Images Canada provides central search access to thousands of illustrations and images held by participating institutions throughout Canada. These institutions range from the small (e.g. Images Halton) to the large (e.g. University of Toronto libraries). Through this one easy to use interface, one can search for images of Canadian events, people, places and things that together create the Canadian collective heritage.
The site is limited to Canadian material as the name indicates. At present, the participating institutions are limited to Canada, but any institution may join as a partner. All eras as well as all regions are covered. The content of the database is only limited due to the partners themselves. Images Canada is itself simply an interface to the larger collections. As such, this does present one problem – the database is only as good as the partners' own databases.
The database relies on individual institutions to index and present their own images. Therefore, as long as there is consistency in the use of index terms, the search interface works. In the end, the search is only as good as the partners' collections and agreement on indexing terms. However, it must be stated that I was not able to find any case where this potential weakness came into play.
This truly is an outstanding interface. It is easy to use and extremely user friendly. In keeping with Canada's bilingualism, any user may select to search in French or in English. Once having selected the appropriate language the main search page is opened. Here a user can enter a search term and click on the Go button. The default listing for results is six at a time but this can be changed simply by selecting other options from the Display screen. Also on this initial search page, a user can select two other options: Image Trails or Photo Essays. Image Trails are pre‐selected searches on a particular theme or topic, such as Inuit or Winter sports. Simply clicking on the Image Trails icon will take any user to the Image Trails page where it can be accessed through a simple click on the entry. A brief description of the content guides the user. The result will display 50 to 150 images relating to the particular topic. Excellent for browsing or for student use. Most of the topics in the Image Trails would relate to school use such as First Nations or Pioneer life. Photo Essays are pre‐selected searches but with narrative on a particular theme, such as Railways in Canada or Frozen Ocean: Search for the Northwest Passage. The user can also do an advanced search which is extremely easy to use with pre‐selected fields (e.g. title) from which one can further limit a search.
Once having conducted a search, a user will get a display page. The pictures show – with the default being six at a time – with a brief description. From here, simply click on the More Information Link. This will then link to the partners' site and the picture will display with as detailed information as the partner provides. The quality of the images is outstanding. The additional information on each image does vary depending on the partners' own information. The end result is that the information is only as good as the partner provides. However, in all instances, I found that enough information was provided to be useful.
Images Canada recognizes its role in education. As such, lesson plans for certain topics are provided: An Early Canadian Photo Album; Using Pictures to Read the Past as well as Activities and Writing Ideas. These provide a means for students to use primary documents to learn how to extract and interpret information. All of these documents are available in HTML, PDF and RTF versions.
Images Canada has arranged copyright clearance for non‐commercial use. Non‐commercial use includes educational, personal, private study, reference and research purposes. However, credit must be given if an image is used. Images Canada provides detailed information on the content of the credit line. For commercial use, written permission must be obtained from the individual partner(s). This does mean that one may have to contact several partners to obtain copyright clearance. Any user may also obtain high‐resolution reproduction by contacting the partner(s). Images Canada provides detailed information on how to contact the partners.
Overall, this is an outstanding resource. It should be used by anyone or any institution with a Canadian studies component. It also provides excellent visual resources detailing Canada's history.
