How to use the University image library

Library set-up

Images are displayed in order from those most recently added or edited. You can change this order by clicking on ‘catalogued’ to sort by filename, creation date and extension. Clicking the blue arrow in this box will sort oldest to newest. The library uses infinite scrolling, so you can see all the images in your search on one screen.

Each image thumbnail has a symbol at the bottom to download individually or add to a selection (‘tick’ symbol). If you click on any image, it will expand to show a preview of the image, along with description, consent approval categories, third party information, file size and clickable keywords: you can also download the image here or add it to a selection with the ’tick’ symbol. Use the arrows on either side to show slide-show previews of the next images in the current selections. Click outside the preview to return to normal view.

Searching for images: QuickFind

The search box ‘QuickFind’ is at the top-left of the screen. It has a predictive text function based on various pre-set values such as keywords, consent categories and filename.

If you search for multiple words using ‘AND’ you will get more restricted results: so ‘student AND tower’ will only produce results that feature students and the tower, 'library AND landscape’ will search for library shots that are also landscape. If you use a lower case ‘and’ in these searches you will find less restricted, wider results: eg all student images and all tower images.

Searching for images: Advanced search

You can get more tailored results using the 'Advanced Search’ function. This is next to the ‘QuickFind' box (displayed with a magnifying glass and + symbol). Click this symbol and a more detailed search panel will open. Here you can refine your search by using several drop-down lists in the panel on the left side – including the six GDPR consent categories, master keywords list (and where you can type a word and it will offer you some suggestions based on predictive text), and folder name (which separates the photos into broad categories). Simply place and click your cursor into the clear field under each heading to see the drop-down list and remember to click ‘return’ to start your search.

Downloading images

You can download multiple images in different sizes/formats: when you select an image with the ‘tick’ symbol, the ‘selected' box at the top will have a numerical value, with the number of images highlighted. If you click this ‘selected’ box with images in it you can 'download all’, as a .zip file.

As the default, images will download as RGB jpegs. If you click ‘download all’ you can choose the quality of your image (from maximum down to low resolution web sizes), colour mode (RGB, CMYK, Greyscale) and you can resize the length/width to specific sizes. This will work for individual images also: as long as they are ticked.

GDPR compliance

Consent categories

There is consent information listed for each image stored in the University's image library and you must check this when selecting an image to make sure you know what category consent is given for.
 
There are six different categories that consent can be given for.

1. University of Glasgow web pages
2. Email and online marketing
3. Social media
4. Printed materials
5. Powerpoint presentations
6. Teaching materials
 
You can do an advanced search for each consent category on the Image Library.
 
You must not use an image for a category that is not listed; for example if the photo library states consent is approved for Printed materials, PowerPoint presentations, Teaching materials, then you cannot use that particular image on web pages, email and online marketing or social media, as consent has not been approved for those uses.

Third party consent

You can sort through 'third party consent' quickly to see whether an image is suitable to share externally: ‘yes’ mean you can share externally with third parties, whereas ‘no’ means that third party consent has not been approved, so it is suitable for University materials only.

Please note that under GDPR, images which feature people must not be supplied to any third party organisation unless a data-sharing agreement is in place. For more information, contact brand@glasgow.ac.uk.

GDPR good practice 

  • Don’t download images from the image library and then keep on your computer. It is a requirement of GDPR that personal data is not stored in more places than necessary. This also means that if a person withdraws consent for their image to be used, we can remove their images from the library immediately, and ensures that old images are not used beyond the approved retention time (three years).
  • Think about appropriate use and make sure you don’t use an image of a person in a way they might not expect, such as on the side of a bus or in a 20-metre banner in George Square. If in doubt please contact brand@glasgow.ac.uk.
  • When you are renewing your marketing materials (eg brochure, poster, banner etc) don’t automatically re-use existing images. Go to the image library and check the images are still on the library and if they are no longer there, then select new images.
  • When you transfer a file that contains an image of a person, rather than use your own email or an external transfer service such as wetransfer.com, you should use the University’s secure transfer system https://transfer.gla.ac.uk

Advice and help

If you need help please contact brand@glasgow.ac.uk.