Week 12: About Flickr...

A few thoughts about Flickr:

I first heard about it about a year ago while preparing for a conference. I started using it shortly after, at first just to play with it and see what it is and then to find pictures for the many, many displays I create at the library on a regular basis. Before, I use to have to find Microsoft graphics, now I can just type in a word into Flickr and get so many more different photos (and a whole bunch of things that I don't need too). Then, I played with Flickr again to get photos to decorate a space in my house and then I discovered Fd's Flickr Toys , now that was fun..... If you have time, just try it out: you can create anything with pictures from Flickr (and not only). Some features are only possible if the pictures you take are from Flickr, some can be done with pictures from anywhere. You can make things like CD covers, various art pieces, your own magazine cover and even a calendar. I really found this site neat and I have been playing with it for a while, when I have some free time.

Now, on another note, I really liked Andrea Mercado's article on Flickr . I think that she really hits some real life things that one should consider if Flickr is to be used for a library:

1. First, she discusses the whole concept of putting up photos of people (especially children). This is a major concern and in Mississauga particularly, we can never take pictures of a child without written permission from the parents. One has to consider this and ensure that the child's privacy and safety is protected and also, that senior management is aware of using this tool to share photos.

2. She then talks about the fact that "librarians need to pay close attention to the next step in patron evolution, where the patrons become the source coders of the next generation of taxonomies, and Flickr is a prime example of that". I liked this quote from her, but I have to say that sometimes we think that our customers (especially the young people) know a lot more about technology than we do and that's not always the case. I recently started paying very much attention to how much about all of these new social software tools the customers I am helping on a daily basis know. Since I work in a joint public-school library facility it's quite easy to do that. Well, I found that many young people never heard of Flickr and del.icio.us , however Youtube seems to be really hot with highschool students. So, although we sometimes worry that we as librarians don't always know what the newest toys are out there, I don't think we should be so concerned. I think many of us are actually quite on top of these latest technologies, however we should share that with other staff. We should not forget that just because we like technology more and even took this course, every other librarian out there knows it too. It's all about sharing knowledge with other colleagues so that we can help our customers better.....