Academic Libraries Supporting Visual Culture: A Survey of Image Access and Use

Academic library collections have largely reflected the dominance of text for teaching and scholarship, though our culture is increasingly visual. The authors developed a survey to answer questions about the demand for images in academic libraries and how librarians are adapting services and collections to a more visual culture. The survey was distributed to nine electronic mailing lists related to academic librarianship, resulting in 225 unique responses from diverse institutions. Survey responses indicate librarians embrace images and are finding creative ways to access both individual images and collections, though aspects of visual resources pose challenges.