Finding photos to accompany LMU articles is about to get sharper.
LMU Canto, the university’s new photo and video archive, provides a digital asset repository that is robust, searchable, and populated with pre-approved photos and videos that meet institutional brand standards for promotional use. Once users sign in, they will be able to view albums and categories of usable photos and videos – including organized collections such as “campus beauty,” “student life,” and albums based on academic units and programs – to make searching for and finding the right image efficient.
The need for a centralized digital asset archive, consisting of high-quality, promotional photos and videos, has continually grown over the past decade. Through Canto, end users will find more sophisticated search, tag, and curation features found in commercial-grade systems like Getty Images.
The migration to LMU Canto was prompted by many university users having expressed past frustrations with inconsistent access to resources, difficulty locating materials, or unnecessarily duplicating work. LMU Canto seeks to address and solve these challenges by serving as a “one stop shop” for all university-related photography. Additionally, for the first time ever, users are able to search the database for usable video B-roll. Now, users will be able to find relevant items in seconds – no more digging through endless folders or emails.
All images housed within the LMU Canto platform have been pre-approved for promotional use, including on flyers, brochures, posters, and webpages. All LMU Canto users should refer to the official guidelines and standards surrounding image usage.
Other features of LMU Canto include a powerful and sophisticated search and image results; robust tagging, metadata, and AI capabilities; an image curation that eliminates volumes of unusable images; and, importantly, the addition of video B-roll in the archive.
LMU Canto will become the sole platform for LMU digital assets starting on Feb. 11, 2025. You can learn more about the software and rollout at any of the following resources:
- LMU Canto
- LMU Canto Frequently Asked Questions
- LMU Canto Guidelines and Standards
- LMU Photo and Video Services
To be granted access to an LMU Canto portal, contact the comms lead for your department or academic unit.
For support, please email canto@lmu.edu.
Next Steps
If you are an authorized communications user, you should have received an invitation to the platform with login instructions on Feb. 5. We encourage you to explore the system and share your feedback as we refine it. For nonbusiness users, we will grant access on a case-by-case basis.
