Blogging for the Bewildered

Libraries for Nursing Study Day June 2007

Anne WelshInformation OfficerDrugScope

(Image from Finding Your Life Work (1940) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBANGqNZ8_g)

Most frequently asked question:

“How techie do you need to be for Library 2.0?”

(Image from Finding Your Life Work (1940) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBANGqNZ8_g)

Blogging Entry Screens

CMS

Blogger

Bookmarking Entry Screen

http://www.connotea.org/wiki/User:AnneWelsh

Wiki Entry Screen

If the technology’s easy, what are the challenges?

(Image from Finding Your Life Work (1940) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBANGqNZ8_g)

Audience

• Your existing user group?

• Your wider community?

• Users of similar services?

• One audience or many?– Nurses / midwives / allied professions?

(Image from Finding Your Life Work (1940) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBANGqNZ8_g)

Subject-Matter

• What’s already out there?– Blogs– Websites– Discussion groups / online communities– Newsletters (print / online)

• Something new to say?

• Tone?– Editorial / commentary?

(Image from Finding Your Life Work (1940) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBANGqNZ8_g)

As information professionals, we have a big advantage over other Web 2.0 authors as we have a relationship with our users and a range of services they find useful (Image from Your Life Work: Librarian (1947)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smrrZpbvI20&eurl=)

Current Service

• Reading Lists• Study guides• FAQs

• Information Literacy training

• New books / journals / reports

Web 2.0 Application

• Social bookmarks• Blog posts• Wiki entries / blog

posts• Blog posts / wikis /

screencasts• Blog posts / feeds

direct from catalogue

(Image from Finding Your Life Work (1940) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBANGqNZ8_g)

You can semi-automate blog posts from the catalogue >>>

(Image from Your Life Work: Librarian (1947) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smrrZpbvI20&eurl=)

• New acquisitions make for frequent posts

• If you can’t be frequent be regular– To avoid

In short

• It’s the content that makes for a good blog, wiki or set of bookmarks.

• And the content need be no different from the material we’ve been producing for years (hence the old pictures)

(Image from Your Life Work: Librarian (1947) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smrrZpbvI20&eurl=)

Some Other Uses

• Keeping up-to-date - aggregators

• Reflective practice – blogs

• Organising events, meetings, other collaborative projects – wikis

• “Favourites” at home & work / across different desks – social bookmarking

• Working collaboratively on documents – Google docs

(Image from Your Life Work: Librarian (1947) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smrrZpbvI20&eurl=)

Anne Welsh, DrugScope

anneb@drugscope.org.uk

A Day in the Life of a Web 2.0 Librarian

(Image from Your Life Work: Librarian (1947) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smrrZpbvI20&eurl=)