Key Image Databases
- Artstor This link opens in a new windowA digital image library for the arts and sciences with an unparalleled range of images licensed for educational use at UBC.
- Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new windowOxford Art Online is the access point for Grove Art Online, the Benezit Dictionary of Artists, the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms, the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, and the Oxford Companion to Western Art.
- Archivision This link opens in a new windowArchivision is a database of over 80,000 high quality, professionally photographed images of architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, archaeology, and design searchable within the MDID platform.
- UBC First Nations and Indigenous Studies Research Guide: ImagesLinks to image resources on the Pacific Northwest, Canada, and Residential Schools.
- MOA-CAT: Online Catalogue of the Museum of Anthropology at UBCExplore MOA’s nearly 50,000 objects in the Collections Online (MOA-CAT) system.
Databases with Image Resources
In addition to the image-specific databases that UBC Library subscribes to, there are many other databases that index and/or provide access to images. For more databases visit the Indexes & Databases page and search for "images." A few examples are provided below:
- Indigenous peoples North America This link opens in a new windowIncludes manuscript material, monographs, newspapers, photographs, motion pictures, and images of artwork drawn from a variety of repositories in the United States and Canada.
- North American Indian Thought and Culture This link opens in a new windowAmerican and Canadian primary source materials. Mainly textual materials from American libraries (books, articles, pamphlets, oral histories). Indexed for place, event and individuals. Also audio, video, images.
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowA scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database providing indexing and abstracts for thousands of journals and other publications.
Streaming Video & DVDs
- National Film Board (NFB): Indigenous CinemaDiscover the NFB’s online collection of Indigenous-made films.
- Isuma | Isuma TVIsuma Online features the complete archive of Igloolik’s Inuktitut video production since 1985 with more than 7,000 international Indigenous films and videos in over 70 languages.
- NFB Explore (National Film Board) This link opens in a new windowProvides access to online viewing of films produced by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).
- Kanopy This link opens in a new windowKanopy provides online video streaming to more than 26,000 titles.
- Criterion On Demand This link opens in a new windowOver 2900 streamed feature films including classics, new releases, foreign films, literary adaptations, documentaries, animated titles, and independent features.
- Ethnographic Video Online This link opens in a new windowStreaming ethnographic video database that is one of the most comprehensive resources for visual anthropology in the world. Features the work of many influential documentary filmmakers of the 20th century, including interviews, previously unreleased raw footage, field notes, study guides, and more.
- Videomatica Collection @ UBCThis collection consists of over 30,000 titles (film & television) in DVD, Blu-ray, and VHS formats and includes feature films, documentaries, cult and art films, Canadian works, and works from the Vancouver International Film Festival. Click here to learn more.
Open Resources
- UBC Library Open Collections
UBC Library's Open Collections include digital photos, books, newspapers, maps, videos, theses and more. These publicly-accessible collections are growing and reflect the research interests of the UBC community and beyond. - Wapatah Centre for Indigenous Visual Knowledge: Virtual Platform for Indigenous Art (VPIA)
Search and edit 2000 Indigenous artworks. Help animate Indigenous collections worldwide by sharing your experience and knowledge about them. - Library and Archives Canada: Archives Search
LAC's art and photo collections offer a visual history of Canada and Canadians. To find images of Indigenous populations in Canada—First Nations, Métis and Inuit—the original inhabitants of North America, follow these search instructions. - British Columbia Historical Photographs Online
Contains annotated links to photo databases and virtual galleries developed by member institutions and hosted on archival websites throughout the province. See the section on: Indigenous Archives and Record-keeping. - Royal BC Museum: Indigenous Collections
Over 16,000 digitized historic photographs of BC’s Indigenous communities, from the late 1800s to the 1970s. Search by culture, community, or name. To explore the collection, type “pn” into the catalogue number field. - British Columbia Regional Digitized History (BCRDH)
Offers regional historical resources (photos, text documents, publications) from participating BC memory institutions. - City of Vancouver Archives
A variety of records that document the city's history. Search the Archives for digital photographs, audio, movies or text. - VPL Historical Photographs
The Vancouver Public Library's Special Collections has a significant collection of historical photographs relating to British Columbia and Yukon. - Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG): Indigenous Art
The majority of the Indigenous collection—nearly 14,000 objects—is carvings, drawings, prints, and textile work by Inuit artists. Focus is given to growing a collection by First Nations and Metis artists with strong ties to Manitoba and younger generations of Indigenous artists. - Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO): Indigenous Collection
Indigenous art at the AGO currently includes works from the First Peoples of North America, namely First Nations, Inuit, and Metis. The collection also includes global Indigenous Art from Africa, Australia, and the Torres Strait Islands. - Artstor Public CollectionsOffers approximately 1 million freely accessible images, videos, documents, and audio files from library special collections, faculty research, institutional history materials, and partner museums. Anyone may view and download these public collections; no subscription or login required.
How to Cite Images
For detailed instructions on citing images in-text and in a bibliography, using the Chicago, MLA, or APA citation styles, see the:
- How to Cite section of the Images: Finding & Using guide.
You should provide sources for images that you use in a paper, presentation, or other venue, just as you would cite authors of works that you have quoted. This means providing specific information about the site where you found the image.
If you find an image using a Google Images search, remember that Google isn't the original source of the image -- it is the site that did the searching. In your citations, provide the specific address of the website on which the image was located, not the Google results page.
Check with your professor to see if they have specific preferences for formatting in-text citations. In general, label each image with "Figure" or "Fig." followed by a number (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.) and then provide as much of the following information as possible. When you discuss the image in the text of your paper, write "(see Fig. 1)" when you refer to the work.
Need Help?
For help with images:
- See UBC Library's Finding & Using Images guide.
- Contact the Art & Visual Literacy Librarian.
- Visit the Music, Art & Architecture Library's Information Desk.
- Visit X̱wi7x̱wa Library.