Category: Library of Congress

Library of Congress Flickr Photo of the Week – Where Wilson “will be” sworn in, East Front of Capitol

I found this photo in the recent upload of Library of Congress photos to Flickr.  I thought it was pretty cool so I figured I would share it with you all.

It’s entitled “Where Wilson ‘will be’ sworn in, East Front of Capitol.”

Considering before too long we’ll be inaugurating a new president, I thought the photo was fun and appropriate.

Plus I think it also displays the little known fact that up until recently that the inauguration happened on the East side of the Capital and not the West side like we do it today.

Library of Congress Launches National Book Festival Author Interview Podcasts on iTunes

Screenshot of the Library of Congress National Book Festival Podcast in iTunes

I’m really really pumped about this announcement.  It’s been in the works for a LONG time.   I remember when I was there and we were just starting to talk about this…

The Library of Congress National Book Festival author interview podcasts are now available for subscription and download on iTunes.  You can get both the 2008 and the 2007 interviews.

The Library frequently holds events and interacts with some of the smartest literary and academic minds in the world.  They will typically make recordings of these interactions and make them available via their Web site.

It’s SO exciting that the Library is now getting this media in a form that will be even more accessible and useful to Congress and the American people.

Please download these podcasts.  They’re REALLY cool.

As I think the Library of Congress and the government as a whole is learning, anyone that wants to be able to publish content on the Web needs to start thinking more about how they’re going to distribute their content all over the Web and not just how it’s going to be found on their Web site.

Library of Congress/Flickr Commons Highlighted in USA Today

This made my morning.  Flickr’s Commons project, which the Library of Congress helped to get off the ground and that I helped with from the Library’s side, was featured in today’s USA Today.

In the article, they give an update on the success of the project for the Library of Congress…

Six months into the project, the library has been able to update 500 photo records with new information provided by Flickr users — everything from names of people and places in photographs to specific airplane models shown in photos, says Helena Zinkham, acting chief of the Prints and Photographs Division.

And go on to say…

Both partners call the project a success. The photos have garnered 8.2 million views and 5,000 comments, and The Commons has attracted five other institutions: The Powerhouse Museum in Australia, the Toulouse Library in France, the Brooklyn Museum in New York and the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

8.2 million views.  Holy crap man!  That’s a lot.

I hope that you all will subscribe to the Library’s photos.  They’re adding more all the time.  Plus, keep tagging  and adding info to them.   This way more folks will be able to find them and enjoy them.

By the way, here’s one of the cool photos that the Library recently put on Flickr:

Smithsonian Joins the Flickr Commons Project

Portrait of Albert Einstein and Others

Now this is REALLY cool.  The Smithsonian Institution has joined the Flickr Commons project.  They’ve made 862 photos available through their Flickr account, like this one of Albert Einstein.

Please go enjoy, tag, and be inspired by these photos.

I think this is exactly what these institutions should be doing.  They should be going out of their way to put their content any where and everywhere that it is going to get the most use.

If people aren’t going to be coming to their Web sites to view this content, put the content where the people are.

At the Library of Congress, their are tons and tons and tons of photos available through the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog.  But…I’d venture to say that it has never gotten as much attention as the Library had when it put photos on Flickr.

The future of the Web is distributed.

Speaking of the Library of Congress photos on Flickr.  They just posted some AWESOME photos of a “Home Makers Suffrage Parade” in the very early 20th century.

Enjoy!

Australia’s Powerhouse Museum Joins the Flickr Commons Project

While at the Library of Congress, I had the pleasure of helping with the Library’s participation in the Flickr Commons project.

It’s very exciting for me to see that the Flickr Commons project has expanded to also now include 200 images from Australia’s Powerhouse Museum.

These look like they equally beautiful photos.  As described by George Oates from Flickr, these are “wonderful old photos of Sydney and New South Wales from the turn of the 20th Century.”

So enjoy them, be inspired by them, tag them.  Contribute to this AWESOME project.

Also… the Library of Congress is continuing to add to it’s Flickr account.  Go check those out also.  Currently those are additions to the Bain Collection.

(Photo from the Powerhouse Museum’s Flickr account)

Finally! The Library of Congress Adds Photos from 1910s to Flickr

After much waiting, the Library of Congress has FINALLY added more photos to it’s Flickr account.  The 50 new photos were added to the 1910s Bain News Service set.

Hopefully the love and excitement, that started with the Library’s foray into Flickr in January, will continue here.

Go there. Enjoy the Library of Congress photos on Flickr. Tag them.

Storefront with a crowd infront of it

The Library of Congress Blog is a Finalist in the SXSW Web Awards

So this will be my first year attending the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas and it’s already promising to be a really special event.

The Library of Congress blog, which I helped get going, is a finalist for the blog category of the SXSW Web Awards.  AWESOME!!!!!

The fun doesn’t stop there.  My friend and renowned designer Samantha Warren is also a finalist in the blog category of the SXSW Web Awards for her blog Bad Ass Ideas.

But wait, there’s more. Ficlets, the collaborative story telling Web app written by my friends Kevin, Jason and Cindy, is a finalist for SXSW Web awards in the CSS and Community categories.

The winners will be announced the evening of Sunday March 9th.  Whomever wins, the first celebratory pitcher of beer will be on me.

Going back in time…

This week has been kind of crazy.  At the Library of Congress, we made 3000+ photos available on Flickr and the level of positive and warm responses has exceeded all of our wildest expectations.

It’s been thrilling to watch as people from around the world have gone back in time to the early and mid 1900s and gotten to know eras of decades ago.

Also… it’s been rewarding to see in some instances these photos are starting to spark creativity and discussion in the folks that have enjoyed them.

Well, I look forward to seeing what the future of this project will hold.

Here is a sample of some of my favorite photos from the Library of Congress sets that were made available on Flickr:
Fruit stand

School children

Baseball player holding a camera