opinions differ a bit on this one. some say, it counts, some say, it doesn’t count, if it’s your local asset library, some say, it does never count, but WHAT counts is, when you start modifying your assets (like resizing images, recoloring, adding echo/fade effects to sound, normalizing them). this is then work on assets specific for that game.
searching your harddrive through thousands of images while waiting for a theme/an art style that inspires you, may be seen different.
bottom line, trijam is a honor system. if you feel, that you’re overboarding your “research time” and feels like cheating for your inner voice, be honest to yourself and the other jammers, and count it.