Flickr Fun

The webcast about Flickr this week was absolutely so much fun! Michael and Steve made it entertaining and educational at the same time and it was a great way to spend Tuesday night while my husband cooked me dinner! I learned a lot about Flickr that I never knew about like geo-tagging, tags in general and groups I never knew existed (like the Librarians Desks group, which I definitely want to join and add a picture to!) I joined the Libraries + Librarians group and explored some of those pictures. Although I joined Flickr a few months ago I hadn't done too much exploring, and although I had put some pictures up I hadn't tagged them - so I made sure to tag them (especially after joining the librarians group which stresses the importance of tagging images) I then spent some time looking at pictures of Jaco Beach in Costa Rica where I will be vacationing in May - its amazing to me how many thousands of photos there are of every conceivable subject! Next I plan on experimenting with putting boxes in some of my photos with notes attached to them (as seen in the webcast)

I will admit, I wasn't sure how a library could use Flickr before I saw the webcast. But a whole new world of ideas opened when I watched it and I am thinking of the many ways in which my library could use Flickr. The first thought that came to mind has to do with the fact that my library acts as a gallery for all the artwork of the art classes at the college - we display art constantly wherever we can fit it (in windows, on top of bookshelves, on easels) - wouldn't it be cool if we could put digital images of each piece of art onto a library Flickr page so that people everywhere could see it?!! In May we are partnering with one of the art instructors and will be displaying book-themed art - his students and any other member of the college community will be able to make a piece of art using books as inspiration - this would be so cool to put on Flickr! and so easy! I will definitely be doing this, even if I can't set up a library Flickr page by then I will put photos of the book artwork on my Flickr page for all to see.

Another neat thing to put on a library Flickr page would be pictures of librarians at conferences, with notes attached to each picture. Using Flickr as a way to archive and document all the activities of the library and librarians would be great too - this would preserve the history of the library and make it accessible to all. It would also make the public more aware of what goes on in their library and make them more involved - they could leave comments and join the library group page.

I get lost in Flickr every time I go there - I just keep finding picture after picture to be amazed at. It is quite addicting! and full of so many possiblities!