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BLOGGING IN THE LIBRARY
NYLA presentation 2007
What is a blog?
• Blog is short for Web Log. It is a website where content listed in reverse chronological order.
• A blog is a collaborative space either stand alone or within a website that visitors can post comments, link to, add to, or just read on a weekly, daily, hourly basis.
Why have a library blog?• Blogs can improve your results in search engine rankings.
• Blogs and blogging software make updating information on your website about programs etc. much easier. You don’t need to know html or complicated formatting.
• Blogs can be used to keep people (both staff and customers) informed about progress on construction, closings, etc.
• Blogs can be used to share information among departments, different locations.
• Blogs can put a human face on your organization.
Types of Blogs
• Personal blog• Business blog
– Internal – External
Public blogs
• Treat like newsletter– Professional – What is your image?– Must be maintained. You can’t make a
blog and then leave it. – Who will be posting? What is their
authority to be the voice of the library to the public, PR department, library director, etc.?
– Comments: are you going to allow comments, who will respond?
Internal Blog
• Mission Statement – why start an internal blog?
• Clear guidelines – what do you expect to accomplish with this form of communication?
• Etiquette – what is and is not acceptable on a professional blog.
Blogging rules
• Make a commitment, must keep blogging
• Have something to say. • Have Mission Statement.• Clear guidelines.• Etiquette.
Why blog in a library?
• COMMUNICATION!!! • In a multi-location system or even a
system with two people, communication is key.
• What can the administration do to foster communication?
• Make it open to all employees • A professional forum • Foster internal customer satisfaction
Examples of Good Blogs
• http://www.waterborolibrary.org/blog.htm
• http://www.aadl.org/• http://papercuts.tscpl.org/• http://findlaylibrary.blogspot.com/
Examples of Good Blogs (cont.)
Library Construction
• http://www2.sls.lib.il.us/MVCC/construction/
• http://lndlibrary.blogspot.com/• http://
bradfordcountylibrary.blogspot.com/• http://newjmslibrary.blogspot.com/
“Bad” Library Blogs
•What’s a bad library blog? (From Walt Crawford)
• Short version: A blog that nobody in the community has any use for and that the librarians or other staff find painful to update.
• Even then, that’s not so much bad as pointless and a waste of time.
• A library blog that states an explicit mission and leaves that mission wildly unfulfilled–e.g., “We’ll provide weekly updates on new activities” as part of the banner on a blog that gets updated once every other month.
Examples of “bad” blogs
• http://bcplstarkefloridachildren.blogspot.com/
• http://www.nassaulibrary.org/rooseveltblog/
• http://sgvlibrary.blogspot.com/• http://blog.johnedwards.com
Blog examples from other agencies
• http://www.nea.gov/bigreadblog/ National Endowment of the Arts reading blogs
• http://www.loc.gov/blog/ Library of Congress
• http://mcrecycles.blogspot.com/ “Talkin’ Trash” the Montgomery County, MD Solid Waste Services Department blog.
Software and other technical
issues
• http://www.ojr.org/ojr/images/blog_software_comparison.cfm blog software comparison chart.
Resources• Blogging and RSS: a Librarian’s Guide by Michael
P. Sauers, Information Today, 2006 ISBN 9781573872683
• http://www.usa.gov/webcontent/technology/blogs.shtml Federal government website about blogs in government.
• Scoble, Robert and Israel, Shel, Naked conversations : how blogs are changing the way businesses talk with customers, John Wiley, Hoboken, NJ, 2006.
Contact Information
• Nancy J. [email protected]
• Bonnie [email protected] Merrick Blvd.Jamaica, New York 11432
