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Accessing the Image Database | Search tips (in the image database) Search tips | Descriptive Information | Citations and Permissions

Accessing the Image Database

If you are having trouble accessing the image database, you may need to disable the pop-up blocker in your browser or add "http://insight.lib.ncsu.edu" (no quotation marks) to the browser's "allowed sites" list.

(In some cases, restarting your browser may be required.) PC users can hold down the control key (Ctrl) while launching collections to disable pop-up blocking.

Please contact us if you continue to have trouble accessing the online collections.

• Another option is to refer to the Luna help page maintained by Bard College.
• For other hints and tips on using the image database, visit Luna Imaging's help page.

Search Tips (in the Image Database):

Basic Searches

Images can be located by doing basic searches on the following fields: Title, Creator, or Decade.

Step 1. Start by typing a name or term, or the beginning part of a name or term, and select "List."

Step 2. All terms meeting that criteria are displayed.

A search in the Creator field for "Ma," for example, will display a list with the names "Marsh, J. A." and "Mathis, L. G."

Step 3. Select the appropriate term from the list and select "Search." All relevant images will be displayed.

Intermediate Searches

An intermediate search can also be performed. The left-hand side search menu can be expanded by selecting Data Fields, showing the user more search options. Under this expanded menu, searches can be done on a number of fields:

• Date—if searching for an item with a known exact date;
• 
  Decade—if searching for an item within a 10-year span;
• 
  Geographic Location—if searching for an item with a known location;
• 
  Subject; and
  
• Keyword.

The Keyword seach is free-text, meaning the user can enter search terms freely. If searching on Date, Decade, Geographic Location, or Subject, the user can view a list of descriptive terms that have already been assigned to the images. (This list of pre-selected terms is known as a controlled vocabulary.)

Step 1. Select Data Fields from the basic search menu on the left to see other search options.

Step 2. Select the field to be searched, for instance, the Subject field.

Step 3. Select "equals." Doing this displays the list of the terms that have been used to describe the images.

Step 4. Choose the desired term and then either select "search" to display the images or perform an advanced search by selecting "and" or "or."

Advanced Searches

Step 1. Select Data Fields from the basic search menu on the left to see other search options.

Step 2. Perform a search as described above. At this point, the search can be broadened (see Step 3a) or made more narrow (see Step 3b).

Step 3a. Select "or" (the "or operator") and repeat the search process.

This will broaden the search and display more results. The "or" adds search terms together and diplays images that meet one or more of the search requirements. For instance, a search on "Tobacco" or "Barns" displays images that include either tobacco or barns, or possibly both. The set of images that are displayed will be greater than that retrieved by a search on only "Tobacco."

Step 3b. Select "and" (the "and operator") and repeat the search process.

This will narrow the search and return fewer but more precise results. A narrow search is useful if you are looking for very specific images, like a photograph of corn in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. A search on only "Corn" will return a greater number of images than a search on "Corn" and "Mecklenburg County, North Carolina," but if you are only interested in images of corn in Mecklenburg County, you would get more images than what is needed.

Descriptive Information (Metadata)

To view descriptive information about any image in the database, click the icon in the toolbar highlighted here in red.

Citations and Permissions

Information regarding citations, permission to publish or reproduce the materials from Green 'N' Growing, and copyright resources can be found at the Special Collections Research Center web site.

The example citation provided below follows the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th. edition. A citation should include the name of the item, the name of the on-line collection from which it is drawn, and the collection's URL.

• Letter from C. J. Nusbaum to H.P. Barss (1945). Living off the Land: Tobacco and Crop Science History in North Carolina, 1850-1950, http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/specialcollections/digital/livingofftheland