Library Guides: Open Educational Resources (OER): Open Image Collections

General Image Collections

Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons is an online repository of free-use images, sounds, and other media files. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Flickr
Photos. Many Flickr users have chosen to offer their work under a Creative Commons license, and you can browse or search through content under each type of license.
Openverse
This tool connects to a variety of search engines to locate openly licensed images. Do not assume that the results displayed in this search portal are under a CC license. You should always verify that the work is actually under a CC license by following the link.
Smithsonian Open Access
This site includes images and data from across the Smithsonian’s 21 museums, nine research centers, libraries, archives, and the National Zoo. You can download, share, and reuse millions of the Smithsonian’s 2D and 3D images—right now, without asking!
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Public domain images from the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Pexels
A large selection of high-quality free stock photos, royalty free images, and videos.
Unsplash
All of the images you will find in this repository can be reused, modified, and shared for free; more information about the Unsplash license.
Noun Project
A collection of free and openly-licensed images for any occasion.
Fortepan Iowa
A UNI project coordinted by Bettina Fabos, with involvement from many across campus, this collection includes "curated historical photos taken by ordinary Iowans over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries."

Diverse and Inclusive Images

All Go
A collection of stock photos featuring plus-size office workers—available at no cost—to increase the representation of plus-size office workers in media.
Centre for Aging Better
Positive and realistic images of older people, available in the public domain.
Disabled and Here Collection
Photo collection featuring disabled Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) across the Pacific Northwest. Images are licensed CC-BY.
Disability:IN
Disability inclusive stock photography. Images are licensed CC-BY-ND (image editing is not allowed).
Dollar Street
Photographs of families, their homes, and how they live around the world. Organized by income, topic, and geography. Most images are licensed CC-BY.
The Gender Spectrum Collection
Stock photo library featuring images of trans and non-binary models. Images are licensed CC-BY-NC-ND (image editing is not allowed).
Human Development Institute
Free to use images featuring people with disabilities. These photos can be downloaded and used to create and enhance visual and digital products, social media posts, and project websites.
Images of Empowerment
Photo library of women’s activities from around the world. Images are licensed CC-BY-NC.
Nappy
Photo library of Black and brown people. Images are licensed CC0, public domain.
Open Peeps
Hand-drawn, mix-and-match illustration library. Images are available under a CC0, public domain license.
PICNOI
Stock photo library of diverse multi-racial images. Images are available under a CC-BY license.
Queer in Tech Collection
"We created this photo set to promote the visibility of queer and gender-nonconforming (GNC) people in technology, who are often under-represented as workers powering the creative, technical, and business leadership of groundbreaking tech companies and products."
Redefining Women
Diverse icons of women, hosted by the Noun Project

Reusing Images

Whenever you reuse free images from the Internet, there are two major considerations to keep in mind:

Is this image actually free to share? Check for a license or reuse statement on the page or website where you found the image to confirm that you can legally share it.
What are the attribution and reuse requirements for the image? This information will likely be found on the same page or area where the license information is found.

For example, all Creative Commons (CC) licenses require a base attribution which includes an item's title, source link, author, and license. However, what you are allowed to do with a CC-licensed image depends on its specific license.

You can find more information about CC-licensed works and how to cite them on our Creative Commons Library Guide

Providing Attribution

Fair use assessments are also an option!

If you find a copyrighted image that you want to use in your course, you can make a fair use assessment for that reuse. Remember, your assessment should consider all the factors that your reuse would have on the original creator, and how far your reuse will be shared. If you will only be using an image in your Canvas course with your students, this weighs in favor of a fair use assessment, but it is not the only consideration!

You can find more information about fair use in your course on our Copyright for Research & Teaching Library Guide:

Abbey Elder

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Subjects: Research & Publication, Sociology