The British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies, or BAPLA, is the trade association for picture libraries in the UK and the largest organisation of its kind in the world. Read more about what we do here.

With over 330 Image Suppliers, we represent the vast majority of commercial picture libraries and agencies in the UK. Companies range from small specialists to multinationals, collectively managing in excess of 350 million images, within an industry estimated to be worth over £500m per year in domestic revenue alone.

We also have a selection of Industry Suppliers who are BAPLA members - they offer a wide range of services to to picture library and agency industry including consultancy, digital processing and archive building and legal services, to name a few.

To read about the benefit of joining BAPLA as an image supplier, please click here . You can also download an application pack with further details.

Drop us a line at enquiries@bapla.org.uk and put 'Jobs enquiry' in the e-mail subject line. We'll then contact you regarding your request.

BAPLA is the trade association for picture libraries and agencies. Although we don’t supply images directly, we represent over 330 image suppliers who will be able to help..

If you hold the copyright for the images – either you are the artist, or legally own the copyright – then there are two options for images. You can either try to find a suitable image library to place your images with, meaning you retain the copyright, or you can sell the images and their copyright. With a small selection of images it may be difficult to find a library to take them unless they are something out of the ordinary. Use the Image Category search function to search by category. This will show you all image suppliers who cover the subject area your images may fall into.

BAPLA is a trade association for image suppliers and doesn’t represent photographers as such. If you would like to find image suppliers to contribute your work to, use the image search function here to do a category search for a supplier who covers your subject area.

We cannot offer legal advice to non-members, however please see the Toolkit section of the website for fact sheets on legal matters. You can also contact the UK Intellectual Property Office, who may be able to help you with your query.

Visit our Industry Suppliers section here to find recommended industry specialists.

There are two main reasons why you should register with the BAPLA website:

1. Keep up to date with our newsletter.
When you register on the site you can also subscribe to our newsletter (full to the brim of the latest news and events from the BAPLA community).

2. Get involved with the BAPLA community on the discussion forums.
Register on the site and you'll have full access to the BAPLA discussion forums, where you can read and contribute to debates relevant to the photographic industry, and request help and support from BAPLA members.

As a registered user you can:

• Receive the BAPLA newsletter
  
• Contribute to the discussion forums
  

As a registered user you cannot:

• Publish content on the website
• Access BAPLA members-only content in the Toolkit section
  

If you see anything on the website that appears to be an error, then we'd like to know about it. Click on 'Contact us', which can be accessed from the left-side of every page, and let us know what you have found.

Yes, it can be accessed from the left-side of every page. We'll be updating the directory regularly and, in time, hope to make it an exhaustive resource. If you run a photographic site and would like to be listed in our directory let us know; we'll check it out and if it’s a good fit, include it.

If you have a general idea of what image category/subject you are looking for, use the Image Category Search function to search by category. This will show you all image suppliers who cover the subject area. If you want to find an image supplier by name, you can search through our suppliers alphabetically by clicking here.

You can us the Image Request form, which can be accessed from the left-side of every page, to tell us the details of your search request. Your request will be sent on to our relevant members, who we hope can supply suitable images.

If you have made a reasonable effort to find the copyright holder and have had no success, contact the BAPLA office and we may be able to help.

Contact the AOP (Association of Photographers) and the BFP (Bureau of Freelance Photographers) as they may be able to help you locate a photographer. If you still cannot find the photographer, email us with the details and we can place this in our newsletter to image libraries that may hold the information.

Please call us on +44 (0)20 7713 1780 or email us with the details of the image supplier you need and we will put you in touch with them.

We have a list of image libraries/collections and details of where they are now. You can download the list here.

The BAPLA Rep within a BAPLA member organisation is automatically registered to access all areas of the website. If you need to get a password reminder, you can do this by clicking in the login link and requesting one.

