What makes a successful library blog?

I’m not a huge reader of blogs, so when faced with this assignment I started with a skeptical eye. In the past any library blog I had looked at appeared only to be populated by librarians and only read by other librarians. I had not come across any that I felt were relevant to the patrons. I was happily surprised by some of the library blogs I reviewed. A blog can be several different things, “is a personal Web diary, a collection of short, dated discussions with commentary, or a way of publishing news and information” (Kyrnin). To me the combination of the later two would make the most successful library blog. A forum for both dialog and relevant information is key.
Library blogs need to be updated frequently at least weekly, yet must also be updated with relevant material, not just update for updating sake. A successful blog incites intelligent communication. The readership has to be engaged by what they read weekly. Ohio University’s business librarian does a good job keeping his blog information concise and includes short informative videos that appear to be focused to specific class topics, which make it accessible to students even when the business librarian isn’t present.
One thing that is critical is avoiding slang, acronyms and library ‘jargon.’ Librarians have a lot of jargon and I’ve seen interactions between a librarian and a student were the student walked away more confused, not less. Students/patrons don’t know what an OPAC is or where to pick up their ILL. Library blogs need to speak plainly and on a level the overall readership can understand. Basic grammar and sentence structure should also be followed. Especially with teen library blogs I’ve seen the librarian resort to slang to try to be on the level of the teen, but generally they just end up sounding silly and teens see right through them.
Ann Arbor Library has a great blog with various subtopics that appeal to a wide array of library patrons – which is needed in a public library setting. I clicked on the Events blog first and was happy to see current information of interesting events. It made me want to visit Ann Arbor’s library! Other subtopics included Fiction, Teens, Kids, Humor, etc. The more I clicked the more subtopics appeared and while some of them overlapped there was new information on each page.
Library blogs should shine a positive light on the library and feature items the patrons may not have known about otherwise. I did not care for Virginia Commonwealth University Library Suggestion Blog. Often ‘suggestion’ boxes/blogs only house complaints and I think this could give a negative perception to the library. Yes, it is good to know what problems need to be addressed, but having that be the only format their blog takes doesn’t seem functional or useful to me. No one cares if the bathrooms were extra dirty one afternoon or how the library then addressed that problem. The library blog should be a dialog not a one-sided rant.
I think it is important to have a variety of contributors to a library blog, but to have a consistent format. Getting different librarians to maintain different sections as well as having patron input makes the blog more dynamic and interesting to read.

Jennifer Kyrnin. About.com http://webdesign.about.com/cs/weblogs/a/aa063003a.htm
Ann Arbor Library blog- http://www.aadl.org/taxonomy/term/185
Jesse Somer "Writing Good Blogs" http://www.blogwidow.com/articles/writing_good_blogs.shtml
Virginia Commonwealth University library blog - http://blog.vcu.edu/libsuggest/

This was in the NY Times a while back, but I still have people send it to me periodically, which I guess I should find flattering?

"A Hipper Crowd of Shusher"

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/fashion/08librarian.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

Google Chrome

Google Chrome seems really interesting. I haven't got to try it out yet, can't download at work and I have a Mac at home. Boo to having everything for Windows first! I got to about page 12 in the cartoon intro. It seems to talk about a lot of the things we are learning in class, which is fun to read in cartoon form and I think I understand a bit more now that I've taking the tech class.

Open Access

   Fair Copyright in Research Works Act Challenges Federal Funding
By Robin Peek 
Last year, when the National Institutes of Health (NIH) endorsed legislation that would mandate the submission of federally funded, accepted, peer-reviewed research to PubMed Central (www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov), some large STM publishers fought back. Even after defeat, when the Omnibus bill passed on Dec. 26, 2007, the publishers said they would come back to the table on the issue of copyright—and so they have. How successful this effort will be is unknown. The previous lobbying efforts even brought a response from the White House. On Sept. 9, 2008, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., introduced the bill HR 6845, Fair Copyright in Research Works Act, that would not only reverse the NIH Public Access Policy but would not allow other federal agencies to put similar policies into place (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.6845.IH:). The text of the bill proposes that “No Federal agency may, in connection with a funding agreement, impose or cause the imposition of any term or condition that requires the transfer or license to or for a Federal agency of any right provided under copyright law.”
–>http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/nbReader.asp?ArticleId=50849

Hurricane Ike in Cincinnati

After having no power and then having to travel to Atlanta for work I'm finally catching up on school work. We were one of the luck few to get power back and have been shuffling people's frozen food back and forth.  Being in the dark with no computer makes one feel a bit useless as a librarian. When people have no electricity they focus on basic needs - food, shelter, clean clothing, etc. not doing research. 

Survivor

I'm currently reading the book Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk (also wrote Fight Club). It's interesting, but definitely jumps around a bit so I'm trying to read big chunks in one sitting as I get a bit confused when I pick it back up. Perhaps I'm just a bit confused in general lately. First time back to school full time since 2005. Just dropped down to 3 days a week at work. We took a mini-holiday this week - which was fun, but spent most of the week stressing about the work I wasn't doing (both for school and for work).  So maybe leisure reading shouldn't be top on my list, especially when the main character is a bit of a nut job himself. That's all for today ;-)