|
|
The AccuNet/AP Multimedia Archive is an electronic library containing Associated Press's current year's photo report and a selection of images from their vast library. Additionally, there is a separate database you can select from a pulldown menu on the search page that contains graphics, maps, illustrations and logos.
The following search tips and others can be found in the online User Guide.
Getting Started: It's simple to do a search in the AccuNet/AP Multimedia Archive. Just enter your search criteria in the WHAT and/or WHEN and/or WHERE fields at the top of the search page, and then click on SEARCH or hit ENTER on your keyboard.
Use just one field or a combination of the three fields.
The Multimedia Archive comes with certain default options in place. For best results, do not change these options until you have gained experience in using the Archive.
Here are some Search Tips to help you find what you are looking for:
The WHAT Field: Use 'single quote marks' around names or any string of words to tell the archive to search for words adjacent to each other. For example:
|
'Florida Marlins' (Using single quotes means that the archive will search only for photos of the Florida Marlins baseball team, not all pictures with the word Florida and then all pictures dealing with marlins.)
'Fidel Castro' 'White House' |
To search for photos with two or more people, use the word and. For example:
|
'Prince Harry' and 'Prince William' and 'Prince Charles'
'President Clinton' and 'Chelsea Clinton' Churchill and Roosevelt and Stalin |
For topics, describe what you are looking for in natural language. A natural language search, such as Oklahoma City bombing rescue, will return photos with captions that include all the words you have entered somewhere in the caption. Use single quotes within your search for words that must be adjacent to each other, such as a person's name. For example:
|
'Elvis Presley' and polio victims
Apple sellers during the Depression |
The WHEN Field: Specific dates require the numerical form for month / day / year: (Year must be four digits)
|
For today's photos only, enter Today
For yesterday's photos only, enter Yesterday For photos taken in the past week, enter Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. For a period of time, type From 1/1/1939 to 12/31/1945 or From 3/13/1997 to 3/29/1997 For a single year or range of years, type 1963 or From 1945 to 1956. |
The WHERE Field: Searches city, state and country. It is important not to use abbreviations and to use single quote marks around words that are adjacent to each other. Examples are:
| Pennsylvania, rather than PA Charlotte, 'North Carolina' Brussels, Belgium 'United States', rather than U.S. or USA |
Here are some examples of using the search fields together. Use ranges of dates if you are not sure of the exact day or year:
|
WHAT: 'John F. Kennedy' and 'Jackie Kennedy' WHEN: 1963 WHERE: Dallas, Texas WHAT: 'Hale Bopp' comet WHEN: From 1997 to 1998 WHERE: Stonehenge, 'United Kingdom' WHAT: Marines raising the American flag WHEN: From 1/1/1941 to 12/31/1945 WHERE: 'Iwo Jima' |
Once you have entered your search criteria, click on "Search" or hit the "Enter" key on the keyboard. You will then get a variety of "thumbnail" photos to choose from. For a full screen image, just click once on the photo.
Pictures downloaded and saved as .jpg files are inserted easily in a word processing program such as Word or WordPerfect. Items from the graphics database are in PDF format. They can be downloaded, then opened and printed using Adobe Acrobat.