I can be found on Twitter at twitter.com/claireolivia.

One of my favorite library blogs is a blog written by the librarians at National Public Radio (NPR) called “…as a matter of fact.” This blog does an excellent job of promoting the shows created NPR, as well as featuring interesting content about archives, research and other responsibilities of the NPR librarians. This is a good example of a special library's blog- it forwards the mission of its parent institution, and it serves as a valuable marketing tool, but it does those things in a different way than a public or academic library would.It is also very entertaining.

Blogging is such an integral part of web 2.0. One aspect of the lecture and reading that struck a chord with me was the suggestion that library blogs, or any blog really, should keep the comment feature on. Web 2.0 has been described as the participatory web, and blogging is definitely a part of what makes it participatory. But I think part of what makes blogging so participatory, and so web 2.0-ish, is the fact that it can become a conversation with readers if the comment feature of the blog is enabled.  The participatory web doesn’t just mean that everyone and anyone can have a blog or a v-blog, it also should mean that everyone and anyone who reads all those blogs can comment and become part of that conversation.

Organizations (like libraries) would be remiss if they didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to really engage with their patrons through their blogs. In order to stay relevant, and funded in these fiscally tight times, libraries need to be constantly “checking in” with their  patrons and making sure that the library is meeting the needs of those patrons, and allowing comments on blogs is one way to do that.

In this week’s lecture, Ellyssa pointed out that allowing comments can be scary, especially for new bloggers. I completely agree- allowing someone to point out any errors or shortcomings, or even simply disagree, with you in such a public way definitely sounds scary. But it’s also a great way to learn and grow. In last semester’s library 240 class, my professor suggested having really clear (and easily available) terms of use statement for one’s comments feature. That way, if a commenter is being really non-constructive or abusive, the blogger can point to these terms of use as a way to maintain some control over their blog.

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