Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog

The next assignment in my "Access to Information" class was to use the Library of Congress's online catalog for Prints and Photographs. It followed the Flickr assignment, so a comparison was inevitable.

I began with a simple search for "Jazz." I wasn't sure how much detail I would need in my search, so I figured the broader, the better. The search returned 159 pages of results. This did not yield the trove of images that it would imply, because many of the results are not actually images, but reference images in the the LOC catalog. Sometimes, it even states, "Not Digitized," a curious statement to find in an online collection of digitized photographs. Also, it was disappointing to find out that most of the images can be displayed only as thumbnails outside of the LOC because of copyright considerations.

I did find the layout to be very well conceived, especially that users can toggle the view from List to Grid. This also simplifies viewing, because clicking on the image takes you straight to it, bypassing the information screen. This is still accessible, by clicking "About This Item."

The "Jazz" search did not yield much, so I changed to the "1950s." This was too vague, so I tried the "Gilded Age." Photography was relatively new during this time so it predictably yielded little. Finally a search for "Cold War," brought 44 pages of results. Unfortunately, I again found myself looking at thumbnails and place holders for collections. Many of the images were detailed political cartoon, which could not be read because of the size of the image. That the LOC places these images online in this form makes them next to useless. I understand that copyright law is involved here, but surely they can look to Flickr for ideas about how to display images large enough for people to view them comfortably and yet with enough protection that they aren't easily pilfered.

It is obvious from searching the site that the LOC has an incredible collection of images with great historical and culture significance. Unfortunately, rather than expanding access to them, their online catalog merely offers a small taste, and then encourages the viewer to come to D.C. for the full meal. Interestingly, in the "About Prints and Photographs" section, the LOC explains that thumbnails are
only available for some images because of "potential rights considerations." It is unfortunate that copyright law lumps the online display of the LOC's historic collections into the same category as a bootleg copy of "Avatar."