Image Database

LUNA @ Smith College offers a single point of access for digital image and media collections created by Smith College, together with global LUNA Commons Collections. The growing Smith collections represent the rich cultural resources of the College, including: the Smith College Museum of Art, the Mortimer Rare Book Room, the Sophia Smith Collection, the Historic Clothing Collection, and the Van Buren Antiquities collections. 

Special thematic collections include: the Antequam Mediterranean Ancient Art, David Boggett Japanese Art, Architecture & Festivals, and Vistas Visual Culture of Spanish America collections. Custom-built teaching collections include the Smith College Imaging Center, AMICA Library, and Archivision Digital Research Library.

Who is using LUNA?
LUNA is used by faculty and students across the college. Collections are used for teaching and study in a wide range of disciplines, including art, architecture, landscape studies, religion, anthropology, literature, history, classics, and more.

What the research says: 

“The importance of images and visual media in contemporary culture is changing what it means to be literate in the 21st century. Today's society is highly visual, and visual imagery is no longer supplemental to other forms of information. New digital technologies have made it possible for almost anyone to create and share visual media.”
ACRL Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. Association of College & Research Libraries. (2011).
http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/visualliteracy 

“There is no doubt that using visual materials in curricular exercises is an accepted practice 
among Carleton faculty: 91% of faculty respondents reported making curricular use of visual 
materials. Assignments varied in terms of prompting students to interpret, create, present, or 
more generally express ideas visually.” 
Carleton College; Andrea Lisa Nixon, Heather Tompkins, and Paula Lackie.
Curricular Uses of Visual Materials:  A Mixed-Method Institutional Study (2008).
http://apps.carleton.edu/curricular/support/assets/CUVMFinal.PDF

“However, it seems that very often it is the combination of the right image with active 
class discussion that has excited many faculty. Having a plethora of “malleable, mutable, and mobile” images on tap imbues teachers with added creativity, and they feel 
less tied to a linear textual narrative. Using images to structure their lessons they find they can have more interactive classes.”
David Green, Using Digital Images in Teaching and Learning: Perspectives from Liberal 
Arts Institutions. Academic Commons (October 2006).http://www.academiccommons.org/imagereport 

How can I examine LUNA for myself?
LUNA at Smith College is available 24/7 on campus or off campus*
http://luna-insight.smith.edu:8180/luna/servlet 

*Smith students, faculty, and staff, use your Smith email username and password to LOGIN at the top right of the LUNA home page to access copyright restricted collections and to obtain off campus access.

Questions? Contact Jon Cartledge or other Imaging Center staff members
http://www.smith.edu/imaging/ 

Read more about the LUNA software
http://www.lunaimaging.com/index.html