Universal Images Group Limited (UIG), the distribution business unit of the Virtual Picture Desk (VPD), has entered into a long term agreement with The British Library Board to represent their picture library content for the online education market on a global and worldwide basis.
The British Library has over 30,000 images online, including pictures and photographs of fine art, art history, history, anthropology, architecture, archeology, literature, science, biology, geography and medicine. Over 3 million images are available in the BL Picture Library.
Universal Images Group (UIG) has developed an educational database of over 3.2 million educational images, Universal Source. UIG is the exclusive provider of 2 million images to Encyclopaedia Britannica for its Image Quest online education subscription services. UIG has also entered into a recent agreement with a major stock picture agency to provide and host 1.2 million images for their educational publishing customers to provide internal reference libraries.
“We are delighted to add The British Library images to Universal Source” said George Sinclair, the Chief Executive of UIG and VPD, “it’s critical for our major customers including Britannica to have content from reliable, revered and respected sources and the agreement with BL continues with our endeavors over the last five years to work with well known, unique and iconic libraries, museums, galleries, picture agencies and contributors.”
“We are pleased to enter into this long term relationship with UIG for representation in the rapidly growing online education market. This allows us to establish further the value and accessibility of the BL picture library through online distribution” stated Andrew Austin, Manager of Imaging Services, “and since we are making significant changes within our Picture Library the agreement with UIG allows enhancing our objectives and reaching additional national and international markets with our picture collections”
UIG also represents the National Geographic Society, the Chicago History Museum, Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Bridgeman Art Library, Dorling Kindersley (DK Images), the National Portrait Gallery, the Natural History Museum, De Agostini Editore, Mondadori Electa, News International (The Times Picture Library), The Press Association, Wellcome Trust, the Royal Geographic Society, and The Science Museum as well as the wholly owned content from major stock picture agency collections including Amana japan, Getty Images, Photolibrary and Superstock.
For further information please contact George Sinclair in Chicago at
TFvapynve@ICQPbec.pbz.