Elizabeth B. Thomsen

I did a presentation on this topic at the Massachusetts Library Association conference in Falmouth this morning, and posted the PowerPoint on Slideshare:

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It’s spring! The birds are singing, trees are blossoming and flowers are blooming. It’s a good time to take the camera outside and take some pictures of your library in all its spring loveliness to put on your website or post on Flickr.

Sometimes we’re so focused on taking pictures inside the library, showing our services, displays and programs, and we don’t think about stepping outside to take pictures of the library building and grounds. But these outdoor shots show the library as members or our community experience the library every day as they walk by, drive by or come for a visit. And if your photographs showcase trees and plants, be sure to identify them in your title or description — consider it preventative reference!

These seasonal pictures are nice additions to Flickr groups. Many libraries add their pictures to library groups, like Libraries and Librarians That’s great, but pictures there will mostly be seen by other librarians. Consider also posting them in regional and local groups, like Boston and Surrounding ‘Burbs or North Shore, Massachusetts. There are also groups for many individual cities and towns. Adding your library photos to these groups helps them be seen by members of your own community — just another way to remind them we’re here!

Photo Credits:
Lucius Beebe Memorial Library
Photograph on Flickr by Lucius Beebe Memorial Library

First sign of spring
Photograph on Flickr by Newton Free Library

Animoto is an online service that makes it easy to create professional-looking animated videos from your photographs. The process couldn’t be simpler — you just upload a group of photographs or choose them from your account on Flickr or other supported site, choose a music clip from their the Animoto collection or upload your own, and click on Create. Animoto’s software takes it from there, analyzing your images and customizing the movement and special effects to match the music. It takes several minutes before the video is ready, but you can get pretty impressive results with very little effort. The video can be viewed online, mailed to a friend, or uploaded directly to YouTube.

This could be a fun “craft program” for kids or teens, who might enjoy making their own videos like the sample below:

Thirty second videos are free. If you want to make longer ones, you can pay $3 per video or $30 a year.

Libraries and other organizations can use this site to make simple promotional videos to post on YouTube and their own sites. Here are some examples:

• Teen Music Video — From the Leesburg Library in Florida
• Sparta School District — This one uses a custom soundtrack with words as well as music
• Read in 2008 — From the South Carolina State Library

Of course, there isn’t much skill or creativity involved in making videos this way — the software is doing all the work. It can be fun, though, and users who tire of this and want more control have lots of options for making their own movies using other programs.

Give your online photographs a high-class look with an elegant mat and frame. This is a nice way to display photographs you’re using for a special online exhibit or display, and is especially nice for library photography contests.

There are several cool tools that make it simple to add these mats and frames. One of the easiest is Matte, on of several quick and handy tools at the Big Huge Labs website. You can upload a picture from your PC, Flickr or another website, adjust the width of the frame and mat, turn on the options for beveling and add a credit if you like, click Create, and then either download your framed masterpiece, or upload it directly to Flickr. If you’re looking for something a little different, there are other tools at the Big Huge Labs website that can do other kinds of frames and poster effects. Read more…

Two recent news stories caught my eye, quite literally. Each reported the discovery of a previously-unknown childhood photograph of a legendary American woman. The women couldn’t be more different : the notorious Lizzie Borden and the inspirational Helen Keller. In each case, the newly-discovered photographs give us a rare glimpse into the childhood of these women — in both cases, the new photographs may be the earliest known photographs of their subjects.
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