Best Practices for
The University of Missouri uses MerlinOne as a Digital Asset Management system (DAM) to host campus and event photography. The file naming conventions, keywords and collections outlined here are a helpful resource when searching for photos.
If you have searched MerlinOne and are needing photography of a specific area or event, please fill out the request form and a Mizzou Visual Productions will be in touch.
This is the file naming convention used by Mizzou Visual Productions. We recommend using this convention to name photo files before uploading to MerlinOne.
Example: 20230103_CMS-Columns-SEO-0036
General
Student Affairs
Internal Communications (Operations)
Joint Office of Strategic Communication & Messaging
Academic Areas
When using the search field in MerlinOne, these examples will help narrow down the search to the photos you are looking for.
| And |
AND is the presumed operator. It is used even if it is not specified. It combines search criteria to narrow down a search. Examples:
|
| Or |
OR broadens the search. Merlin evaluates the OR clause first, regardless of its placement in the string, unless parentheses are used. Or may be used in both full text and field specific for advanced searches. Example: Columns OR fall |
| Not |
NOT excludes records with the specified criteria and may be used in both full text or IPTC fields for advanced searches. Example: Jesse Hall NOT interior, People NOT portraits |
| Like |
LIKE is the fuzzy or “sounds like” operator. Examples: like student |
| Near |
NEAR is used to search for words that appear within a given proximity. The default threshold is eight words, however a numeric operator may be applied to narrow or broaden the proximity. Examples: Student near columns, or Student near 5 arts |
| Then |
THEN is the ordered search operator. Words appear in a particular order. Example: Undergraduate THEN science |
| Atleast |
ATLEAST is used to only show objects where the search term appears at least a specified number of times. Example: Atleast 3 study |
| “” |
Use quote marks to denote an exact phrase to be searched. Examples: “Tiger Walk”, or “Homecoming Parade” |
To turn off photography labeled as stock, follow these steps:
Nomad is an AI visual search. It can be helpful with finding photos based off of visual keywords.
Examples:
This list of commonly used keywords can be used to help you search for specific areas of photography in MerlinOne.
Specific names of Events will be included in ALL photographs whether in the filename or caption/description. This is not comprehensive, but a sample of events you can expect to see tagged.
Specific names of Schools/Colleges will be included in ALL photographs. This is not comprehensive, but an overview of areas already tagged. These will be included in the filenames of the photographs as shortened codes.
Specific names of buildings and areas on campus will be included as keywords on ALL photographs. This is not comprehensive, but an overview of popular areas.
Building Type
Academic Buildings, Campus Facilities, Areas
Residential Halls
Dining Halls
To help narrow down the type of people images you are looking for, please use the following keywords:
Collections are an alternate way of finding photos. Instead of using the search feature in MerlinOne, the collections are curated folders of Mizzou photography. This is a great way to find photos of campus beauty, popular events and academic areas.