Just a little rant about having to pay to use pictures as sources in my thesis. There is no way to get around it. And I have spent about £60 already on pictures, and these are just for one chapter.

At least the British Museum collection is mostly free online. And whilst I love the British Library since its wonderful collection has basically fascilitated my entire PhD, I think £27 is a bit steep for a digital image. Sigh.

a) I cannot believe I misspelt facilitated!

b) The only way I could afford to actually use pictures in said chapter is because I have gotten casual work/ extra role to pay for it!

Hmm, the hidden costs of a humanities PhD!

I had a similar, but not so expensive thing, I found this picture in a newspaper that showed exactly what I needed to show in a presentation I was giving (although it wasn't what they intended to show)but I couldn't use it because the photographer was not around to give permission, it went with a government article, but it didn't have the usual photo by ... on it, such a shame it would have been ideal

Wait, isn't there a rule that for research and educations purposes pictures can be used for free and all you need is the permission of the copyright holder?

I meant here payment for the physical image (or indeed, digital) without copyright with is more £!

Yep Verdy, I really thought you could get away with using them for free as long as you acknowledge your sources and do not plan on having your work published. I am stunned.

Sometimes it depends where the pic is. It may be that it is covered by the uni agreement, but some areas are outside this, newspapers for example, and in my case the pic in a newspaper article which actually came from some school and if you want to use something like a hymn, you have to follow a whole new set of rules. If you want to use something you might want to consult with your librarian who will be able to tell you. Not all people will want payment, but it is polite to ask.