Thing Four - Photosharing with Flickr

Flickr is another great tool for the librarian (and the camera-toting individual).

I borrowed a digital camera and took some shots of some of my favorite libraries (two of which I work at, for pay; one of them I volunteer at). I had a lot of fun during the photography, but I was nervous about taking pictures. I felt a little silly and amateurish, and somewhat nervous about if what I was doing was all right. Like I was violating the privacy of the buildings. Sheesh!

I found Flickr easy to use, with many useful help functions. The Common Craft video was a great introduction to the concept of photosharing. Once I had posted my photos to Flickr, I used the "Blog This" option to get my photos from Flickr to my blog -- it worked great.

I really appreciate the storage and safekeeping feature of Flickr. I like the sharing aspect as well. When I had uploaded my photos to Flickr, I immediately went looking for other "23 Things on a Stick" photos. I'm sure that I'll keep doing that; I love to see what other people are doing for this activity.

Libraries use Flickr to share photos of events and activities; it seems a real easy way to publicize what a library is doing. Flickr is a great place to store and organize photos, which are truly important information, especially for those who are more visually oriented.

I do feel a little twinge about the "public" label. I don't know if I would make my family photos "public"; and, if I had any really great, creative photos (yeah, right!), I would protect them with the licensing options that are offered.

As Martha would say, "Thing 4/Flickr is a good thing!"