Cornell University Library Staff Web

I'm thrilled to report today that Cornell University Library has just joined Flickr Commons as a partner! Flickr Commons was created in 2008 to "increase access to publicly-held photography collections and to provide a way for the general public to contribute information and knowledge"[1]. Many other libraries and cultural heritage organizations have been making their digital collections available on Flickr Commons, including the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, the Smithsonian, the Powerhouse Museum, and many more[2].

Others are already excited about the wonderful collections we already have up on Flickr:
http://blog.flickr.net/en/2010/05/19/welcome-cornell-university-library-to-the-commons/
http://www.indicommons.org/2010/05/19/welcome-to-cornell-university-library/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/flickrcommons/discuss/72157624095039446/

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the many people instrumental in making this happen: Susette Newberry had the idea to put CUL's images up on Flickr, starting with the A.D. White Architectural Photos. It started out as a Library Outside the Library Project and is now a joint effort with the Visual Resources Working Group, Rare and Manuscript Collections, Metadata Services, and Library Outside the Library. Without the help of Mira Basara, Eli Brown, Matt Connolly, Tony Cosgrave, Jeremy Cusker, Jeff Diver, Evan Earle, Gwen Glazer, Eileen Keating, Dean Krafft, Baseema KrKoska, Peter Hirtle, Laura Larrimore, Laura Linke, Janet McCue, Liz Muller, Susette Newberry, Rick Silterra, Oya Rieger, and Glen Wiley, none of this would have been possible.

We've officially been up on Flickr Commons for only a few hours, and already I'm seeing a spike in traffic: people are adding us as contacts, tagging images, and adding images as favorites. I'm looking forward to what happens next!

[1] http://www.flickr.com/commons#faq
[2] http://www.flickr.com/commons/institutions/

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Dianne Dietrich
Research Data & Metadata Librarian