Publish content
We've given the BAPLA Rep within a BAPLA member organisation the freedom to publish content on the website in the following sections:

• A-Z Image suppliers Every BAPLA member receives their own profile page in the A-Z of Image suppliers section. As it's your company, we've given you complete editorial control of your company description, contact details and image gallery editor via the website
• News BAPLA members can submit News to the BAPLA web editor via the website
• Events BAPLA members can submit Events to the BAPLA web editor via the website
• Jobs BAPLA members can submit jobs to the BAPLA web editor via the website

Access members-only content
BAPLA members can also access invaluable industry resources in the Toolkit section. All member-only resources are clearly flagged. To access them, just log in.

To edit your member profile page:

1. Click the log in button located on the left of every page
2. Enter your username and password (if you have forgotten your username or password click on the 'Forgotten password' link)
3. Click 'Submit'
4. Navigate to your member profile page by clicking on your company name on the left of the page, it should look something like this: 'XXXX is logged in'.
5. Once you've logged in and navigated to your profile page, you should see two green buttons:

• Edit gallery
• Edit description

Note: These buttons are not visible to anyone else other than you.

For every image you want to upload, you'll need to provide two image sizes:

• Thumbnail
• Full size image

1. Click on the 'Edit gallery' button (you'll be taken to a page with a series of form fields to fill in)
2. Upload your new images following the instructions provided
3. 'Submit' your images
4. You should receive on-screen notification that your upload has been successful
5. Click 'OK' and you'll be taken back to your profile page
6. You should now see your new images displayed on the website. If not, try refreshing the page using your web browser.

To edit your company description:

1. Click on the 'Edit description' button (you'll be taken to a page with a series of form fields to fill in)
2. Edit your company description following the instructions provided
3. Submit your edited company description
4. You should receive on-screen notification that your submission has been successful
5. Click 'OK' and you'll be taken back to your profile page
6. You should now see your new company description displayed on the website. If not, try refreshing the page using your web browser

To publish a news story:

1. Click the log in button located on the left of every page
2. Enter your username and password (if you have forgotten your username or password click on the 'Forgotten password' link)
3. Click 'Submit'
4. If you're not already there, click on the 'News & Events' link located at the top of every page
5. Once you've logged in and navigated to the News section, you should see a green button on the top-right of the page:

• 'Submit a News story' (Note: This button is not visible to anyone other than you)

1. Click on the 'Submit a News story' button (you'll be taken to a page with a series of form fields to fill in)
2. Create your News story following the instructions provided
3. 'Submit' your News story
4. You will receive on-screen notification that your submission has been successful and that it should appear on the website within 24 hours
5. Click 'OK' and you'll be taken back to the News section

To publish an Event:

1. Click the log in button located on the left of every page
2. Enter your username and password (if you have forgotten your username or password click on the 'Forgotten password' link)
3. Click 'Submit'
4. If you're not already there, click on the 'News & Events' link located at the top of every page
5. Once you are in the News & Events section, click on the 'Events' link on the left of the page
6. Once you've logged in and navigated to the Events section, you should see a green button on the top-right of the page:

• 'Submit an Event'

1. Click on the 'Submit an Event' button (you'll be taken to a page with a series of form fields to fill in)
2. Create an Event following the instructions provided
3. 'Submit; your Event
4. You will receive on-screen notification that your submission has been successful and that it should appear on the website within 24 hours
5. Click 'OK' and you'll be taken back to the Events section

To publish a job vacancy:

1. Click the log in button located on the left of every page
2. Enter your username and password (if you have forgotten your username or password click on the 'Forgotten password' link)
3. Click 'Submit'
4. If you're not already there, click on the 'Jobs' link at the top of every page
5. Once you've logged in and navigated to the Jobs section, you should see a green button:

• 'Submit a job'
  

1. Click on the 'Submit a job' button (you'll be taken to a page with a series of form fields to fill in)
2. Create a job listing following the instructions provided
3. 'Submit' your new job listing
4. You will receive on screen notification that your submission has been successful and that it should appear on the website within 24 hours
5. Click 'OK' and you'll be taken back to the Jobs section.

The easiest way to contact BAPLA is via the 'Contact us' form which can be accessed from the left-side of every page.