University of Washington Libraries joins Flickr Commons

Forwarded to us from Judith Wright:

—–Original Message—–

From: Ann Lally [mailto:alally@U.WASHINGTON.EDU]

Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 11:22 AM

To: DLF-ANNOUNCE@LISTS.CLIR.ORG

Subject: University of Washington Libraries joins Flickr Commons

UW Libraries participates in Flickr Commons

theme of inaugural collection: “Winter Sports”

University Libraries Special Collections and Digital Initiatives announce the launch of a partnership with Flickr online image resource and management service, beginning February 10 th with a collection of images from the Libraries on the theme of “Winter Sports in the Northwest.” To view the collection, see http://www.flickr.com/photos/uw_digital_images/

Additions from the Libraries collections to the flickr commons pool are planned for the second Wednesday of each month.

The UW Libraries is only the second university library to contribute images — the first one was Oregon State. Participating institutions include New York Public Library, Smithsonian Institution, U.S. National Archives, Swedish National Heritage Board, Bibliothèque de Toulouse. See other participating institutions.

The program has two main objectives, to increase access to publicly-held photography collections, and to provide a way for the general public to contribute information and knowledge

Under “The Commons,” cultural institutions that have reasonably concluded that a photograph is free of copyright restrictions are invited to share such photograph under their new usage guideline called “no known copyright restrictions.”

Flickr Commons was launched on January 16 2008, when Flickr released their pilot project in partnership with The Library of Congress .

The University of Washington Libraries is a network of 17 libraries serving three campuses: Seattle, Bothell and Tacoma. Major facilities include Suzzallo and Allen Libraries, Odegaard Undergraduate Library and the Health Sciences Library, as well as subject-oriented libraries. For Libraries news, events and exhibits, visit http://www.lib.washington.edu/about/news