Before the start of this course I had heard about blogs but to be honest had tried to keep my head firmly buried in the sand hoping either it would go away(Unlikely) or someone would eventually put it in to a step by step guide that I could follow at my own pace(very slowly). Well this course came up and I pulled my head out of the sand and set to finding out what it was all about.
I have thought long and hard about the place of blogs in libraries and have not yet reached a final conclusion. As I see it or as I am lead to believe, blogging is the way forward but what I am struggling with is who is it for - surely if I am struggling to understand the concepts then my users would struggle too. In my experience, some healthcare personnel struggle with the basics of IT so how do I promote this to them - new technology may just have the effect of scaring them off even more. I have yet to crack the Intranet frontier with them so I know blogging will be a challenge.
If we do go down the road of promoting the library with a blog then does that mean we have to set up training events just to show our users how to get the information about the place that can help them find information ?(If you follow my drift)
Next on my list is content - what do we put in these blogs - do we try to reach everyone with interesting links for their specialty or do we focus on the library services which are already listed on every available space, Intranet, leaflets, Inductions. No one media seems to work at the moment so would another one just add to the list of never to be looked at sites.
At the moment we are all commenting on each others sites and think this is a great means of communication, but again will the users ever feel the need to comment on a library site when at the moment some only ever send emails as a last resort.
How much time will this take to set up and maintain - is it better to have one person responsible for it or should everyone have a dabble at content, either way staffing issues and maintenance of the site are in question.
Whilst this all seems very negative I do admit to be interested in the idea, I know libraries have not only got to move with the times but to be one step ahead whenever possible. No-one wants to play catch up expecially with technology and I know that the newer qualified professionals starting to come through our doors already know more than I do in some areas. Unfortunately at the moment I feel there are still more questions than answers.
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It's Chris here, not anonymous
Like your comments, am also a little skeptical. Not sure this is a generational thing. I have been using RSS feeds for some time. I keep up to date and pass on snippets to interested parties.
Think this technology has real merit and try to ecourage others to sign up. As for Blogs, the jury's still out as far as i am concerned.
Chris Hand
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