Picasa, Featuring Cat Boy

Every President's Day, my Library closes to the public and holds a Staff Development Day (SDD)--a time for an all-staff continuing education event, with various activities and staff camaraderie.  During this year's SDD I attended a session on Picasa, Google's free photograph editing software.

The plan is for the Library to install Picasa on all public computers to give patrons the ability to manipulate photographs.  Therefore public service staff will need to have a working knowledge of the software.

If you are looking for a streamlined, fairly intuitive photograph editing software, that most patrons will be able to learn quickly, than Picasa fits the bill. However, for staff who need something more robust, but which has a steeper learning curve, I think Paint.Net still works better.

(Check out week four's blog post for the 23 Things Kansas program, for more on Paint. Net and photograph sharing tools.)

For those of you familiar with photograph editing software, there is nothing surprising in Picasa. It covers the basic range of functionality--cropping, red-eye removal, image manipulation, i.e. sharpening, recoloring, etc., and even basic cloning abilities.  What is surprising, and most important for use as the principle patron accessible photograph editing software, is its ease of use.  Most patrons with a working knowledge of technology--email, Facebook, general browsing users--will find Picasa intuitive.

Those patrons with a pedestrian knowledge of technology will find the learning curve is shallow enough to make "on the spot" training relatively easy for both the patron and staff. With a few clicks, patrons should be able to perform the most common photograph touch-ups.  Picasa is geared towards the beginner photogaraph editing user, which is all most patrons need. Let's face it, if a patron is capable of involved photograph manipulation application, they are probably not using the library's computers.

Therefore I do recommend Picasa to libraries looking at providing photograph editing software to patrons.  It is free, user friendly, intuitive, and has the basic functions most patrons need.  Staff should also find it useful for blogging or other photograph projects, and easy to teach to patrons.  While are other software is more robust and offers additional functionality, for most public library patrons, Picasa does the job.

Having used different photograph editing software over the years, during the SDD training session, after getting a feel for Picasa's various features, I decided to get creative.  The result is the image on this post: Cat Boy.  Although not designed for photograph manipulation, I was able to use Picasa's "Retouch" tool--most commonly called a "cloning" tool--to combine two images.  The result was the mysterious cat boy who has been rumored to haunt Topeka's streets. Spencer, Iowa, may have Dewey, but Topeka has Cat Boy.


If you have tried Picasa, what were your thoughts?  What software do you provide your patrons for photograph editing?


Also, Cat Boy needs a backstory.  Use the comments to create one, or send me your Cat Boy biographies!