Say what?! Blogs and Blogging in the Library

Blogs
A blog - like this one - is a type of website, or part of a website that is constructed for the purpose of sharing information, whether it be formally, or informally. They can be created by corporations, individuals, groups, or anything in-between, really. The information they contain can be broad or narrow, and they have many uses within corporations, or institutions, including in your local library. See blogs - Wikipedia article.

What do you think?
I believe that blogs can be an important tool to use both in and out of a library. I myself have never used a blog up until this point, but already I like the format, and will most likely continue to use it. A blog allows the blogger to share any information they desire about any subject, without necessarily getting caught up in whether or not their sources are 100% true. So I can share something I heard in the news, but if I'm unclear on all the facts, it doesn't create an upheaval, because this is a personal blog, as opposed to a professional one, and therefore provides room for the inevitable human error.

How can blogs be used for Libraries?
There are variations on blogs, and while the idea of having so many blogs that you look at is daunting, because of RSS feeds (which will be discussed in a later post), being informed about the latest updates to your favourite blogs is easy. I can see blogs being particularly useful in the context of keeping patrons and staff up-to-date on up-coming events, as well as an internal blog that allows a head librarian to communicate readily with staff, when they are not in the library. Other library uses can include book clubs, sharing videos of authors reading books, pictures of new books that are entering the library, and any other news that needs sharing. Librarians have also not been known to be the best at getting the message out there that their library does in fact have uses besides free internet access, and a blog is a great way to get both patrons and those who don't normally use the library to log on and see what's-what, without feeling like they're entering the library homepage. A blog is a more informal setting to getting information, and it allows the viewer to be more relaxed and open to accepting the information and exploring for more.



I encourage all of you reading this to go exploring other blogs, and let me know in the comments section what you think of blogs and blogging in general, and how you would like to see your local library, or other institutions, use them effectively. For a more visual description of blogs, see Blogs in Plain English.

-Izzy
-Beyond-the-Pages

Just so you know...

So for an assignment, I have to do a certain amount of blog posts on what we are working on that week(s), so this one is about - wouldn't you know it? - blogs! Yay, cue applause. Each one will be different, but they're all for assignments, you can read and comment if you want, or disregard, whichever is your preference. I'm writing them as though I were a library tech already, writing it for the library I worked at. So, onward!

-B

Hello and Welcome! :)

Hello, everyone near and far, this is something I have begun as an assignment for one of my classes, and will probably (hopefully) continue because it may prove useful, since on my other website, I have a fair-sized fan-base. That being said, you can come and see me here, on this blog - or if you don't know me on my other website, you can find me here - to see what's new in my life, and what I'm working on at the time. Chances are, this will be updated before my almost-never-updated journal on deviantART. I will add new pictures here, poems,  snippets of prose, and just general journal update-type entries.

So welcome again, and I hope to chat with you guys soon.

-Beyond-the-Pages

-Izzy