Generative AI and Images: a librarian’s perspective

If you are new to the topic of generative AI and images, a great place to start is our GenAI subject guide

You can find our full list of subject guides here

Some examples for image generation are:

DALL-E

Midjourney

Leonardo AI

Stable Diffusion (Open Source)

Ideogram

Pictory (for making videos)

Craiyon

Img 2 go

Dez.go

Go.Enhance text to image

There are lots of other suggestions from bloggers such as Zapier, Altexsoft, or Cnet.

Do you know about the image resources provided by the University of Edinburgh? Our high quality image databases are available to students and staff here

Resources external to the University include:

  • Shutterstock
  • Pixabay
  • Unsplash
  • Pexels
  • Coolers.co (colour palette generator)

Familiarise yourself with the University of Edinburgh guidance on AI here.

ELM is the University of Edinburgh’s AI innovation platform, a central gateway providing safer access to Generative AI via access to Large Language Models (LLMs).

Access ELM here

Some things to consider:

The moral issues around AI, eg the carbon footprint of AI – the massive amounts of water and electricity that are used every single time you use it, plus the exploitation of labour from the global south in training the AI LLMs (large language models).

It is a moral issue when we know that authors and artists have had their work used to train the AI tools without their permission and with no payment or compensation or acknowledgement.

The importance of citing correctly and making it very clear in any work you do that you have used GenAI to help you plan, ideate or create.

Make sure you are very clear on what your School or department’s stance is on AI in course work or dissertations. You can find the guidance by Professor Sian Bayne here.

Use Cite Them Right to check how to reference AI in your chosen referencing style. Access Cite Them Right via DiscoverEd.

Critical thinking is even more important now, when engaging with GenAI (or deciding whether to experiment with it, or to reject it).

Learn more at the LinkedIn Learning training courses: “Generative AI Imaging: what creative Pros need to know” and “Ethics in the age of Generative AI”. Access LinkedIn Learning via MyEd.

“To say that AI on its own will be able to produce art misunderstands why we turn to the art in the first place. We crave things made by humans because we care about what humans say and feel about their experience of being a person and a body in the world.” – see The Guardian

The backlash to AI in the creative industries.

The viral reach of a social media post by sci-fi/fantasy author Joanna Maciejewska seems to demonstrate that her sentiments are widely shared:

“You know what the biggest problem with pushing all-things-AI is? Wrong direction. I want AI to do my laundry and dishes so that I can do art and writing, not for AI to do my art and writing so that I can do my laundry and dishes.”

Further reading:

“Artists should exploit AI’s capabilities, says creators of new Tate Modern show”.

GenAI threatening the jobs of creatives in film and visual media.

And remember, as David Graeber said “it doesn’t have to be this way”.

The truth about genAI is that the only thing it is about is profit.

Be critical!  Ask yourself “who profits? who is exploited?”

This blogpost should not be taken as approved or endorsed by the University, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the University in respect of any particular issue. This blogpost is based on a library Bitesize training session developed by the Academic Support Librarian team, and delivered online in March 2025. For more Bitesize sessions and how to sign up, go to the events channel on MyEd.

 

Trial access to Hindi Cinema: Histories of Film-making

Edinburgh University students and staff currently have trial access to Hindi Cinema: Histories of Film-making, until 11th May 2025.

Hindi Cinema: Histories of Film-making:

Sourced from the private collection of renowned author and documentary film-maker Nasreen Munni Kabir, this resource features unedited interviews with leading Indian film personalities who contributed to the shaping of the ‘Golden Age’ of Hindi cinema and beyond.

This material marks the first time that a significant number of Indian film practitioners were filmed for a British broadcaster. Other collection highlights include behind-the-scenes photographs from film sets and popular Indian film posters from the British Film Institute (BFI).

As always this trial can be accessed via the Library E-resources Trials page.

Welcome to all new and returning students!

Everyone at ECA Library would like to give a warm welcome to all our new students, and to our returning students too!

If you are a new student looking to collect your library ID card, please note that new students must book a timeslot to collect their card at the Main Library, George Square, as detailed here.

