Blogging for and by Librarians

Blogging for and by librarians

What is a Blog?

Everywhere you turn these days you hear about some body’s or some group’s blog. So what is a blog? Blog is short for weblog. The dictionary definition of a blog is a web application which contains periodic posts on a common webpage. Unlike a traditional web site, a weblog is a text publication that provides links and commentary about a specific topic. Blogging software makes it easy to publish content online. Blogs are very easy to update and can provide instant access to information.

Blogs are in reverse chronological order, meaning that the most recent postings are on top of the web page and the older information is at the bottom of the page. There is not placement on a page as you would in a traditional web page. Unlike items on a traditional web page that may be updated regularly, a blog article typically never changes once it is posted. Most blogs allow readers to post comments.

In order to get a feel for the world of blogging, it helps to get a handle on the lingo. "Blogging" is the act of creating a blog. A "blogger" is a person who maintains a blog. Bloggers create entries, which they "post" or publish to their blog. "Bloggrolling" is the act of moving from one blog to another.

What Does a Blog Do?

Blogs serve many purposes and speak to a wide range of audiences. The original blog style resembled an online journal. From a user’s perspective, there are three types of blogs: individual, subject, and organizational. Some blogs are serious and some are satirical. Topics range from celebrity journals (Travels with the State Librarian) to news and events (Hurricane Wilma Blog). Some blogs are information resources or communication tools used within a business or organization (KS Tech Consultants Blog). Informational blogs direct readers to important articles, events, and stories on the web. These blogs are usually focused on a specific topic.

Why Would an Organization Use a Blog?

Blogs can be an effective tool for communication between departments, groups, and organizations. They can:
· Allow employees or patrons to post news and commentary that would be of interest.
· Serve as a forum for exchanging resources and information.
· Provide a comfortable atmosphere in which participants can ask questions, give feedback, or share ideas.
· Keep track of meeting dates and events.
· Be a medium of communication for matters of general interest.
· Be used to track progress on a project.

Why Blog?

Blogging is considered an informal medium. Everyone has something to say but many people have trouble expressing their ideas in public without being nervous. Some people find it difficult to think on the spot. Blogging allows people to express their ideas when the ideas are fresh and without the worry of standing in front of a group.

Blogs help you to stay on top of events. This is a reason to read other people’s blogs as well as create one of your own.

Why Should Libraries Have Blogs

Some of the reasons to start a blog include:
· Links are valuable to your readers.
· Updating is easy. Blogs are cheap, fast, and easy. You can set up a blog without any budget impact other than minimal staff time, in less than five minutes and posting to a blog takes no more technical know-how than the ability to type.
· A blog gives readers a reason to visit your web site regularly. Creating a blog that contains new information on a regular basis is a great way to promote your library and encourage repeat visitors to the library’s Web site.
· Blogs provide a more personal communication vehicle.
· Blogging is one way for libraries to interact with patrons. Web sites are very static, and people can't contribute back to them. Blogging provides one way for your library to get two way communications going.
· Reverse chronological order is great.
· Google loves blogs – frequent updates can put your blog at the top of a search.
· Blogs can help you promote your library.

Librarians have had to learn how to do a lot with just a little in order to promote awareness of their programs and services. They have seized the opportunities to market libraries in the real world via traditional media: newspapers, newsletters, radio, and TV. Many libraries produce brochures and their own newsletters. So it is no surprise to see librarians stepping up to the plate and spreading the word online with blogs. Savvy librarians have identified blogs as another means to market libraries and their services.
How Libraries Use Blogs

Some of the ways libraries use blogs include:
· Delivering Library News: Blogs are an obvious choice for getting out news about your library because they can be updated easily and frequently.
· Promoting Library Events: Create a blog that promotes library events and programs. Reach out beyond the visitors to your regular Web site. Some libraries include a "quote of the day" from a famous literary work, run a trivia quiz weekly, or share an interesting fact about your community each week. Some libraries keep lists of "interesting questions and answers" that can be shared.
· Supporting Dedicated Users: An obvious hit with most library visitors is finding out what new books, videos, CDs, or DVDs have been added to the collection. Think about setting up topics on your blog for each genre: mysteries, horror, science fiction, romance, and so on. In an academic library, prepare special alerts about new resources and Web sites for particular departments or colleges. Set up a blog for teens. Young people know what blogs are and how to use them. This would be a great way to communicate with your YAs.
· Engaging Community: Post new book reviews and book award lists. Invite comments and suggestions. Create an online book discussion area by asking readers to recommend books to others.
· Building New Ties: Are you trying to reach a new area of your community? What about offering a blog in another language to provide short entries on upcoming programs and new resources? Perhaps you are trying to reach out to teachers in order to market library services and to make sure that school visits work effectively for the library and the schools. What about starting a blog-style newsletter that's just for teachers? You can focus on special services for teachers, programs for schools, new research resources, book lists, and seasonal Web sites of interest.
Why Should You Care?

All libraries are information users. We constantly retrieve, access, sort, and store information for our patrons. Blogs are just one more source of information.

Libraries are also information providers. Library-related information such as a calendar of events, recent acquisitions, and personnel-related news are all topics for a blog.

There are hundreds of blogs written by librarians, library staff, library school students and others about libraries and about things our patrons want to know.


An Introduction to RSS

Now that you know what a blog is and have found some blogs you want to read on a regular basis, it is time to learn about RSS.

What is RSS?

RSS is a Web content syndication format designed for sharing headlines and other Web content. Think of it as a distributable "What's New" for your site. The name RSS is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication.

Once you start tracking multiple blogs, you may start to notice how time consuming this can be. You can set up bookmarks or favorites and try to check them every day but soon you discover that not all of the blogs need to be checked every day. Eventually you check these blogs less often for new posts and then you miss out on some time sensitive information. A significant amount of blogs fail because readers do not check the blogs often enough to read the posts in a timely manner. What you really need is a way to know when new content is available on your favorite blogs.

Helping you to keep up to date with information is exactly what RSS is designed to do. RSS allows a reader to “subscribe” to a blog, or other resources, by having the computer do the work of checking for new posts or information and notifying the reader. RSS requires a program called an aggregator.

An aggregator collects news from various Web sites and provides it to you in a simple form. An aggregator periodically reads a set of news sources, finds the new bits, and displays them in reverse-chronological order on a single page.

The most popular Web-based aggregator is Bloglines (www.bloglines.com). To use this service, the user creates an account, then logs in to read and organize all of their feeds.

A way to use RSS is to set up an RSS feed for your blog and alert everyone in your community that they can include your headlines on their sites or can use an RSS newsreader to see what's up at the library.