1. Kent State University SLIS, Jan. 25-26, 2008 Using Web 2.0 Principles to Become Librarian 2.0 BLOGS

2. Instructor: Brian C. Gray

• Head of Reference & Librarian (Engineering, Mathematics, & Statistics)

• Kelvin Smith Library, Case Western Reserve University

• Work email: bcg8@case.edu

• Work phone: 216-368-8685

• IM: AIM - kslbcg8

• ICQ - 499284601

• Google Chat - kslbcg8@gmail.com

• MSN - bcg8@case.edu

• Yahoo - kslbcg8

3. Getting to Know Blogs

• What is a blog?

• Types of blogs

• Blog software

• Creating blogs

• Personal vs organizational

• Locating blogs

• Lets play

4. What is a blog? (Common Traits)

• Website

• Dated entries

• Archives

• RSS feed offered

• Entries with links to other items

• Often may require little or no web programming experience

• Application driven

• Categories, tagging, or keywords

5. BLOGS

• Todays publishing platform

• Allows patron ownership in their web experience with the organization

• Continue conversations after events

• Allows more staff to participate in the external voice of the library

• Share more, build participation

6. Blog Considerations

• Purpose Announcements and/or discussion?

• Open or no commenting?

• Moderation?

• Tracking/pinging

• Spam prevention

• Single or multiple authors

• How often are entries added?

• Legal considerations (non-profit status, advertising, organizational policies, etc.)

7. Workplace E-Mail, Instant Messaging, & Blogs

• 8% of organizations have business blogs

• 55% of business blogs are public

• Less than 2% of organizations assign a lawyer or other responsible party to review employees entries

• Nearly 2% have fired workers for offensive blog content - including posts on employees personal blogs

American Management Association 2006 Survey

8. http://technorati.com/weblog/2007/04/328.html

9. http://technorati.com/weblog/2007/04/328.html

10. Spam Blogs (Splogs)

• Technorati has been tracking between 3,000 - 7,000 new splogs created each day

• Significant spike in splog creation during early December, when 11,000 splogs created each day

http://technorati.com/weblog/2007/04/328.html

11. http://technorati.com/weblog/2007/04/328.html

12. http://technorati.com/weblog/2007/04/328.html

13. http://technorati.com/weblog/2007/04/328.html

14. http://technorati.com/weblog/2007/04/328.html

15. ALA Library 2.0 Bootcamp Helene Blowers Linda S. Bostrom Brian C. Gray Lorraine H. Olley (June 2006)

16. My Blog Authoring Tips

• Offer a RSS feed

• Write on a regular pattern so people do not feel the blog has died

• Use spell checker

• Tagging/Keywords/Categories

• Cite information

• Use spell checker

• If you allow comments, participate in the discussions

• Linking and discussing on others blog can drive traffic to your own

17. More Blog Tips & Comments

• Be original and write it your own style

• Length of posts can vary

• Provide some information for your readers, such as an about me page or other context

• Simple layouts can be powerful

• Look at others blogs for examples

• Extras occasionally break up the text pictures, lists, etc.

• Give your readers a challenge or question to consider

18. Library Blogs in Action

• See examples at:

• http://www.squidoo.com/library2point0/

19. EXTRA SLIDES

• Following slides exist in case the internet connection is not working during class.

20. http://blogs.ala.org

21. ALA LAMAs New Blog

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30. Blog Based OPAC

• Casey Bisson

• WPopac: An OPAC 2.0 Testbed

• WordPress based, so already have access to more programmers than the ILS vendors combined

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33. Patrons Blogging About Libraries

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36. Blogger is FREE