My Friend Flickr

So I spent some time early in week six poking around in Flickr. I read through most of the introductory stuff and the suggested readings for ProjectPlay. And I spent some time looking at some of the pictures. Lots of professional quality work on this site. I mean stunning.

But, the thing is, I don't have a camera.

So there's not a whole lot I see myself doing with this site.

But, it's part of the course, so I'm doing the assignment. (Sorry it's taken so long to get to it. Things are picking up in our department again.) So. On to my assignment. Here's a link to an image I found when I did a search on the term "libraries." (Not usually my first choice for a search term, but I'm trying to have something relevant to say about work, so I took a shot). It appears to be an aerial photo of the Cologne Cathedral and surrounding area in Germany, sometime after the bombing of Cologne in World War II. Not exactly what I was expecting when I was searching the term "library" but it's on the internet so there you go. The member who posted the image wrote that he found it tucked inside a book he purchased for $1.00 at a library's used book sale along with 19 other photos. And there's your library link. 116 people posted comments, which is kind of impressive. Out of a pretty huge site, 116 people found that image and thought it was worth commenting on.

So how does Flickr work in a library setting? I guess it depends on who would be using it. I can see patrons wanting to access the site to see some specific photos from a public internet terminal. That would be fine for a person who knew what they were doing. Flickr is on the internet. We provide internet access. That was easy. But showing a newby how to do it all would be a bit more involved. Especially if the newby needed help to set up an account. There are account sign-ups and passwords to go through, which, having gone through the registration process myself, I'm personally starting to see as more of a barrier to entry than many would want to endure. I read a post (blog? I can't remember) a while back about a public library worker who had helped an individual with some "special needs" set up an account with an online bank that made me thankful I don't work in a public setting.

On the other hand, Flickr for use by staff, whether for internal use or for marketing purposes probably has some potential. Some time back Madison Public Library started a project to get photos of all staff members posted on Flickr. The idea was that we have such a big staff, spread out over so many sites and departments, that it's hard for people to get to know/recognize people who may be known only by name, or job, or email message. So it's kind of a laudable goal. And it could be useful, helpful, interesting and fun.

But it seems to have lost it's momentum and I'm not sure why. It was bound to be a big job, of course. I can imagine that it took longer to do than people thought it would. And I doubt the powers that be actually told the folks who were doing the job that the project was their top priority, that they were excused from all their other duties until the completion of the project, and that they would have all the resources (training, tools, assistance and time) they would need to do the job to the best of their ability. Oh, and that the staff members being photographed would all be agreeable, available, photogenic, and willing to accept that, yes, that photo of them is about as good as you can expect to get.

Add in the need for passwords and other security whatnot that you need to be able to get in and actually view the pictures and, well, enthusiasm just doesn't seem to be that high anymore.

The thing is, it isn't anyone's job to update our Flickr photo site. We don't seem to have a professional photographer on staff. Some of us aren't that keen on having our pictures taken anyway. Some may not like the idea of having their picture floating in cyberspace, particularly if you're identified by name. And the photos need to be taken, uploaded, tagged and named, and generally kept up to date. So it would have to be an ongoing job. These photos could be a fine addition to our collective history. But there's so much other work needed to be done in actively serving our public, that this type of thing will probably always get second class status.

So that's how I view Flickr. It's a great resource for people who have the time and inclination. For a workplace resource, it could be great too. But it needs a level of commitment that we may not be able to make.

As always, your comments are welcome.