief explanations about the use of graphics in Web pages, and HTML guides. As this is an academic site, the graphics available are especially useful for educational purposes. The emphasis is on functional images, such as arrows and di­ rectional buttons, lines and bars, and color­ ful balls. There are modest offerings of edu­ cational and computer-related icons. The im­ ages at this site are clear and have been resized for smaller size and faster loading times. Access: http://socsci.colorado.edu/GIF/. • The Social Sciences and H um ani­ ties L ib rary Web S erver at UCSD is de­ signed to assist students and faculty with Web-page construction. There are many use­ ful small directional graphics, as well as car­ toons, and images of people, office workers, and signs. This site is also host to “Flags of the World,” a source of information and im­ ages for those seeking flag graphics. Access: http://gort.ucsd.edu/Graphics/. • The University o f Kansas Medical Center, D epartm ent o f Radiology, is host to an enormous graphics archive. Authored by William H. Anderson, the site includes backgrounds, bullets, lines, clip art, and pho­ tographs. The images are well organized by subject. The collections are eclectic with top­ ics ranging from animal images to military photographs. The images for books and documents are especially useful. Access: http://ftpl.rad.kumc.edu/artwork.htm. • T h e E n g lis h S e r v e r at C arnegie Mellon University provides a one-stop shop for multimedia. Included are ASCII art, sound clips, backgrounds, and clip art. Those de­ signing Web pages for text-only browsers will appreciate the ASCII artwork. The clip art is a bit unpredictable in size and quality, but the organizational sys­ tem is superb. This is an excellent resource e h T fo r a c a d e m ic Web : rit ed ve r pages. Be sure to check r ec S ic ou t th e b la c k -a n d - hpar G En gl is h white image o f Win­ ston Churchill. Access: http://eng.hss.cmu. edu/multimedia/. G o v e rn m e n t s ite s Many agencies o f the U.S. government have created useful and well-designed Web sites. While it is commonly believed that gov­ ernment publications are in the public do­ main, one should carefully read the online copyright statements. In certain cases, the government is not the producer o f the infor­ mation or images and the material may not be in the public domain. When in doubt, it never hurts to queiy the site author. • The NASA P hoto Gallery offers some of the most dramatic photographs and art on the Web. Most o f the images are free of copy­ right when used for educational purposes. Topics include the range o f NASA activities, including astronomy, earth scien ce, and oceanography. Access: http://www.nasa.gov/ gallery/photo/index.html. • The A rchitect o f the Capitol Web site is a useful source for photographs. The im­ ages may be used freely for educational pur­ poses. If written permission for use is needed, a letter must be sent. O f course, the image of the Capitol building itself is a familiar one. Visit the Sculpture Gallery to obtain photo­ graphs of famous figures in American his­ tory. Access: http://www.aoc.gov/. Im a g e a r c h iv e s Many commercial Web designers offer on­ line galleries o f their graphics and informa­ tive guides to image and design issues. The quality of these sites varies considerably and there is often a large amount of duplication. The sites listed below offer an excellent se­ lection of graphics placed in the public do­ main. It’s important to read the author’s state­ ments as to how the images may be accessed and how credit for them is to be given. • The Clip Art C onn ection offers a col­ lection of pointers to graphics resources on http://www.graphicmaps.com/graphic_maps.html http://socsci.colorado.edu/GIF/ http://gort.ucsd.edu/Graphics/ http://ftpl.rad.kumc.edu/artwork.htm http://eng.hss.cmu http://www.nasa.gov/ http://www.aoc.gov/ C&RL News m January 1998 / 13 the Web, as well as serving as an image ar­ chive. The site owners note that graphics included are believed to be in the public domain but caution users to be attentive to copyright restrictions as applicable. They appreciate a link giving credit to their site, although this is not mandatory. A huge array o f backgrounds, graphics, images, and clip an may be located at this site. There is an excellent variety