Libraries and Flickr

Flickr: The Commons
Thanks to The Shifted Librarian for highlighting this new project which brings together Flickr and the Library of Congress. There are links to more information on the Shifted Librarian post but my favourite part is this quote from the Library of Congress blog post My Friend Flickr: A Match Made in Photo Heaven

"We want people to tag, comment and make notes on the images, just like any other Flickr photo, which will benefit not only the community but also the collections themselves. For instance, many photos are missing key caption information such as where the photo was taken and who is pictured. If such information is collected via Flickr members, it can potentially enhance the quality of the bibliographic records for the images."

The Flickr Commons pilot is limited to the Library of Congress at the moment but Flickr are looking for expressions of interest from other museums and libraries. They are also asking Flickr users to get involved and tag some photos so that they can gauge the interest in the project and see if it is worth continuing. Even if you're not interested in tagging I recommend heading over and having a look, some of the photos are fascinating!

My favourite use of Flickr by a UK public library at the moment has to be Plymouth Libraries who use their account to show pictures of their new library and events alongside archive pictures of library history. They also show the adventures of Bookstart Bear who appears to have travelled around the world at least once! Unlike a number of library Flickr accounts which seem to have started and then faded away, Plymouth Libraries post new photos regularly and give a real feel of what is happening in their library. They even use Flickr tools to illustrate links to their book reviews. As far as I know this is the only UK public library regularly updating and using a Flickr account in this way but I'd love to hear about any others...