Using images, graphs, charts, etc. from the internet or another source

Most of the time, our faculty authors search the internet for images or other media to use in their OER textbooks. This is fine as long as the images are licensed appropriately, are in the public domain, or have undergone a fair use analysis. There are a few things that you need to keep in mind when using images from another source, including the internet:

1. Images and other media on the internet are under copyright. You cannot simply download an image or make a screenshot and use it. It is most likely licensed as (c) All Rights Reserved which means you need to get permission from the copyright holder to use the image or media. When in doubt, assume the image or media is all rights reserved.
2. Even if your use is educational, you need to know how the image or media is licensed. It is best to use only images or media that have an open license (such as a CC BY 4.0 International License or Pixaby license).  These allow you to use the image without getting permission from the copyright holder.^[1]
3. Fair Use indicates that some materials can be used for educational purposes but only under certain circumstances. Please see Fair Use for more on how to determine if your use is fair use. Fair use requires careful assessment and documentation. You are responsible for making sure your use falls within fair use guidelines.
4. Never reuse materials from another textbook. It is more difficult to make a fair use determination for materials that are already published in educational materials.
5. Document where you found the image or media. You will be provided with an image tracking sheet to assist you in this process.  Always include the creator, image link, and source information (see TASL for more information on appropriate attribution); otherwise, we cannot use the image/media in your OER.
6. Always follow the trail back to the original image (e.g., you find something on Pinterest). We need to know where the image came from and who created it to provide appropriate attribution. We also need the image in the largest format possible. If you simply do right-click and save, you will most likely only get the thumbnail for the image which is not production quality.
7. You may generally be able to use graphs or charts or images from published journal articles but only with proper attribution and a four-factors fair use review.

Finding images and media

There are many places where you can find images that are openly licensed or in the public domain. We strongly encourage you to use open-licensed images so that you don’t need to worry about copyright violations. If you use any other images or media, you must obtain publication permission from the individual or institution that owns the copyright. Each image MUST carry a credit line. Please document this in your image tracking sheet, which can be found in your project box folder.

Here are some places you can search for openly-licensed images. 

1. Creative Commons offers a search tool for images, videos, music, and other media. In addition, to help you find openly licensed material, the Creative Commons search tool will help you format your attribution correctly.
2. Google’s Image Search lets you filter by usage rights. 
3. In Flickr and Bing, you can browse or search through images under each type of Creative Commons license.

Images in the public domain

There are also many, many images in the public domain. Here are a few places to search. Remember, even though these images are in the public domain, you will still want to provide appropriate attribution.

• Wikimedia Commons
• Pixabay
• National Park Service Historic Photograph Collection
• U.S. Department of Agriculture Image Gallery
• U.S. Census Bureau Photo Collection
• NASA

Wikipedia’s public-domain image resources page has a long list of places where you can search for images in the public domain. In addition, the Library of Congress and the British Library have released more than one million images into the public domain. The New York Public Library Digital Collections has more than 700,000 items from its collections online. The library indicates when a work is in the public domain or has “no known U.S. copyright restrictions.”

If you have questions about an image, Tineye Reverse Image Search and Google Reverse Image Search are good places to find information about the origin and license of an image.

Diverse images

Heather Blicher originally created the list below at Southern New Hampshire University to help you find more diverse images.

• • Images of Empowerment: Free images of women’s lives and work, created by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and Getty Images; License: CC-BY-NC-4.0
  • Allgo Plus-Size: Free stock photography collections featuring plus-size people; License: While attribution is not required, please credit
  • Disabled And Here: Free stock photography featuring disabled BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color), varied body sizes/types, sexual orientations, and gender identities in the Pacific Northwest; License CC BY 4.0
  • The Gender Spectrum Collection: Free stock photos of trans and non-binary people, licensed CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
  • Nappy: Free high-resolution photos of black and brown people, licensed Creative Commons Zero (CC0)
  • PICNOI: Free photos of people of color; no attribution required, but can give credit by linking to the site
  • #WOCinTech Chat: Free photos of women and non-binary people of color working in the Tech field; licensed CC BY #WOCinTech Chat or wocintechchat.com
  • Redefining Women Icon Collection: Icons of women; License: Creative Commons Public Domain CC0 1.0

Decorative images

Images should not be purely decorative. It takes up space and creates a more complicated layout that can confuse readers. If the image is not mentioned in the body of your OER, it may be more decorative than functional and should be eliminated.

Please also note that images should not be embedded in tables to lay out columns or rows of images and text.

Screenshots

Please do not take screenshots of images for your OER unless you want to provide the unit with an example of an image you would like us to create for you. We can’t use screenshots in your text as we cannot cite the original source, and the quality is generally quite poor. The exception here is if you are taking screenshots of the software. Always trace the image back to its original source, i.e., if you find something on Pinterest, follow the image information back to original source whenever possible.

Formatting for images

Please note that images downloaded from the internet may not print well. Please consult with the OERU regarding images off the internet.

• Size: No smaller than 400 px by 270 px, or the image will be blurry if resized.
• Resolution: 300 dpi
• Formats: .JPG, .PNG

Please do not embed the image into your manuscript. Each image should be its own appropriately named file. Illustrations should be named sequentially, ideally by chapter and figure number (fig 01.01, fig 01.02, fig 01.03, etc.) Different types of illustrations should be labeled separately (e.g., Table01.01, Map03.04, Figure05.02).

Images can be aligned right, center, or left. To indicate where you want an image, use the following formats:

Please include the caption for the image and the attribution statement following the image placeholder and your image tracking sheet. For example,

Formatting images for printing

To meet the need for print format, images should be large enough to export at 300dpi at the size you want on the printed page (the default PDF output is letter size). For example, if you want your image to display at 3″ x 4″, the image should have a suggested resolution of 900 x 1500 (3*300 x 4*300).

Please note that these are guidelines. An image with a resolution larger than the suggested resolution can always be reduced in size, and an image with a resolution lower than the suggested resolution may output the PDF adequately. Images will automatically be compressed for ebook versions.

If you have a series of images that should all print at the same size (for example, a set of 10 images to print at 2″ x 3″, a set of 5 images to print at 2″ x 4″, and a set of images to print at 3″ x 5″), please let us know as we can apply custom image classes to each set to ensure they print correctly.

If no print sizing information is provided, you may find that images print too large/small in the PDF versions. Reviewing the image sizing in PDF versions is essential as part of the final review process.