Last month, Rick posted about the “Where in the World is Thommy Ford?†program and the associated Thommy Ford Abroad set on the TFML’s flickr account. We have a 11×17 poster of our library’s namesake, along with our URL, and naturally, “Where in the World is Thommy Ford,†available to patrons who want to join in the fun. We haven’t publicized it that much, and already Thommy has been to Africa, Canada, China, Norway and Slovakia. This little project brings up a few things:
- Some patrons don’t mind having their pictures on Flickr. Don’t forget that patrons are normal people too and think it’s fun to be involved with the production of content.
- Libraries provide entertainment in the form of books, DVDs, and so on, but libraries and their websites can also be entertaining. Without much effort in this case. WitWiTF, AADL’s virtual catalog cards, various library podcasts, are neat examples of libraries using their skills and unique assets to produce entertaining content. Sweet.
- Libraries can indeed use social software sites to bolster their web presence. Doing so can show that the library is a vibrant, thoughtful institution, rather than a book mausoleum. I’m totally done with feeling like our content has to be housed on servers over which we have control. The digital branch of the future may, in part, be spread throughout the web.
If you’d take a picture of yourself with Thommy and contribute to our project, email me and I’ll send you a poster!