Pick of the pics in a few clicks

The new whole-of-Government secure online Image Library will save time and money for Queensland Government communication officers and graphic designers.

Anyone involved in government communication knows that finding the right images to support the myriad of messages needed to inform the public can be difficult, costly and time consuming. But all that is about to change with the introduction of the new secure online Queensland Government Image Library to manage digital images.

'This new central library will help put an end to costly duplication where someone pays for a photo shoot unaware the image they want already exists in another department or even in another area of their own department,' said Kathy Parton, Director of Communication Services, Department of the Premier and Cabinet.

'The advanced search facility of the Library will also eliminate that frustrating and time wasting experience of searching the entire world wide web for an image, only to discover it is either too expensive, too small for print use or not available,' Kathy said.

Project Manager Britt Carseldine said the Library, which is supported by the ICT Innovation Fund, will provide a large collection of photographic images from all agencies, as well as some video and audio files that can be searched and accessed depending on security levels and business rules.

Britt said a survey found that 18 out of 30 agencies have communication and marketing officers with ongoing issues trying to source high quality, high resolution images to help promote Queensland Government priorities, messages, programs, initiatives and information to the public.

'Twelve of these agencies have no formal system in place to manage their images, and half the agencies have isolated systems meaning that images are inaccessible to potential users,' Britt said.

'We've established a great network across government now with an Image Manager in each agency who will have responsibility as the administrator for the Image Library with the power to authorise security access for officers and their agency's image collections as appropriate,' she said.

Ross Booker, Education and Training Image Manager, is very enthusiastic about the project.

'Officers who have access will be able to log on to the Queensland Government Image Library to view the watermarked thumbnail images uploaded by agencies that they have permission to view.

'If an officer is interested in using a particular image it's as simple as sending an email request via the system to seek permission for that specific purpose. The image owner gets the request, approves it and a link which is available for a limited time period is sent to allow downloading of the high resolution image.

'We regularly have image requests both internally and from other agencies so it will be useful to be able to track where they're being used. If an image gets overused we can retire it,' Ross said.

The Department of Environment and Resource Management Image Manager, Adam Callinan, said the Queensland Government Image Library project will help save a lot of money through efficiencies in sharing images between agencies.

'My team of photographers, designers and communication officers are also looking forward to the benefits of digital cataloguing to assist in managing our images and for fast retrieval of those images,' Adam said.

'The Image Managers Network will create a coordinated approach to sharing images and maximising opportunities at future photo shoots where several agencies might benefit. The Network will encourage best practice image management policies across government.'

Mike Marston, Project Officer for the Queensland Government Image Library project, is setting image standards to ensure the project's success. 'We're asking agencies to upload high resolution images, in maximum quality JPEG format, at 4-10Mb each, to allow for quality printing up to A4 size at 300dpi. The system will create smaller images on request for web usage or Word documents,' Mike said.

'Metadata is the data about the digital images and this is really important to include with the photos to provide effective cataloguing and searching capabilities for all users. Use of both the system and the images will be tracked for reporting purposes.

'Images focusing on people will require consent forms attached or referenced in the system. There are heaps of legal issues to consider including consent forms, privacy and copyright. We're establishing some best practice guidelines and policies for the 19 out of 30 agencies that say existing systems for cataloguing, archiving and retrieving images are inconsistent,' Mike said.

For more information about the Queensland Government Image Library project contact images@premiers.qld.gov.au

Who is your Image Manager

Image Managers are the key departmental contacts for image management issues. They are the first point of contact for image management queries. Image Managers are the nominated agency representatives for the w-o-g Image Managers Network which will meet regularly to receive training about and discuss image management issues.

Image Manager contact details can be downloaded from here (PDF) (external link).

Last reviewed: 17 July, 2009

Last updated: 22 July, 2009

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