Picturing your community: Flickr use in public libraries

Abstract

PurposeFlickr is being used by an increasing number of public libraries for providing access to collections and services for their communities. Public libraries are also using Flickr to build community engagement. Local communities are participating in building collections on Flickr, adding context and their own stories to images. The purpose of this paper is to explore public library expectations and strategic objectives for using Flickr.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses Flickr statistics from public libraries around the world as well as qualitative survey feedback to analyse the impact of Flickr on public libraries.FindingsThe paper explores public library expectations and strategic objectives for using Flickr, what the libraries have observed about their presence on Flickr, how Flickr relates to the other social networking tools they are using, what is the tagging, commenting, favouriting activity like, and how the libraries have responded to the use of their images on Flickr.Research limitations/implicationsThis information will enable public libraries to plan more effectively for their presence via Flickr and how to use it with other web 2.0 developments.Originality/valueThis paper usefully investigates the increased public library use and impact of Flickr that had not been evaluated in any depth.