Picture database and research catalogue

Picture Database bildarchiv austria

The digital holdings of the Picture Archives are recorded in the Picture Database. About 120,000 historic portraits and more than 100,000 historic photographs from the holdings of the Austrian National Library, the historical archives of the ORF, the Association for the History of the Workers’ Movement, and the archives of the Austrian Society for Contemporary History at the University of Vienna are online and accessible for scholarly research, for commercial and editorial exploitation.

Picture Research Catalogue of the Austrian National Library

The electronic picture service of the Picture Archives offers the chance for research in the catalogues of the Picture Archives and the Departments of the Austrian National Library and in theme-specialised catalogues..

Technical Library

The holdings of the technical book collection of the Picture Archives are at the disposal of clients as a free access library in the reading rooms of the Picture Archives. In the Library Catalogue of the Austrian National Library the holdings of the Picture Archives are marked with the collection codicil POR. The free access holdings of the Picture Archives are indicated in a systematic order in the Library Catalogue.

Fidei commis Library

The books in the Fidei commis Library have so far been incorporated to only a small extent in the library catalogues of the Austrian National Library (call number addendum FID or POR). However, they are mostly listed in the so-called Becker Catalogue (6 printed volumes with hand-written additions), and this can be examined in the Department.

Research

On financial grounds more and more publishing houses and other institutions are foregoing employing their own picture researchers and preferring to “outsource” rather than to carry out the time-consuming work of researching. The Picture Archives and Graphics Department of the Austrian National Library is happy to meet their wishes.

For your research on pictures the experts of the Picture Archives are at your disposal. Basic information and research that demands only about 30 minutes of work are free of charge. Picture research on topics of your choice spare you time-consuming searching and can be given to us as a payable commission. The costs are € 40.00 for every hour or part thereof.

The client can of course decide whether s/he wants to carry out research with the help of the catalogues in the Department or prefers to give us a commission to do the research.