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
 Good Examples
• http://www.waterborolibrary.org/blog.htm
• http://www.aadl.org/
• http://papercuts.tscpl.org/
• http://findlaylibrary.blogspot.com/
 Library Construction

• http://www2.sls.lib.il.us/MVCC/constructio
• 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_co
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/technolo
Federal government website about
blogs in government.
 References
• Scoble, Robert and Israel, Shel,
Naked conversations : how blogs are
changing the way businesses talk
with customers, John Wiley, Hoboken,
NJ, 2006.