Sound familiar? Susan calls the Tulsa City-County Library's AskUs Hotline (596-7977) for help. A friendly voice suggests the library website www.tulsalibrary.org. Following the librarian's instructions, Kali clicks Research Center, 'Online Research Center,' 'Reference' and then 'Images'. She finds the 'Image Collections' button above the online database, Business Source Elite and enters 'Bill Gates;' a selection of about half a dozen different photos of the millionaire appear.

Images of all kinds, including drawings, charts and photographs can enliven and inform the written word. Catalogers help customers find illustrated books by adding this piece of information to each book entry. Librarians have traditionally collected and recommended illustrated materials, some of which can be photocopied and pasted into reports.

Today's e-Library dramatically expands the possibilities. There are many images on the web but they are not always easy to find. The library's Online Research Center Image pathfinder of databases and websites can be a big help!

For more general images Google Images is a good resource. Recently I found a ruby throated hummingbird and the Saratoga (a World War II battleship) for customers by using the Google product.

Also available online are numerous specialty image collections. Check out The Fantastic in Art and Fiction sponsored by Cornell University where about 300 incredible images from 80 rare books can be found here. Until the advent of the web, only a few people had access to these images. Take a look at what we were missing!

I am happy to report that Kali's report was finished on time with a great color photo of Bill Gates on the cover.