Visual Resources Collection Policies

Digital Images

Scanning of the Visual Resources collection is ongoing according to curriculum demands. The department has also purchased licenses for original images from vendors which are available for campus-wide use. Contact the Visual Resources curator for more information about using digital images from the collection or uploading selected images from the Visual Resources Collection to your personal image collection in the ARTstor database.

Borrowing Slides

The collection is funded and administered by the Art and Art History Department to provide visual resources for the teaching and study needs of the Art Department faculty for their scheduled courses in the department. Faculty from other departments may use any slides provided that they are not needed for current art classes. Check for availability of slides at least one week in advance. You may place slides on reserve for up to a week and take them out on the day of use. They must be returned the same day, or the next day if they are to be used in a class that ends after 5 pm. Slide use is limited to the Sonoma State University campus for University-sponsored events. When checking out slides, allow time for them to be xeroxed to record the loan before you take them out. Slides are due back in the slide collection immediately after the class and must be checked in with VR Collection staff. If you are unable to pick up or return slides the same day, you must make alternative arrangements in advance with the slide curator. Count the slides before you return them to make sure you return all that you borrowed. Lost slides will be billed at $9.00 each. Access to the collection will be denied to anyone with outstanding charges.
Rear-screen viewers are available in the slide collection for previewing slides. If you have not used carousel projectors before or need help finding anything, please ask for assistance. Otherwise, you are expected to select your own slides. Please do not bring cell phones, food or drinks to the Visual Resources Collection. Carousel trays can be checked out with the slides. Slides will be refiled by slide collection staff on return. Media Services has carts for slide projectors but they no longer provide the slide projectors, so you will have to make arrangements for that equipment and ensure that you have a projector lens that will provide an adequate image size.

Student use:

Registered students at this campus may borrow slides for class presentations only with authorization of the class instructor and prior arrangement with the curator, following the above rules. Authoriztion forms are available from the Visual Resources curator, which students can pick up when they come to select images, or the form can be downloaded and printed out from the website. If you plan to have several students make presentations in a class, please make an appointment to bring them to the slide collection as a group for orientation. You must either check out the slides and return them yourself or sign authorization forms before the class for the students.

Download Student Authorization Form

An Important note about Copyright

In compliance with the Fair Use guidelines of United States copyright law, slides from the collection may not be reproduced in any form. Anyone borrowing slides from this collection thereby agrees to comply with this rule.

Notes on Handling Slides

Please transport slides only in the boxes provided or in carousel trays and not in pockets or envelopes. They are mounted in glass and break easily. Avoid exposing slides to excessive heat and moisture. Do not leave them in a parked car in hot weather. Avoid projecting them for more than a few minutes at a time.
Slides should be loaded in the carousel upside down and backward as the tray faces the projection surface. Indicator dots on Art Department slides should appear in the upper right corner when loaded in the tray.
If a slide should stick during projection, do not try to pry the slide out of the slot. Use a coin in the projector's center slot, turning it to release the tray. (Newer projectors have a metal lever that does not require a coin, in place of a slot). With locking ring secured on top of the tray, turn the tray upside down, retrieve stuck slide, then rotate metal plate on the bottom of the slide tray until it locks. Replace tray on projector and continue.