Week 2: Public libraries and blogs

Public libraries have a unique opportunity to connect members in the community to each other through social software. An innovative starting place would be to market a blog for patrons to use for a number of reasons. 
 I think the possibilities are endless for a public library! Many different blogs could be set up for resource related topics: new acquisitions and recent releases could be one topic where community members could interact with each other and give feedback. A blog could also be set up for Readers Advisory. Because there would be permalinks in the blog, it would be a valuable way to keep patrons connected to what others are reading and recommendations for new books.  A public library blog could also be used for programming and event related discussion.

Because blogs are reverse-chronological, we know that there is a sense of immediacy and the most recently updated posts are displayed first. This feature on a public library blog would keep the  patron informed of what’s going on at their library. I really think this could be an engaging way to communicate between staff and the public. And of course, it is another way to keep the public library relevant in the community by using social software.
I looked at the Madison-Jefferson County Public library from our case studies to see what a public library blog might look like. This blog, “The Buzz” was actually a bit disappointing. In a preliminary glance over the index page, it appears to be updated and posted by primarily one or two staff members.  On the left hand column are a number of pages and I glanced through a number which I thought might have some good discussion going. I looked though “Fiction, Summer Reading, Kids Buzz, Staff Picks” and they all have a number of common qualities. 
 The tone of the blog is not casual and blog-like, it is more professional and something that passed over the marketing desk for approval before being posted. “The Buzz” pages are more of a public library announcement board than an engaging blog between staff and patrons. In all of the pages that I browsed, very few had comments. It is a forum for patrons to receive news about the library, but not for any interaction. I think this site has a lot of potential, but it hasn’t transformed into a popular or familiar tool with the patrons at the Madison-Jefferson Country library.

In regards to Rebecca Blood’s article, Choose the Right