1. Artstor Digital Library
Artstor Digital Library is a database of over two million images from the world’s museums, archives, and scholars. Use it to find images of artworks, photojournalism, maps, historical drawings, architecture, utilitarian objects, and many other types of media all in one place.
Find images for papers and presentations
The images in Artstor Digital Library have been cleared for use in education, meaning you can use these images for assignments, presentations, and papers.
Find high resolution and rare images you can’t find on the web
Large, clear, color-corrected images that you can easily download for use in research. There are thousands of images available in Artstor Digital Library that you can’t find through Google.
Study images for exams
Use Artstor Cards, Artstor’s flashcard app, to study images for exams.
- Artstor is a great place to find many images from museums and archives all in one place
Explain to students what they can do with Artstor: find images for research and use them in papers and presentations. Remember that Artstor images can be used in many disciplines, not just art!
With the exception of some older collections, Artstor images are generally high resolution. There are many rare collections that are not available on the open web such as many of our collections from individual scholars and artists, Magnum Photos, and more.
Artstor Cards, a new flashcard app, might be helpful to your students who are studying images for survey classes. Learn more at cards.artstor.org. Cards is available in the App store.
Currier & Ives; Wooding Up on the Mississippi; 1863; image and catalog data provided by Allan T. Kohl, Minneapolis College of Art and Design

2. Prohibited Uses of the Artstor Digital Library
There are some limitations on the use of images you find in Artstor Digital Library:
You can’t use Artstor Digital Library images for commercial purposes (such as in advertisements, posters, or on items for sale like T-shirts)
You can’t post Artstor Digital Library images on the open web (so no posting on Tumblr, Facebook, or Academia.edu)
You can post Artstor Digital Library images on course websites such as Moodle, Schoology, or Blackboard.
Aside from the Images for Academic Publishing program, you can’t reproduce Artstor Digital Library’s images in books or other publications
You can find out who the rights holder is and contact them about reproductions.
Want to learn more? Read Artstor’s Terms and Conditions:
But…
But…
Prohibited uses are important top convey – ensure students know they cannot modify these images or use them on items they intend to sell.
Click the link in the presentation to brush up on the terms of use.
Modify this content as necessary depending on audience—students may not need to know about posting on the school’s LMS, grad students and faculty might be interested in finding about reproduction information but undergrads might not.

3. Don’t forget to register for an account!
How do I access the Artstor Digital Library?
On Campus:
From the library’s E-Resources page (
Or at library.artstor.org
From Home:
Register for an account from a computer on campus. You can then log in at library.artstor.org.
Or access through your library’s proxy server (
Don’t forget to register for an account!
A registered account lets your save sets of images, download them directly into PowerPoint, and access Artstor from home.
Remind students of the different ways they can access Artstor. We have found that there is a lot of confusion over this and receive many s daily from students who are unable to determine how to access the database after their professors tell them to use Artstor.
Enter your institution-specific information in the areas written in pink font.
Registering for an account allows frequent Artstor users to access the database without going through your proxy server (if you are using one).
- Remind students that they NEED a registered account to download images and save groups of images