(image source: http://flickr.com/photos/mimiw/1878041247/)
Another Library 2.0 tool that utilizes tags, and is commonly used in libraries, is Flickr. With Flickr a library can upload pictures – such as those from events, conferences, or of the building itself – and tag them with relevant tags. Any other user can also tag the photos with tags relevant to them, exemplifying the participatory nature of Web 2.0. Michael Stephens, in the July/August 2006 issue of Library Technology Reports, states that posting photos is an effective way of creating a presence within a popular tool such as Flickr. An individual may search for photos tagged with his/her city name, stumble upon pictures from a library event of interest, and click through to the library website, learning about services offered.
Colorado College Tutt Library is one library that posts its pictures on Flickr. The link to the photos is a widget with constantly changing images, at the top of the library blog page. I think making tools such as the blog and Flickr photos available in the same space is very effective, and may lead to an increased usage of both.
It seems that this library posts pictures quite regularly on Flickr, as there are currently 14 sets of images. A wide variety of tags are used, with each photo being tagged by approximately 6-10. One feature I found particularly useful with this library’s use of Flickr is the quite detailed sentence-structured captions, that nicely complement the tags. Tagging is very useful for organizing and searching photos, but the captions describe to the user a more complete context for the photo. Often included in the caption is also a link to the relevant section of the library’s webpage. This actually follows a recommendation by Michael Stephens in the September/October 2007 issue of Library Technology Reports, where he encourages the use of notes and links. If users are to take an interest in the library, they need an easy way to pursue that and visit the library website. I think Colorado College Tutt Library has something quite unique here, as I have not come across many other libraries taking this kind of care with their Flickr accounts. However, I would like to see them link more consistently, as not all photos are linked to the library website.
The library is also a part of the Libraries and Librarians Group (among others) in Flickr. This group acts as a gathering space for libraries and librarians from all over the world to pool their photos and create discussion boards. This group’s almost extreme encouragement of tagging is very interesting. The group’s website lists a controlled vocabulary and data dictionary to be used when tagging images, and warns users that “If you do not add concise tags to the photos you add to this group you may find that someone else does.” This seems to be in slight conflict with the, “Tagging lets us organize the Net our way” philosophy presented by the Pew Internet and American Life Project and others. However, like the use of a controlled vocabulary in subject indexing for a library catalogue, this can allow for more effective retrieval.
