Right…so this week is about taking photos with your mobile and then using them….somehow in your library.
I am embarrassed to confess that while I had Instagram as an app on my phone, I had never used it. I had to sign up …as you do…and was dumbfounded how many of my friends on Facebook were using Instagram. It was extraordinary! I was really behind the times. This was further confirmed by the fab Bond Uni video shared with us on Kim’s post on the ANZ 23 Mobile Things blog.
So I took an Instagram photo first thing at the Gym..here it is…
One of the hazards of being a librarian is the amount of good food that seems to abound in the tearoom. Someone is always coming or going or having a birthday or something. That’s why I have started to go to the gym. And then what do they do???? They have a fundraising morning tea at the Gym. Heavens to Betsy. Wots a girl to do? I walked firmly past, I assure you. And then two more times that day I was presented with more fabulous cake. Willpower endured until I got home when I had to have a glass of wine to recover.
But back to taking photos.
I tried to download Snapchat to my Samsung 2 but kept getting all these weird messages. Finally a light went on in my head that even though I think my mobile phone is snazzy and new, that perhaps it isn’t quite fabulous enough. This forced me to look at my settings and then try and understand the specs and things like gigs and megs and kbs. I seemed to have plenty of room. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that my OS is 2.something and I need 4.something for Snapchat. Oh well….time to explore other apps……which led to the first photo you see in this post. The fish eye effect is courtesy of an app called Pudding Camera – I kid you not. Are you picking up a theme here??? I hope so.
I gave Retrocam a go too.
I haven’t played with Snapchat yet – there are only so many social media sites I can sign up to in a week.
So then I went to lunch today with my fabulous work colleague, Alison. I showed her how to use the 4Square app. I took a photo in the lovely cafe called Open Book. See – I am an open book when it comes to food.
What have I learned? Well I know from blogging that people love photos. I mean LOVE photos. I’ve learned that I need to read specs more closely. I’ve learned that I’ve got to take stuff like Instagram more seriously.
Kim asked the following questions in her post:
How could your library use photographs to promote library services, events and activities?
Photos really help promote events and activities. People love to see what’s going on. When we had renovations at the library recently, people really liked seeing the progress through photos on Facebook. People also like seeing themselves at events on social media etc. And winners of competitions are grinners and are happy enough to have a happy snap taken of them holding their prize. I think photos help people identify more with the library – as in, “There are real people that use the library – people like me.”
Does your library Twitter account use Instaweather to provide a daily update?
Hmmm, not sure we have a Twitter account as such for the library.
I tried to install Instaweather but fear that my phone is too old hat.
Do you have a permission form available so that when you take photographs of clients or events you have their agreement for those images to be used and shared online?
Yes we do.
How easy is it for clients to contribute digital photographs to your library collection (eg. local history)?
I think it is getting easier all the time but I confess that capturing the stories that go together with the pictures is trickier. We can’t always judge when someone is going to turn up with a fantastic photo collection and may not be ready to receive it in terms of human resources. And the quality of the original image may not be all that we would desire in terms of reproducing later in a publication. Even more important of course is the issue of copyright and whether they actually own it.
Could you use photography in library programming (eg. how-to classes or competitions)?
Ooh yes I think so and indeed I think we already do. I think we are quite switched on in this regard.
Last but not least, please bear with me as I get used to using WordPress…I’m usually more of a Blogger girl. I will get better at it – pinky promise.
L-Plate Librarian 