Blogging The Library

Slide 3: Check out this YouTube Video about the changes in information today. Let’s discuss it!

Slide 4: KidsLit: kidslit.menashalibrary.org   Sites & Soundbytes: sites.menashalibrary.org Menasha Mail: Internal blog for entire staff   D’Blog: Internal blog for Dept Heads  Each department has own blog  Website is blog-based

Slide 6: What do I write about?  Make it something you are passionate about  Have plenty to say  Subject must have enough depth to post about for a  length of time. Is this specific to your library? Libraries in general?  Will you have a mix of personal and professional content?  What is your tone/demeanor going to be?  Will you be anonymous?  Consistency is key. 

Slide 7: Librarian.net   Librarian In Black  LISNews  Annoyed Librarian  Ref Grunt  Feel-Good Librarian  Catalogablog

Slide 8: Church of the Customer Blog  Slow Leadership  Think Differently! 

Slide 9: Do you have any favorite library blogs that I haven’t mentioned?

Slide 10: What are you passionate about in libraries? 1. What do you have a lot to say about? 3. What suits your job/mission at the library you 5. work at?

Slide 11: TITLE!  Should give a cute insight into your perspective  and tone. Make sure no one else is already using it.  Can do without the cute title if it is solely for your  library patrons and will function more as an extension of your site.

Slide 12:  Blogger – Free, Easy but Not Clean  Moveable Type – Free to Winnefox Libraries, Easy and Clean  Drupal – Website based on blogging

Slide 13: Read Other Blogs  Post comments on posts that interest you  Build from other people’s posts and write the  content on your site – pointing them to the original post Make online friends  Meet online friends 

Slide 14: ScribeFire: www.scribefire.com   Stock.xchng: www.sxc.hu  Screengrab: www.screengrab.org  Del.icio.us: http://del.icio.us/  LibX: http://info.winnefox.org/libx/  WorldCat: http://worldcat.org/

Slide 16: RSS is hard to explain, but easy to use  Trick is finding the right aggregator  RSS Video 

Slide 17: Use online readers  Google Reader  Bloglines Beta  Outlook 

Slide 19: When is a compliment, not a compliment?  Figuring out if a comment is legitimate.  Your own servers vs. commercial sites  How much spam is too much spam? 

Slide 20: Taken (blatantly stolen) from a meme Blogging is addictive  Blogging is easy to start but hard to maintain  Don’t expect to make money or gain fame  Blogging takes effort and time  Don’t fret about the number of readers you have – it can  drive you crazy Memes can be good or bad – do you follow the herd or  head out on your own? Think of your readers always 

Slide 21: Easy?  Are you going to be paid for your time?  Are you going to involve staff?  Do you need library policies that address  blogging?

Slide 22: Chance to join the conversation and sometimes  lead it  Chance to give voice to a previously unheard opinion  Chance to practice your writing skills and get more comfortable online  ARCs  You will not get famous, rich or more interesting!

Slide 23: Start with a subject you love  Join the gang  Post, post, post  Fearlessly refocus  Don’t fret about the number of people who read your blog  Don’t compare your numbers to those of other blogs  Focus on your audience  Share your ideas, passion, thoughts, sweat and tears  Be yourself 

Slide 25: Decentralized Content Creation  On-the-fly Changes  Constant Updates  Radical Trust of Users  Rich User Experience 

Slide 26: New Materials Blogs  Think about the functionality you want before  the design The design should echo your library 

Slide 27: www.menashalibrary.org   Many (any) staff have input  I do the front page  Focus on images/graphics  Content is King  Our canned content: Bestseller Lists  Effort to promote our collection

Slide 28: Comments turned ON   Calendar and Events  Sign-up for Events online  Patrons can write reviews of materials  Integrated search box  Children’s and Teens have distinct feel  Meebo

Slide 29: Fill out meeting room forms online   Fill out library card form online  Scrolling events – no longer limited to 3  Automated New Arrivals?  New Arrangement for Online Research Section

Slide 30: Mixed   Colors on the site  Contact Us  Terminology/Lingo  Recommended Websites  Graphics  Theory of Library 2.0 site

Slide 31: Who is going to be ultimately responsible?  What can and cannot be posted?  What do you do with comments that have  profanity or spam?

Slide 32: Book reviews   Volunteer relations, serving seniors  Reference  Tech Services  Children’s Services (not book reviews)  Management  Small libraries

Slide 33: Thank you! Tasha Saecker Elisha D. Smith Public Library, Menasha 967-3661 AIM: TashRow tasha@menashalibrary.org