For further help using VRIC, or questions about digital images, email the Visual Resource Center: visual.resource@dartmouth.edu
We are constantly adding new images to the collection. Also check out our website for a list of other image resources.
Log-in
To log into the Visual Resource Image Collection (VRIC), you will need to provide your Dartmouth ID and password.
You can access VRIC from off-campus through VPN.
Before entering the image collection, you will be required to "accept" the VRIC Copyright Statement by clicking on the check box. If you forget to click to indicate your acceptance, a pop-up will remind you.
Search Features
In VRIC, you can search on a variety of criteria. For example, you can search the image collection by "Creator" (artist), "Title" of work, "Date of Work," historical "Period," "Repository" (museum or other collection) where an artwork is located, "Geographic Location" of the work, "Technique" (painting, sculpture, etc.), or "Subject Keywords" describing the content of the work.
Searches can be done on one criterion, such as "Picasso" (Creator), or on multiple criteria, such as "Picasso" (Creator) + "Guernica" (Title), or "Picasso" (Creator) + "female nude" (Subject Keyword), or "Picasso" (Creator) + "drawing" (Technique).
When you've specified your search criteria, click on "Perform Search" in the upper-right-hand corner of the page.
Some of the search categories offer dropdown menus to facilitate accurate, helpful search results. For example, the dropdown menu for "Repository" lists art collections by city, so for "Paris," you can select any one of more than 30 collections in that city. Under "Style/Movement," you can select art movements from ancient ("Proto-Attic") to modern/contemporary ("Mexican Muralist").
You can search by "Date of Work" in several ways. For a specific year, fill in the year and click either "BCE" or "CE." If the date is approximate, fill in the year and click "Circa" and "BCE" or "CE." To search an extended period of time, fill in the start date and end date. To search by century, select the century from the dropdown menu, then click "BCE" or "CE." To search by period, select the period name (for example, "Pre-Columbian") from the dropdown menu.
Subject Keywords describe the content of an artwork, such as "landscape" or "portrait," "male nude," "picnic," "dancing," "horse," or "rose."
Keywords reference the full view of an object; one object may have several associated detail views.
To limit your search, try searching on two or more criteria.
If your search does not bring up the desired results, check to see that you have entered the search terms accurately—for example, did you mistype "Picasso" as "Piccaso"?
Search Results
Search results are presented in list form, 25 per page. Each result shows a thumbnail image and basic information about the work. The information presented may help you think of ways to expand, extend, vary, or target your search. For example, you might decide to look for additional works in the same Repository, or extend your search using a Subject Keyword.
When looking at search results, arrows in the upper left corner of the page give you a quick way to move to "Previous 25" or "Next 25." Boxes in the upper right corner offer a quick return to your last previous search or to the search form.
You can log out at any time by clicking on the "Log Out" box in the upper right corner of the page, and then return to Dartmouth's homepage.
To see a larger image and more detailed information, click on "View Image" underneath the image you want.
Viewing & Downloading Images
When viewing a selected image, you can click on arrows at the bottom left to move to the previous or next image in your search. Use the boxes at upper left to return to list view or to return to your last previous search. Click the box at upper right ("Enter Search Mode") to perform a new search.
To download a selected image, just "drag and drop" the image to your desktop.
Images are JPGs, generally 180 dpi, appropriately sized for use in PowerPoint presentations.
When you download an image, be sure to name the file promptly, as the Filemaker software will give all images the name "data.jpg.
Image Sources
The images in VRIC are scanned from books and purchased from outside vendors. The source for the image is indicated by a Source Code, visible in image view. To obtain bibliographic information for the source of a selected image, click on the "Show Source" box to the right of the Source Code.
Source information generally includes the library call number for books in the Dartmouth Libraries, as well as basic bibliographical information.
To find out whether VRIC contains additional images from a specific source, click "View Images from This Source."
From source view, use the arrows at the top of the page to return to the selected image, to return to list view, or to go to search mode.
