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Interior Design

This subject guide was created to support research in interior design and interior architecture

Art & Design Image Databases

This is a list of image database related to art and design, BUT if you need other types of images there are many more on the Image Databases page.

Finding Images in Image Databases and Books

You can see a list of all the library's image databases from the "By Type" drop down menu on the Research Databases page. Or use the list to the left here.

You can also check the library catalog for art books with images. Just use the keyword for the type of image you want and an abbreviation like ill or illus for illustration. Example: birds and ill or type in birds and illus. Other words for finding images that you can use in catalog searches are pictoral works, illustration, or "___ in art", for example "flowers in art".

We do own the Illustration Index, Sculpture Index, and Havlice's World Painting Index (tells you what book has a reproduction or illustration of known works by known artists) and Martha Moss's Photography Books Index, volumes I and II, a subject guide to photo anthologies. If you do a keyword search under “catalogue raisonne” you will get all the books of the complete works (catalogue raisonne) of particular artists.

For visual communication, “mass communication,” “advertising,” and “marketing” are subject headings that can have image books. For example, if you do a keyword search using "advertising and annual” you will see all the titles we have that are advertising awarded images and campaigns (Annual Clio, National Addy, Graphis, Art Director's Annual, Photo Annual, Major marketing campaigns annual). If you look under the subject heading “Advertising Campaign – Periodicals”, you will see others.

Finding & Using Open Access Images, Video, Music, and Other Content

Use the Finding & Using Images, Video, Music and Other Copyrighted & Open Access Content guide to learn how to find open access, Creative Commons, public domain, out of copyright images to use in your papers, projects,presentations, creations, and publications. 

You can use Creative Commons images and media without having to worry about copyright restrictions as long as you follow the license terms. 

Attribution = to give credit or attribution to a creative work or idea. Attribution vs. Citation from the Gettysburg College Digital Humanities Toolkit.

Public Domain = A work that is out of copyright and free to use. Works in the public domain may not need to be cited or given attribution, but the ethical thing to do is to cite and give attribution to another's work. "Information that is unrestricted and accessible by the general public - program which is in the public domain a program which is not copyrighted" - public domain. (2006). In P. H. Collin (Ed.), Dictionary of publishing and printing (3rd ed.). A&C Black. Credo Reference: http://libproxy.txstate.edu/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/acbpublishing/public_domain/0?institutionId=1143

Openly licensed images or other creative content that have alternative terms to copyright can be used freely as long as any terms given are followed. See more about Open Content in this entry from the The international encyclopedia of Digital Communication and Society. Haßler, B., & Mays, T. (2015). Open content. In R. Mansell, & P. H. Ang (Eds.), The international encyclopedia of Digital Communication and Society. Wiley. Credo Reference: http://libproxy.txstate.edu/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/wileydcas/open_content/0?institutionId=1143