How to use GRIN.

We established GRIN to help journalists, publishers, educators, authors and the general public find high-quality historical photos. Photos were selected both for their historical importance and their visual impact. This is a large collection and understanding how to browse GRIN efficiently will save you a lot of time. We intend GRIN to be easy and fast to use, and to complement the NASA Image Exchange (NIX). GRIN has been designed in accordance with the Section 508 Guildelines. GRIN is also completely accessible through the use of Access Keys. For help on this subject, view Access Keys for GRIN.

There are numerous ways to browse GRIN. The primary methods are by Subject, Search, and NASA Center.

The Subject method is probably the most useful and straightforward way to browse GRIN. There are 93 separate categories of GRIN images. We have tried to anticipate the kinds of images that professionals and the public will want and divided the images into these categories. Many GRIN images are in more than one category. But some images are specifically confined to a single category for ease of searching.

To see a brief description of what the subject categories include, see the Explanation of Subject Categories. Note that some categories are empty or nearly empty. We anticipate adding more images to these categories in the future.

The Search function is also an efficient means of locating images provided that you understand how it works and use it to your advantage. We suggest using the search function:

1. if the subject you are searching for is not already one of the existing subject categories;

2. if the subject category of interest is too large for your purposes, or;

3. if you are looking for something very specific.

Please note: The search function treats multiple words as if they are separated by "or" not as if they are separated by "and". In other words, typing in "lunar rover" will give you every entry with the word "lunar" and every entry with the word "rover", including many entries that contain only one of these words, such as a photo of a Mars rover. By placing your words in parentheses, the search engine will treat them as if they are separated by "and". So "(lunar rover)" will narrow the search considerably.

When using the search function, keep in mind that the more specific you can be, the faster you will find what you want general search words like "moon" will produce too many hits to be useful. Also, searching only in specific fields may be faster. In particular, searching in the Keywords category may be most useful, since we have already narrowed the search for you. Keywords can also include other helpful info, such as the old names of NASA centers, such as Lewis before it was renamed John H. Glenn Research Center.

The final method of searching GRIN is by using the NASA Center search function. Many of the images in GRIN come from some of the recent books produced about the NASA centers, so if you have one of these books, there is a good chance that the images inside are contained in GRIN. Some of the centers (like Stennis) only have a few dozen images, whereas others (like Johnson, Langley, and Kennedy Space Center) have hundreds, so this method will be more useful in some cases than others.

Other relevant NASA Web sites:
• NASA Headquarters
• NASA History Office
• NASA Image eXchange (NIX)
• NASA Multimedia Gallery
• NASA Human Spaceflight