Playing tag.

• Author: Mangu-ward, Katherine
• Position: Library of Congress' photo collection - Brief article

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IN JANUARY the Library of Congress posted 3,100 public-domain images on the commercial photo-sharing website Flickr. After 208 years of keeping the privilege for itself, the library is finally letting the rest of America in on the fun of categorizing its sprawling collection.

Historically, archivists have kept delicate photo prints locked away in temperature-controlled rooms, indexed under a few inadequate terms. (In the case of this photo: "surplus commodities," "food relief," and "United States--Arizona--Saint Johns.") The search system for images was little better than the index card file the man is rifling through in the snapshot. Even after the photos were scanned and digitized, researchers still had to page through hundreds of poorly labeled pictures.

Letting everyone generate...