Find out more about ECA Library here, and take a look at our orientation guides for each library site.

Want to learn more about getting the best out of the library and its collections and services? Work your way through Libsmart1 and 2, at your own pace, on Learn essentials.

If you have any questions do not hesitate to ask us at the ECA or Art & Architecture libraries EdHelp desks, or email your question to the ECA Academic Support Librarian.

If you need a one to one appointment with your academic support librarian look on the MyEd events channel for an upcoming appointment and if none of the times available suit you, drop your academic support librarian an email.

BFI Player subscription confirmed!

We are delighted to be able to announce that all University of Edinburgh students and staff will now have access to the complete BFI Player platform.

You can easily register with BFI Player and get access to hundreds of quality independent and art house films and classics.

Access BFI Player via the databases A-Z, or our list of the best databases for Art & Design, and also for Film Studies.

Please note: if you already had a BFI Player account linked to our pilot University of Edinburgh institutional subscription before 1st October 2023, you will need to relink your account using the instructions provided at the above webpages, when you first log in after 1st October 2023.  Once your account is relinked, you will then be able to sign in to BFI Player as normal via http://player.bfi.org.uk/ 

Enjoy!

BFI Player logo

Library launches new Diversifying Toolkit guide for staff

The Academic Support Librarian team have put together a subject guide on how to diversify your teaching, which aims to give staff and tutors an introduction on where to start with diversification, decolonisation and making your teaching and reading lists more EDI-friendly and aware. (EDI = Equality, Diversity & Inclusion).
You can access the guide here.
If you would like to read more about diversification, take a look at the recent Times Higher Ed article by Rowena Arshad, professor emerita at the Moray House School of Education and Sport, IECS, University of Edinburgh.

New BFI Player pilot goes live!

We are delighted to announce that thanks to a new agreement with BFI and JISC, the Library is now able to offer all UoE students and staff full access to the subscription-only film content on BFI Player. Our access to classic and cult films from across the decades will be for the rest of this academic year (2022/23) in the first instance.
To access the BFI Player and create your own viewing Account, please follow these 3 easy steps:

  1.         Go to https://player.bfi.org.uk/academic/subscribe and create an account, OR sign in if you already have one by selecting ‘Already have an account? Sign in’
  2.         Select ‘University of Edinburgh’ from the dropdown list
  3.         Authenticate subscription using your university credentials

Make sure you tick the box ‘I’d like to receive the BFI Player newsletter’ for exclusive competitions, watchlists and other BFI opportunities via email. Please note:

  • Once you’ve set up your subscription, you can simply login on BFI Player for the remainder of this academic year. You don’t need to use the subscribe link.
  • BFI Player is unavailable outside the UK.
  • Rentals and festival events are not included in the subscription offer. Content can change throughout the pilot and films could be removed.


 
Enjoy! Please report any problems to is.helpline@ed.ac.uk
To see the full range of databases we currently have trial access to, take a look at the e-resources trials webpage.
 

Subculture Archives database trial now live!

The Subculture Archives from the Museum of Youth Culture is an educational & cultural research resource of primary sources exploring 100 years of youth culture through the scenes, styles, and sounds that forged them. From Rave, Punk, Rockabilly to Grime.
From the world’s leading collection of youth culture history, the Museum of Youth Culture.
You can access the database for the duration of our trial, via the library e-resources trials webpage.

Autumn Dissertation Festival: 31 October – 4 November 2022

Want to find out more about the digital library resources available to research your dissertation question?  Interested in learning how to manage the bibliographic and research data you’ve found?  Thought about making your dissertation something special by using the fantastic collections available at the Centre for Research Collections?
Join us at the Dissertation Festival for a programme of online and in-person events, and learn what the Library can do for you to help you succeed with your dissertation. Our programme will include sessions by University teams and external suppliers. The in-person events include “Using pre-1900 printed sources”, at the CRC on November 1st, at 2.30pm, and “An Introduction to Collections Handling”, at the CRC on November 3rd, at 10.00am.