Week Two: Blogs = good!

It was interesting to read about the origins of weblogging, because I had been a part of the movement without realizing it at the time.  I was one of those “web enthusiasts” that Rebecca Blood describes, who taught herself some basic HTML coding and began a blog of personal thoughts with Pitas. I’m sure no one ever read it but me, but I remember immediately liking the idea of being able to publish one’s own thoughts with the possibility of spreading them to thousands of people if desired.

Although most blogs started out as mainly personal journals, it is exciting to see how many different uses are emerging. To me, blogs can serve as a virtual newspaper that is a collaborative effort. Essentially, they allow for the exchange of ideas that alert people to new and changing information that may range from administrative housekeeping to the collaboration of a new project opportunity. In considering the latter, I think this is an excellent alternative, especially for people like myself who feel they communicate better in writing. This gives the opportunity for one to ponder thoughts and flush out ideas before offering them to others.

I can see a blog being very useful in the library in many ways. Probably the most evident would be to have one running on the library’s main internet or intranet site for constant updates to patrons and employees alike, and they will know what things are happening as they happen. I feel that this would help combat the “static” or “traditional” views of the library. I use these words in quotations because many take offense to these terms and don’t agree with these perceptions; however, talking to people around me reveals that they have some basis and should be taken seriously. The term relevance keeps coming up in articles about Web 2.0, and I think that blogs are indeed a way to make the library’s resources relevant because it helps keep people aware of what is being offered and what is changing in the organization, as well as showing that information professionals are concerned with meeting the needs of library users.