The Public Health Image Library (PHIL) is a freely accessible electronic gateway to the CDC’s vast collection of images. Most of the images are in the public domain and can be used freely, but if an image is not in the public domain, copyright information is provided. PHIL consists of the database of images and five pages as follows: Search, FAQs, About, Contacts, and Links.
Users must have a current Java‐enabled Web browser; Internet Explorer is recommended, but Netscape also works. PHIL also requires that users enable their browsers to accept cookies, but the cookie expires as soon as the browser is closed. The images are best viewed on a 17‐inch monitor with a resolution of at least 800 × 600, but 1024 × 768 is recommended, as is 16‐bit color. Despite the advanced nature of the site, the images and the Java applets download quickly on a 56.6K modem.
On the site, navigational links are found in the smaller left frame. When thumbnails of images appear in the left frame, these links disappear, but the designers have provided a menu button that will bring the navigational links back. Searching the database may be performed from either a quick search box on the splash page or by selecting Search from the left‐hand frame. The Search screen allows for three different kinds of searches: Category, Text Based/Advanced, and Image ID Search. The Category search presents users with a hierarchical tree of People, Places, and Science. For instance, users selecting Places can narrow their search all the way down from the United States to the Atlanta metropolitan area. If more than one category is selected, they are automatically combined with a Boolean “and”. The Text Based/Advanced search allows users to make use of free text and Boolean operators. This search also allows users to limit searches by date and type of images (still images, images sets, multimedia files, or any type). The ID search is useful only if the image’s ID number is known. Help for each of the search methods can be found on the FAQ page.
Whatever search method is used, the results are displayed as thumbnails in the left‐hand frame. Selecting a thumbnail calls up a larger version of the image in the main frame as well as information such as the PHIL ID number, title, provider, creation date, description, source library, and photo credit. Users may save the images by right‐clicking on them.
Overall, this is an excellent and highly recommended Web site in both content and design. Among the images in PHIL are scientific slides, historic buildings, people, and more. The site’s layout is clean and uncluttered, making navigation simple. Even those who dislike frames will appreciate the way PHIL uses them. This site will be particularly useful for students needing images for papers and presentations.
