More than 2 million images from 300 collections, which are updated monthly. The images are curated from reliable sources that have been rights-cleared for use in education and research. Images can be found on a range of subjects, including: anthropology, archaeology, architecture, art, history, fashion and costume, literature, religion, world history and more.
You can download images and image details individually. Once you have logged in using your username and password you will have to register for a free account in order to download. Register using your student email address and by registering you will be able to access saved folders and organize images into groups.
*If unable to access, please clear your cache/cookies or use an alternative browser eg Microsoft Edge
More than 200,000 fully-catalogued British editorial, socio-political, and pocket cartoons, supported by large collections of comic strips, newspaper cuttings, books and magazines. Artwork dates from 19th century to the present day, by over 300 artists. Covers all areas of British political cartoons and caricature and covers these themes extensively: political commentary of 20th century; Victorian and Edwardian caricature; Societal commentary; World wars; Domestic life.
Research tool allowing researchers to access primary material depicting key elements of nineteenth century popular culture, including spiritualism in Victorian Britain, the circus, pleasure gardens, advertising and music hall. Primary material in the collection includes books, pamphlets, journals, posters, photographs, prints, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, theatre tickets, architectural design plans, scripts, programmes and playbills.
This is an important online resource for visual arts. It has built up a considerable portfolio of visual art collections comprising over 100,000 images. They are freely available and copyright cleared for use in teaching, learning and research.
VADS is a service of the Centre for Digital Scholarship in the Library & Student Services department of the University for the Creative Arts.
A leading trend forecasting service containing resources for fashion, retail, consumer behaviour and marketing. Extensive reports and insights which give real time information on fashion trends to inform product designs, business decisions and strategic planning.
*28/9/23 majority of the site is available without an account by clicking ‘Access Database’. However some content (including downloads) require an account to access - see below.*
If you cannot login to your account, please try a password reset. If still unable and seeing an error regarding not accessing for 90 days or location error, please email contactus@wgsn.com from your student email account.
Even if an image is "free" it should still be acknowledged if you use it. A Harvard reference for an online image would look like this:
Norfolk, S. (2016) Oscar Niemeyer staircase [Online image]. Available from: <http://www.simonnorfolk.com/ meanderings/meander-01> [Accessed 24 July 2025].
You can find guidelines for referencing images and other sources on Skills for Learning.
The Library has a collection of film, television and video games available to borrow.
To search the collection go to Discover and on the Advanced Search screen choose which format you would like the results to be, e.g. DVD video, sound recording, etc.
Copyright Aware is a BBC website explaining what copyright is and gives guidance on how you can protect your own creative work and how to use other people's work legally.
