Keene Public Library Joins The Flickr Commons

On June 14th, The Keene Public Library and The Historical Society of Cheshire County joined The Library of Congress, The Smithsonian, and The Eastman House as well as the national libraries of many foreign countries by becoming the 43rd member of Flickr Commons.  Flickr Commons is a group of institutions scanning and uploading historical photos that are in the public domain.  Works in the public domain are not covered by intellectual copyright and are openly available to everyone.The Keene Public Library has over 700 historical photos of Keene and Cheshire County.  For the past several years, volunteer Bob Borden has been scanning, enhancing, and uploading the photos to the Keene Public Library’s Flickr site: www.flickr.com/photos/keenepubliclibrary/sets/.  Recently, Bob has begun scanning public domain photographs from the Historical Society of Cheshire County. The Society's collection of J.A. French's photographs from the 1860s to 1880s is almost completely scanned and available for viewing at the Library's Flickr site.The Flickr Commons’ goal is to increase access to publicly-held photography collections.  Flickr Commons is also a way to let the public contribute information and knowledge. The public is invited to add comments, provide further information, and to tag the photos with key words.The Commons started in 2008 in partnership with the Library of Congress.For more information, about the Library's Flickr site and it's collection of historical photographs, please contact Reference and Collection Development Librarian, BJ Wahl at 603-352-0157.