SVA Library Research Guides: Visual Resources Center: Home

VISUAL RESOURCES COLLECTION (VRC)

Located in the SVA Library at 380 Second Avenue on the 2nd floor, SVA's VRC is the central resource for images and imaging technologies used by instructors and students at SVA for teaching and studying purposes. Below you will find more information about our services as well as helpful links on how and where to access a broad range of online digital image collections of artworks for educational purposes and/or personal enjoyment.

VRC Photos

A panoramic view of the slide collection, stored in metal archival drawers stacked to the left and right of the image with labels on each drawer.

Image of fifteen 35mm slides of artworks, in three rows of five, illuminated and displayed in a light box.

ABOUT

Hours

The VRC is staffed Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 9am - 5pm. I can be contacted remotely by email (lgerety@sva.edu) on Wednesdays.

Collection

The collection includes over 73,000 local digital records through our in-house image database, SVA Image Library, which is now accessed as an Institutional Collection in ARTstor and JSTOR images. We continue to house a limited access collection of 130,00 35mm slides. We do not provide equipment for viewing slides, but you may contact me for ideas on how to present slides without projection equipment.

Services

VRC staff offers a variety of services to the SVA community, including maintenance of our online collection of images as well as training and technical support for ARTstor and JSTOR images. We also provide information on scanning and storing images.

One-on-one instruction for the use of our image databases is available by contacting Lorraine Gerety (lgerety@sva.edu, 212-592-2667).

ARTSTOR

Artstor This link opens in a new window
Documents artistic traditions across many time periods and cultures including architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, and design. Digital images come from museums, archaeological teams, photo archives, slide collections, and art reference publishers. The collection is over 2+ million images and continues to grow. Users must create a personal account.

ARTstor - Getting Started
Helpful links, tutorials and information on how to navigate ARTstor.
ARTstor on JSTOR
information on how to access images in JSTOR

COPYRIGHT & FAIR USE

Below are a few research guides on Copyright Basics:

The following are some great Use Assessment Tools pertaining to copyright, fair use guidelines and best practices:

Digital Image Rights Computator (DIRC)
Program that assists users in assessing the intellectual property status of a specific image.
The Copyright Genie
Helps users figure out if a work is covered by U.S. copyright and at what level; additionally, it collects and publishes the results as a PDF document for users to save for their records.
Digital Copyright Slider
A tool to help users determine whether a work is still copyrighted or whether it is now in public domain.
Fair Use Evaluator
Gives users a better understanding of how to determine if the use of a protected work is "fair." It also helps users organize and documents their collected information that may be needed to support a fair use claim, providing a time-stamped PDF document for the user's records.

Click here to visit Colgate University's helpful examples of how to create correct image citations in papers and presentations, using MLA, Chicago and APA writing styles. Another great option is the Research Guide for Citing Images provided by UC Libraries.