Technology Tuesday Webcast Series: Want To Go Blogging? March 9, 2004 Presenter: Lori Bowen Ayre LBAyre@galecia.com Agenda What are Blogs and Bloggers? Blogging and Libraries Planning Your Library Blog Best Practices Reading Blogs and RSS Feeds Where to Learn More Bloggers Residents of Planet Blogistan or Web + Logs 1
In The Beginning All Blogs Were Personal chronological lists of links to stuff that interests the author (blogger), interspersed with information, editorializing and personal asides often impassioned and sometimes sloppy; they frequently surprise and just as frequently lose focus -Rosenberg (1999) Today, Web Logs Are also a tool to do what we've always done: collect, categorize, and make information accessible. After all, adding a blog to your library's site is free and easy. It is also a quick way for you and your staff to communicate information to your public and, if you choose, to provide a forum for your public to join the discussion. -Blake Carver (2003) Library Organizational Blogs news about the library or community new arrivals: books, VCRs, CDs, DVDs list of upcoming events staff picks for the week most circulated/requested books new in the children s department teen book club 2
Blogging and Libraries Why do I care? How Public Blogs Benefit the Library 1. website can be a destination for library and community news 2. can be responsive to patron feedback 3. can quickly respond to current events 4. can allow for interaction between patrons and library using comments 5. more involvement with website by multiple staff members Escondido Public Library 3
Library Provides Online Book Club For Kids http://bloggerbookclub.blogspot.com/ Library s Genealogy Blog Enriching Lives with Ancestral Ties http://www2.sls.lib.il.us/mt/enriching/ Redwood City Liblog 4
Planning Your Library Blog Components of a Blog sequential entries most recent on top updated frequently informal feeling clear theme or purpose available for syndication Marin County Free Library Blog 5
Blog Planning Steps define purpose of blog set expectations who will post entries? are comments from public allowed? if so, what is policy on deleting posts? how often will blog be updated? define style and accessibility guidelines define how posts will be archived consider getting help with set-up easier to blog than set up a blog Purpose of Blog who is it for the community your patrons other librarians what kind of information can visitors count on finding acquisitions news readers advisories news about events at the library / in the community / in the library world book reviews opinions and editorials Expectations of Bloggers decide who will be the authors define topics/events for each author schedule how often does each person posts provide guidelines for length of posts decide if links will launch in same window or new one -- make sure authors know how to do it if using images, make sure authors know how to upload 6
Expectations of Public provide mission statement purpose theme frequency of updates can public provide feedback? comments email Archiving Blog Entries old entries always available by date can also be available by topic define topic categories before starting should relate to mission limit number of topics to 10 or less Tame the Web: Libraries and Technology Archive Categories Source: http://homepage.mac.com/mstephens7/b143020931/ Choosing the Right Technology can you answer yes to following questions? we have a server that can be used for our blog we have a person who can download and configure blogging software we have a person who can integrate our existing website with new blogging page so blog page has the same look and feel and we have links between home page and blog page if you can, you can install blogging software if you cannot, you should use a hosted service 7
Blogging Software Movable Type http://www.movabletype.org/ desktop blogging software free for non-commercial use MT provides installation services too Typepad http://www.typepad.com/site/features/ desktop blogging software - inexpensive but not free Pmachine http://www.pmachine.com/ content management software or available as hosted service iblog http://www.lifli.com/products/iblog/main.htm desktop software for Max OS X Hosted Blog Services Blogger.com http://www.blogger.com/ yourname.blogger.com or you can host blog on your own domain Blogspot.com http://www.blogger.com/blogspot-admin/ yourname.blogspot.com tblog http://www.tblog.com/ yourname.tblog.com Xanga http://www.xanga.com/ xanga.com/you for more see http://www.lights.com/weblogs/hosting.html Advantages & Disadvantages of Hosted Service advantages no setup anyone with login can contribute great way to try it out disadvantages templates are restrictive URL not on your domain (usually) free services are limited 8
Best Practices Each blog entry should. have a title be dated be signed by author optional: visitors can post comments Source: http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/ Most Recent Entries are Always At Top of Page Source: http://www.lessig.org/blog/ 9
Archived Entries Available by Date and Topic Source: http://www.workingfaster.com/sitelines/ Frequent Postings blogs should be updated 2 or 3 times per week the more frequent the updates, the more likely people are to return Available for RSS Readers an RSS reader (or news aggregator) is software that allows user to collect all new blog entries (RSS feeds) in one place rather than visiting each web log sequentially a blog is syndicated when it can be read by RSS readers formats that can be read by RSS readers are: XML RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0 RDF the blogging software usually makes syndicating very easy to do 10
Reading Blogs Staying in the loop with RSS Feeds and Blogrolls Benefits of Reading Blogs increase awareness of library issues networking opportunities venting weblogs have become an outlet for the average librarian to connect with others around the world, exchange ideas, and belong to a group. Steven M. Cohen s November 9, 2003 Library Stuff post entitled The New Breed of Library Weblogs Steven M. Cohen on RSS feeds: In order to keep current, like many librarians I had all of the web sites that I visited daily bookmarked (about 50) in my browser at work and I would painstakingly visit each site throughout the day [.] Now, I get almost all of the content I want from all of these sites delivered to one place as soon as the site is updated, saving precious time. The most amazing part is that I am notified when any of the sites I subscribe to are updated within minutes. And I didn't have to be an experienced techie to set-it-up. 11
Subscribing to an RSS Feed copy the link paste in subscribe box of your RSS Reader A Peek at an RSS Feeder: Bloglines Blogrolling definition: (noun) The section of a weblog that lists the sites that the blogger reads on a regular basis. This is usually located on the side of a blogger's frontpage, or on a separate page linked off of the frontpage. Source: http://www.microcontentnews.com/resources/glossary/ benefits great way to share RSS feeds the new bookmarks or favorites 12
How to Learn More Online Course: The Beginner s Guide to Weblogs and RSS Steven Cohen online course via Learning Times 4-week course - live online session once per week sessions: April 6, April 13, April 20, and April 27, 2004 from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm EDT (GMT -4) $150 http://www.learningtimes.com/rss115.shtm Good Books on Blogging Essential Blogging by Powers, Doctorow, Dornfest, et al. O Reilly & Associates, 2002. $29.95 http://www.oreilly.com/catal og/essblogging/ We Blog: Publishing Online with Web Logs by Bausch, Haughey & Hourihan. John Wiley & Sons, 2002. $29.95. 13