Flickr and Academic Libraries

What is Flickr?

• Flickr (www.flickr.com) is one of the most popular Web 2.0 photo and image management sharing websites.

• Free; images can be shared in groups publicly or privately and various copyright licenses can be attached to images.

• Founded in 2004 by Ludicorp; bought by Yahoo in 2005. Flickr has millions of users and over 2 billion photos and images.

Flickr Uses, Continued• Users can upload photos and images, index

them with tags and organize them, share them with others and allow them to add tags and leave comments.

• Photos can be printed, converted to slide shows, exported to other devices and websites including blogs and social networking sites; RSS feeds can provide a stream of constantly updated thumbnails

• Flickr is great for personal and academic use.

Flickr and Academic Libraries• Flickr’s features make it the best tool for academic use. • Academic library groups are not as common as public

library groups but they often feature similar themes.

• Academic library collections: Most prevalent are photos and images of the library and it is physical spaces, photos of staff and students, special events. Examples: Auburn University Montgomery Library

Health Sciences Library Stony Brook University

Uses

• Personal enjoyment; staff enjoyment.

• Libraries can store images that may not ordinarily be placed on a library’s main webpage and save space.

• The library is seen as welcoming, friendly place. Students become more comfortable with the library and interested in visiting/using

it.

• Marketing, publicity and promotional tool for the public.

Uses

• The library can display resources available to students, faculty, researchers and the public such as computer terminals, library collections, special collections.

• Coursework: Students and faculty can search the library group’s collection or the Flickr database for useful images to be used in lectures, presentations and research projects. The library can encourage faculty to contribute images to be used in their presentations and by students. The library can direct faculty and students to other useful Flickr collections such as the historical Library of Congress or Smithsonian collection available in “The Commons” section. Flickr Commons

Archival photos and special collections

• Academic libraries can collect historical photos of the college or university and highlight special collections. Examples: McFarlin Special Collections NCSU Special CollectionsStanford Medicine University of Michigan Dental Collection

• Helpful for reference questions. Librarians can save a lot of time and patrons save time by viewing images of the collection beforehand. Ability to print Flickr images for patrons. Especially helpful in long-distance communication.

.

More Uses • May be opportunity for funding,collaboration with other

libraries, universities, institutions, partnership with local historical society.

• Collaboration and outreach with outside groups and community agencies

• Communication with agencies regarding book repairs, renovation, etc.

Possible problems• Copyright restrictions: most books and images are

copyrighted materials, unless they are owned by the institution or of a date before copyright enactment.

• Others can control content of collection. They can add inaccurate or destructive tags. Authority still rests with the creator, but collections need to be constantly monitored.

• Flickr is intended for public use. Accounts can be shut down if Flickr determines they are being used professionally. Personal content always needs to be included.