Jen 2.0 - Tech for Today: Make Teens the Stars in Your Next Slide Show

Jen Maney -- School Library Journal, 8/5/2008

The great thing about Web 2.0 is that you can use it to connect with people, which we do in libraries every day. Web 2.0 lets you take that personal connection online. If you’re a Flickr user, you know that Flickr is a great place to post photos (and now video). It’s easy to use, there are tons of photos, and it is downright fun to browse. Flickr is one of the easiest ways to take advantage of Web 2.0 to advertise your library and connect with individuals.

I’m willing to bet good money that your library has events, programs and group meetings for teens. Those events are prime Flickr opportunities. Get yourself a digital camera, a photo release form* (to appease those legal types in your organization), and take some photos of teens at your library. Doing a poetry slam? Get photos of the teens reading their poems, post ‘em to Flickr along with their poetry. Having a craft or art program for teens? You probably thought of posting their art on your library walls. Why not take photos of the art, too? Make a set in Flickr, and your teens can see their art online.

If your teens are anything like me, they’ll think it is fun to see photos of themselves online. (Pima teens with Skippy Jon Jones, right). Next time they meet, show a slideshow from Flickr to the group. Have it scrolling on a laptop in the teen room for anyone to see. Post it on your library website in the teen section. Make them stars!

Click here for a peek of Pima County Public Library’s Flickr Photostream.

Jen Maney is the Virtual Library Manager for Pima County Public Library in Tucson, Arizona. The motto of the Virtual Library is, "Designing for uncertainty."

*Ed. Note: for a sample permission form (and lots more great 2.0 tips) visit the Q&A from the Polaris/Library Journal webcast.

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