Libraries can share photographs about their facility and activities to generate interest in activities, provide information, promote their resources, etc. I can see how these online photo sharing sites also could provide a cheap way of sharing local collections of photographs, photographs that may be treasures to individuals who will never visit the libraries and would otherwise not know about the existence of the photographs.
Library of Congress is hoping viewers of their photograph collections will enhance their collections by providing additional information regarding the photographs. It is not unreasonable to believe that local libraries also could benefit from collecting additional information regarding their photograph collections.
There are some issues that I would like to hear discussed or written more about. What photographs are worth posting? Who wants to look at them? Photographs of people are more interesting, but there are some concerns with that like privacy. Not everyone wants their photographs posted on the Internet for everyone to view. Before posting photos of other people, you need to get their permission. That can be a pain to do and to track.
The process for posting photographs is fairly straight-forward, but it does take time. It also requires some expertise with digital photography and/or scanning, as well as photo manipulation, if a library wants to post eye-catching photos to represent itself well. Given that time is finite, what work will be postponed or cancelled to allow this activity to be done in libraries?
Marcia
No comments:
Post a Comment