30 January 2013

A call for landslide photos for the USGS library archive

Posted by Dave Petley

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Lynn Highland, a Geographer with the Landslide Program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is joining the USGS Library in a project to compile an archive of copyright free, high-resolution (if possible) photographs of all aspects of landslides. These contributed photos would be archived permanently with, and obtainable through, the USGS Library website, which can be accessed here:

http://libraryphoto.cr.usgs.gov/index.html

The photographs archived at the library are public domain and can be downloaded for free by anyone accessing the website. More information about the library and how it works can also be found at the website.

Lynn has asked if you would consider submitting your best photographs by sending the photos in as high a resolution as possible, with a caption, and credit. The photos will be searched by users, using key words, so including as much information as possible in the caption is desirable.  If you are willing to support this initiative by providing some photographs then please send them to:

Lynn Highland using this email address: [email protected]

You may attach them, along with a text description, or send a website or file-sharing site where they can be accessed.

All types of landslide photos will be gladly accepted – those affecting the natural and/or built environments, those illustrating types of landslides, engineered and remedial sites, rockfall, debris flow, creep, lateral spreads, lahars, volcanic landslides and of course, “mudslides” which many users use as a search term.

If you’re unsure about whether the photo is useful, please send it anyway! Someone is always looking for good quality, non-copyrighted, landslide photos, and your photo could be the one they are looking for!

If you know of others who might want to contribute photos, please let them know about the USGS project. And please send any questions about the process to Lynn.

I thoroughly approve of this type of initiative and will be sending some images of my own.  Such an archive is invaluable for research, teaching, presentations, books etc.  Please do submit half a dozen or so photographs.