Method 5

On a personal level – is it something you plan to do or perhaps something you are already doing? And on a professional level — do you see some potential uses of online photo sharing sites for libraries?

On a personal level, I usually do not upload my photographs to sites like Flickr. It makes me uncomfortable to have others have easy access to some of the photographs I have taken, and when it comes to other people in my photographs, I don't want to put up photographs of them without their permission (especially of their children). Now that I have uploaded a couple of photographs to Flickr, though, I see how easy it is to limit the access and copying ability of my photographs, and I may use this tool in the future. As I stated in my earlier post, Flickr would save me from having to bring out my laptop every time that I want to show my photographs to my friends, family, or the members of my photography group.

On a professonal level, I don't see the librarians at our library posting the photographs from our programs on Flickr, because we are already using Facebook to display the photographs and videos of our various programs. With other libraries that do not feel comfortable or be unable to set up Facebook pages, Flickr could be an excellent tool. The only issue I see with it, is that more of the patrons may use Facebook than Flickr. It is up to the individual library to decide which method would work best for their patrons, so they can have access to the photographs.