A blog is not new to me. I've had several over the years, some personal and some from my educational experiences. Some I've kept more detailed than others. But due to time, I almost always lose track of them. One I lost because the hosting site decided to close. Hard to endure and frustrating since it was the one I'd invested my time and energy in the most. Not to mention pictures...
In spite of having had blogs, I decided to read up on what others had to say about it. One source I checked out was Five Weeks to a Social Library -- http://www.sociallibraries.com/course/
Under the heading of 'Basic Readings', there is a topic entitled 'Blogs for Libraries'. It was posted by Greg Schwarz on October 8, 2007. He updated it in May of 2010. Entitled 'A Blog? What's That?", he defines the word blog as a shortened way of saying weblog. Weblogs are sites used for writing that allow entries over a period of time and have been designed in such a way to make it easy for anyone to use them. While techie people were the first to use them, others quickly realized the potential for this writing format. Soon everyone and his mother was using them. Blogs have been used for everything from personal to community to business.
Mr. Schwartz advocates librarians using blogs and writing their own. Tracking blogs helps our profession to stay current with issues, gives perspectives of other librarians, offers a great tool for advocacy, and helps to build community. By writing blogs, we help to break stereotypes that are often held of librarians and allows for individuality. Mr. Schwartz feels blogging can even be good for you...good for the soul, so to speak...and since it is so easy, there's no excuse not to track and blog.
A blog could be incorporated into my professional practice by using one to promote local events and programs, to share library news, to post information about new acquisitions, and to provide services or descriptions of services. I have a school media website, which is not really a blog (and is currently in need of an update). Our county warns or cautions us in the way we use blogs that are directly linked to our school website. They prefer the use of the website without a blog due to problems or issues that could arise. But I could use a blog in the same way that I now use my website. I already use it to post what events are coming up in the media center. The way I incorporate library news is that I post pictures of programs that I've held in my library. I don't post new acquisitions and this is definitely one item I'd like to start now. This was a great 'ah-ha' or 'why-didn't-I-think-of-that' moments for me after stumbling across this idea in the reading.
My favorite part of Mr. Schwartz's posting (and what I learned that was most significant) was this quote: "Notice that blogs can represent both the collective voice of the organization and the diversity of the individuals that comprise it."
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