Bronx-born Gerry McKiernan is one of the mostpopular bloggers on the web. IWR finds out whyhe does it and if he has any time for anything else

BLOGOSPHEREInformation professionals guiding you to the best bits of the blogosphere

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WWW.IWR.CO.UK INFORMATION WORLD REVIEW MAY 2008

Q What do you do?A I’m a science and technologylibrarian at Iowa State UniversityLibrary in Ames with primaryresponsibilities for collectiondevelopment,instruction, andreference andresearch servicesin a variety ofengineeringdisciplines.

I’m intoblogging, onlinesocial networking,drinking micro-brewed ales and beer,discussing the news of the day,listening to classic rock-n-roll, andtravelling.

Q Describe your blog.A My main blog, Friends (http://onlinesocialnetworks.blogspot.com), isdevoted to the use of online socialnetworking sites for library-relatedprogrammes and services.

Friends includes announcementsand general news about online socialnetworking sites and services withinorganisations, with a focus on theiruse by libraries and librarians. It alsoincludes citations to significantarticles, books, presentations andother publications, and links to thethe full text of these items.

Q How long have you been blogging?A I’ve been on Blogger sinceNovember 2003.

Q What started you off?A My first personal blog, TheoreticalLibrarian (http://theoretical-librarian.blogspot.com), was intended toinform the wider information andlibrary community of emergingdevelopments that I believed weresignificant. Theoretical Librarian alsoincluded postings on personal,political and professional news.

Q Which bloggers do you watch,link to and why?A I am a fan of a number ofprofessional blogs, particularly JennyLevine’s The Shifted Librarian(www.theshiftedlibrarian.com),Steven Cohen’s Library Stuff(www.librarystuff.net), Meredith

Farkas’s Information Wants To BeFree (http://meredith.wolfwater.com),Karen Schneider’s Free RangeLibrarian (http://freerangelibrarian.com), Sarah Houghton’s Librarian In

Black (http://librarianinblack.typepad.com),Ellyssa Kroski’sInfoTangle(http://infotangle.blogsome.com),Jessamyn West’sLibrarian.net(www.librarian.

net), Brian Mathews’ The UbiquitousLibrarian (http://theubiquitouslibrarian.typepad.com), Stephen Abram’sStephen’s Lighthouse (http://stephenslighthouse.sirsidynix.com),and Michael Stevens’ Tame The Web(http://tametheweb.com), amongmany others.

Q Do you comment on other blogs?A My posts are usually limited torelated news or developments.

Q Does your organisation benefitfrom your blogosphere presence?A Yes, I believe so. I am sincerelyhonoured by colleagues who link tomy blogs noting that my initiativesare associated with Iowa StateUniversity or its library.

Q What blogs in your sector do youtrust?A I do not have absolute trust inany information or news source,although certain blogs are morecredible than others. Trust but alwaysverify is my motto.

Q What do you get out of it?A I am very pleased that colleagues

find my personal obsessionsimportant [:-). Based onrankings generated byTechnorati, the blog searchengine, my blogs are amongthe top-ranked worldwide. Allof my blogs are in the top 5%of the 112.8 million indexedby the service.

My Friends blog, TheBioenergy Blog, TheGeothermal Energy Blog, andWind Energy Blog are all inthe top 1%. Friends has over athousand FeedBurnersubscribers.

By actively identifyingsignificant content for these

and other blogs, I have been able tokeep abreast of current developmentsand emerging technologies withpotential application for futurelibrary programmes and services.

Q What good things have happenedto you solely because of blogging?A Perhaps the greatest satisfactioncomes from feedback from mycolleagues who appreciate theprofessional value of my postings. Asa result of my blog and electronicdiscussion list postings, I havereceived numerous invitations overthe years to present at a variety oflocal, national and internationalconferences.

Q Which blogs do you read for fun?A It all depends on the news of theday. I enjoy the New York Times

blogs, such as DickCavett (Talk Show) aswell as the ComedyCentral blog (ComedyCentral Insider).

I also often payvisits to blogs withpostings that I discoverfrom web surfingwhich appeal to myeclectic tastes. ■

Where isyour blog?

I have several. I am currentlymost active in populating myFriends bloghttp://onlinesocialnetworks.blogspot.comMy other active blogs include aBioeconomy Blog, The BioenergyBlog, The Geothermal Energy Blog,and Wind Energy Blog (all of whichcan be found at Blogspot.com).I also have a blog devoted toscience and technology socialnetworking serviceshttp://scitechnet.blogspot.comand another devoted to disruptivescholarshiphttp://scholarship20.blogspot.com

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