Method 5

On a personal level – is it something you plan to do or perhaps something you are already doing? And on a professional level — do you see some potential uses of online photo sharing sites for libraries? 

Online photo sharing sites.  I have not been using an online site to share photos...unless you count Facebook.  I'm not really a photo taker/keeper.  I don't have a large collection of photographs or photo albums. I don't even own a camera and I just figured out how to use the camera on my phone.

On a professional level I can see that the online photo sharing could be a tremendous asset.  Our library has a thirteen album collection of photographs that were donated to us by a patron.  These photos chronicle the history of our community.  Photos of area residents, schools, buildings and business that are no longer with us.   Making make these available for viewing online would be great.  

I tackled this portion of the "cloud computing" education with reluctance.  Maybe my age is showing.  Putting photographs of family and the like out there in the ethernet feels like over exposure.  The information specialist in excited.  I was approached by a history buff who was interested in photographs of Rosenwald Schools in our tri-county area of Texas.  While assisting with the research, I stumbled across a website that posted photographs of several schools and buildings in Jasper and neighboring Newton County, Texas.  It was a fascinating glimpse into my parent's and grandparent's history. 

In this sense, online photo sharing has a place the the repertoire of a Librarian 2.0!

All that said, I established a Flickr account and explored.  I uploaded a couple of photos and poked around. As per the instructions for Method 5 of A Dozen Ways to Two-Step training, I loaded a picture and tagged it TSLAC2.0.  I have also posted a photo from my Flickr account onto my blog.  However,  I have a bias...Flickr is a Yahoo based program.  I really don't like Yahoo. 

No solid reason, I just kind of don't.  However, I am very comfortable with Picasa.  I gmail, I gdocs, etc.....  Photo sharing online with Picasa is simply an extension of a tool I use regularly.   So photo above that was taken in the Kirbyville Public Library is from my Picasa album.