Resources
ARTstor
ARTstor Digital Library hosts the Columbia University Digital Image Bank, which includes over 65,000 images covering a broad range of subjects, cultures and periods. Users may access outstanding examples of visual art and material culture from the world's major collections, stills of performance pieces, photographs, drawings and renderings of architecture and sites. The Media Center for Art History and the Digital Programs division of the University Libraries co-curate the Image Bank. These resources are only available while on the Columbia Network or when logging into ARTstor with a valid Columbia email address.
Create an account with your Columbia email address to access the Columbia Image Bank. Please Note: Columbia University no longer supports the Luna Insight application. All of the images that were formerly in Luna Insight have been transfered to the Columbia Image Bank.
The Media Center Image Database
The Media Center's new digital image database is based on MDID 3, a freely distributed, open source web application developed at James Madison University.
This database is currently in beta testing. Please feel free to send your comments and suggestions for improvement to .
Slide and Photo Collection
The Media Center maintains the Department of Art History and Archaeology's slide and photo collection. Lantern and film slides are kept in Schermerhorn, while most photographs (excepting oversize photographs, special collections, and Classical Greek and Roman material) are stored offsite at a shelving facility in Plainsboro, NJ. Both are available for faculty and student use upon request. Patrons can browse a catalog of offsite material and email us at to request materials. Photos are delivered to Avery Library before opening Monday through Friday.
Mnemosyne
Mnemosyne was the Media Center's digital image database up until 2004. We have migrated the vast majority of these images into both the ARTstor hosted collection and our new MCID database. However, a small number of images were not migrated due to lack of metadata and/or low image quality. If you cannot find the image you're looking for in either ARTstor or MCID you may want to search Mnemosyne.
Columbia Libraries Resources
Columbia University Digital Collections
Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library
Guides
A Scanning Guide for Images
A Scanning Guide for Text
What Resolution Should Your Images Be?
