Images from the
Library of Congress
Flickr page.

There’s no mistaking it: We’re big fans of Flickr around here. We’re such fans that we’ve used Flickr a lot on Hammock.com to help power the site. And we’re constantly looking for new ways to use our account on Flickr to help us present and display our work — and share our company’s story.

So it’s no surprise we’re extremely impressed that the Library of Congress announced today (fittingly, on their blog) that they’re doing their own experimentation with Flickr on their page.

According to Librarian/Blogger Matt Raymond, “if all goes according to plan, the project will help address at least two major challenges: how to ensure better and better access to our collections, and how to ensure that we have the best possible information about those collections for the benefit of researchers and posterity.”

One of the interesting things about the project is that the photos posted have no copyright restrictions and, most importantly, the Library is allowing “people to tag, comment and make notes on the images, just like any other Flickr photo, which will benefit not only the community but also the collections themselves.”

So what does this mean for marketers who want to utilize new forms of online media?

We believe this is a great model for any library or archives — even those within corporations or associations — who have lots of old images gathering dust in files. Scan and post them on Flickr and let your community help you discover what treasures can be found on them.