The Information Professional

"Libraries are using new technologies to are breathing new life into their digital photo collections. At the Future of Libraries 8.0 conference in San Francisco, librarians from the San Jose Public Library and the San Francisco Public Library discussed how they're using geocoding, crowdsourcing, and augmented reality with their digital photo archives."

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"With Scan Jose open on your mobile phone or browser, you can view historic images from the collections of the San Jose Public Library and the Sourisseau Academy while actually visiting the locations those pictures were originally taken in. The San Jose Public Library encourages users to write comments and add to the collective history of the city. To use Scan Jose, simply enter www.scanjose.org on your smartphone or tablet browsers (iOS, Android, Blackberry, or Windows Mobile). Of course, you'll have to actually be physically in the city of San Jose to get the full effect."

"The best part about these projects is that it required no expenses on the part of the San Francisco Public Library. They simply advertised the projects via social media and people got excited and wanted to participate. The librarians at both SJPL and SFPL encourage other libraries to explore other ways to present their digital photo archives. You never know what a local history buff/programmer might come up with!"