About Visual Images Online
Visual Images Online provides links to digital image collections and internet digital media sources on various subjects. Some collections are hosted at Birkbeck via LUNA, others are hosted by external institutions and organisations.
What is LUNA?
- LUNA is the web-based front end to digital image collections created in the Insight Software Suite. It is rich in tools and functionalities that enable users to explore digital media in detail for teaching, learning and research purposes. Each image contains extensive information, which makes the collection searchable by diverse categories and criteria for optimised navigation and retrieval of digital media. LUNA allows users to also create private and public media groups, presentations and slide shows, to dynamically engage with their content, to export them to PowerPoint, and to share them with other collection users and, in some cases, on the internet. By self-registering (setting-up a private username & password) users can further import images from Flickr to their personal media workspace.
- More about LUNA and Insight Software Suite.
Online Image Collections by Subject Area
- Birkbeck Library provides links to recommended academic quality digital image collections on a range of subject areas.
- History of Art, visual culture and the Humanities
- Sciences
- Social sciences, Geography and History
Birkbeck LUNA Collections
- The college has four searchable digital image collections available via Luna, accessible to all Birkbeck staff and students. Most images in the collections constitute digitised slides from the former Central Slide Library at Birkbeck. All Birkbeck and other institutional collections listed below are also listed in their appropriate subject areas above.
- Birkbeck History: contains 275 images relating to the history of Birkbeck College. (Open Access)
- Diary of Mrs Birkbeck: a digitised copy of Anna Birkbeck's 250 page album, containing contributions by noted intellects of the day, including Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. (Open Access)
- London Architecture Online contains over 5,100 images of London Architecture and urban spaces from the 16th to 21st centuries (Birkbeck log-in required).
- Garden History Online contains 1,383 images of historical and contemporary gardens and parks around the world (Birkbeck log-in required).
Other Institutional LUNA collections
- AMICA Library - 108,000 fine art images from museums around the world.
- Cornell University LUNA Collections- over 51,000 digital images on a range of subject areas from the University's rich cultural collections.
- LUNA Commons Collections - over 138,000 images forming the Community Commons Collections.
- NASA Images- 100,000 still and moving images of the history of space exploration and astronomy.
- Oxford University Bodleian Libraries Special Collections- over 34,300 digitized images from 35mm filmstrip negatives and positive slides.
- Taipei National Palace Museum- around 5,000 images of artworks, including rare books, ceramics, paintings, bronzes, jewelry, studio accessories, costumes, and more, from the National Palace Museum in Taipei spanning seven millennia of Chinese history and pre-history.
- US National Library of Medicine- approximately 70,000 images of portraits, photographs, caricatures, genre scenes, posters, and graphic art illustrating the social and historical aspects of medicine dated from the 15th to 21th century.
Help Using LUNA and Birkbeck Luna Insight Collections
- LUNA online help provides detailed description of the user functionalities of the system.
- For further assistance with LUNA online help or if you have specific questions about using Birkbeck LUNA Collections, please contact Paul Rigg by e-mailing p.rigg@bbk.ac.uk.