o f horizontal rules and a galaxy of spinning and non-spinning globes. The links to other sites are well-organized, especially the section dealing with theme- sp e cific image archives. A ccess: http:// www.ist.net/clipart/. • X o o m S o ftw are offers more than 50,000 pieces of free and very stylish clip art. Animated and non-animated gifs, bor­ ders, flags, and buttons are included, as well as an amazing array of photographs. If you thought you might never see an online im­ age of a toaster, this site is worth a visit. A sound archive is also available for the ad­ venturous multimedia librarian. Access, http:// xoom.xoom.com/. • P ixelP lace.co m is a well-planned site for quick image browsing. It is offered as a service by retired couple Glenda and Benny Berger. The images here are useful for simple page themes, such as sports, politics, or com­ puter resources. There are nice horizontal rules and clean, crisp directional buttons. Horizontal rules include a picket fence, a trav­ eling beer mug, and a yellow pencil. Point­ ers to animated gifs and a discussion of graph­ ics tools are additional features o f this site. Librarians will appreciate a “recommended reading list” of computer graphics books. Ac­ cess: http://www.pixelplace.com/. • Public Dom ain Images is a commer­ cial enterprise that offers some interesting and freely available jpeg files. They also pro­ vide a thoughtful and concise explanation of copyright considerations on the Web. The photographs offered for free downloading include a variety of scholarly topics, draw­ ing from the sciences and the humanities. If you need a picture of DNA or a portrait of Mark Twain, look here first. They ask that you include a credit link back to their site. Access: http://www.PDImages.com/. • Ico n B azaar is a fun and jazzy site. The site owners have placed a collection of icons in the public domain for use by Web developers. They do ask that users down­ load no more than 20 icons. A credit to the site is appreciated. The images, organized by topic, include, among other things, ani­ mals, signs, buttons and arrows, flowers, flags, and punctuation marks. A ccess: http:// www.iconbazaar.com/. • T h e Web D e v e lo p e rs V irtu al Li­ b ra ry is an illustrated encyclopedia of Web­ page design. It provides information on vir­ tually every topic of potential interest to Web page authors. There are papers that discuss the use of graphics and color on the Web and an archive of public domain graphics. Access: http://www.stars.com/. • Realm G raphics is a for-profit enter­ prise that generously offers excellent Web art as a public service. They clearly define which sections of their Web site may be ac­ cessed for public domain graphics. Functional Web elements, such as buttons, backgrounds, and horizontal rules, are available here. The images are arranged in a table format for easy b ro w sin g . A c c e s s : http :/ / w w w .en d er design.com/rg/. Im a g e s e a rc h sy s te m s Still haven’t found the perfect image for your Web page? Here are a few ways to navi­ gate the graphics on the Web. • The Ico n B ro w ser is maintained by Gioacchino La Vecchia, Computer Science Department, Pisa University in Italy. This useful site is a searchable archive o f icons. Enter a search term and an assortment of icons is returned. Choose the most literal search term possible. Multiple forms of a word will be searched. The icons, usually black and white, are without attribution; how­ ever, most of them appear frequently in other p u b lic dom ain so u rces. A ccess: http:// www.cli.di.unipi.it/iconbrowser/. • Clip Art S e a rch e r provides search forms optimized to find graphics. There are forms for Hot Bot, Lycos, Filez, and 1-Click search engines. Search hints and tips are dis­ played for each search engine. Access-, http:// www.webplaces.com/search/. • Y ahoo offers structured searching by category. Select Computers and the Internet, WWW and Web Page Design. Within this area is a section called Graphics, along with a list o f more than 200 image archives and meta­ sites. A ccess: http://www.yahoo.com. ■ http://www.ist.net/clipart/ http://www.pixelplace.com/ http://www.PDImages.com/ http://www.iconbazaar.com/ http://www.stars.com/ http://www.ender- http://www.cli.di.unipi.it/iconbrowser/ http://www.webplaces.com/search/ http://www.yahoo.com