- Apply the evaluative criteria in your reading to one of the useful library Blogs you have discovered in previous activities.
- Do a bit of research in order to be able to comment on the evaluative criteria, describing your research steps.
- Add a comment to the LIBR 1111 Blog post called Evaluate a Blog.
- Include the URL of your Blog, your evaluation, and sign the comment.
Carol
The blog that I chose is one called Librarian.net, which I picked because it was listed on the Libdex database as being the "first single-editor library-oriented web log". Clicking on the link, the first two things I noticed were: her slogan, the funny and badass "Putting the rarin' back in librarian since 1999", the fact that she looked like Ani Difranco. The URL of the blog is Librarian.net and her content is so varied and wonderful. With a lot of the other library blogs I looked at, the content was too dry or technical. They were hard to follow.
ReplyDeleteJessamyn West is a librarian consultant in rural Vermont. She used to live and work in Seattle, and was an ALA Counselor. She has a published book, Revolting Librarian. On her blog she includes her resume, an index listing of the talks she has given, and a link to her Wikipedia page. West is well known in the library community because of a popular YouTube video that she made of herself installing "Ubunto", a Linux operating system. Also, according to her Wikipedia page, she was one of the "about three dozen 'credentialed bloggers' at the 2004 Democratic National Convention..."
She is not hosted by anyone, and maintains Librarian.net by herself. She describes her viewpoint as being: "anti-censorship, pro-freedom of speech, pro-porn (for lack of a better way to explain that [she doesn't] find the naked body shameful), antiglobalization, anti-outsourcing, anti-Dr. Laura, pro-freak, pro-social responsibility, and just generally pro-information..."
Her content is well-written and well-researched, and she links and sources everything that she posts. FOr example, the post she wrote about the potential closure of the Philedelphia Free Library has a link to the PFL's official page, the mayor's official page and included a thoughtful and emotional reaction to the PFL's situation. Library Journal's blog, by comparison, writes about the same situation with only bare facts and no opinion. There is nothing wrong with that sort of blog either, but it depends on what the reader wants to get out of their reading-experience. Along side links to other interesting library-related blogs and updates on Cushing Academy's book removal, she also has a link to a funny McSweeney's fiction that is library related. She writes about all sorts of things the average librarian-or-library-student might be interested in. According to the FAQ on her personal website , Librarian.net gets about 7000 visitors a day. Her commenters vary in age but are mostly library professiors - in one set of comments she has both a 22-year-old "radical queer librarian" hopeful and a 50-year-old library student. West posts regularly but not at consistent intervals - some posts are one day apart, some are seven. This is most likely because she maintains a number of sites and seems to work a million jobs.
Jessamyn West's Librarian.net is the perfect library-related blog for someone who wants varied content in a accessible, relateable voice.
Librarian Activist
ReplyDeletehttp://www.librarianactivist.org/
The Librarian Activist was started in 2005 by Danielle Dennie, a science librarian at Concordia University. Currently posts are made by Ms. Dennie, as well as three other librarians from across Canada.
Ms. Dennie is quite active in the ongoing discussion of net neutrality and can be found referenced on many other web pages. Her co-bloggers are Jeff Lilburn, a librarian at Mount Allison University, Jason Hammond, a public librarian in Saskatchewan, and Alexandra Yarrow, a public librarian in Ottawa. There appears to be no official association with any specific group or company and their credentials seem in order regarding the content of the posts and their education.
The posts are quite varied in their scope but tend to stay in the realm of politics and social issues within the library world. They have covered issues on libraries in Tel Aviv, Philadelphia, and Ottawa in the last three posts and have many links and references to their sources of information. This allows the reader to further investigate if they have further questions, but if not, the site offers a nice reliable snapshot of the issue.
The blog tends to have one or two posts go up every month but these do not appear to receive comments from readers very often.
-Adam
Fahrenheit 451 : Freedom to read is a discussion about censorship. Elaine Anderson is an Ontario based Public Services Coordinator. Her blog provides a variety of useful and informative links. Elaine has been blogging since 2005 and updates fahrenheit 451 at least monthly.
ReplyDeleteThis blog deals with the issues surrounding the censorship and banning of books from public library systems. The articles posted are very relevant and deal with a wide range of topics. You can get lost for hours in this blog, learning about the movement to stop censorship in libraries and the key players involved.
All of the sources and stastics posted are clearly explained and linked to the original content they were taken from. The contributors are mainly from the Canadian and American Public Library Communities; however the followers of this blog are global.
***Curtis***
Blogwithoutalibrary.net is authored and administered by Amanda Etches-Johnson, User Experience Librarian at McMaster University Library. Her profile lists a mini-bio that details her credentials and qualifications as a librarian who focuses both her work and her blogging on the subject of emerging information technologies and how they affect libraries. She is also an adjunct faculty member at the University of Western Ontario. Blogwithoutalibrary.com is hosted and administered independently by the author herself, using open-source WordPress Software; the author is not affiliated with WordPress. She doesn't seem to be promoting any particular bias, either on her own behalf or that of any of the organizations with which she's affiliated, though certainly the blog promotes technological literacy as it concerns libraries and the library field.
ReplyDeleteEtches-Johnson mostly talks about her jb - often she describes projects she's currently working on for her library, or about new technologies and their implementation. She also announces and talks about major events in the library field (often Canadian ones). Often sh ejust waxes lyrical about how much she enjoys her job.
The blog's purpose seems to be equally focused on personal and professional topics, often hyperlinking to other libraries, blogs and library organizations as sources for facts stated in her posts, usually current and reliable themselves. Post commenters are mostly fellow librarians or people involved in the library or information technology fields. The blog is updated regularly, at least a few times a month. The last post was in the middle of August.
The blog that I chose to evaluate is the Free Library of Philadelphia blog. I chose it because I had found it on my own while looking into the legislature crisis in Pennsylvania that very nearly closed this huge library (they have more than 6 million items and 54 branches).
ReplyDeleteAuthority: What expertise does the author have in the subject area? What bias might the author have?
- The authors are library staff at the Free Library of Philadelphia and as such are highly informed regarding anything to do with the Free Library of Philadelphia. The only bias they might have is that they do not represent the viewpoint of the Free Library of Philadelphia patron.
Publisher/Author Affiliation: Is the author affiliated with an organization that hosts the Blog? What are the author's and/or publishing organization’s credentials regarding the subject? What bias might the author/organization have?
- The authors are affiliated with the Free Library of Philadelphia, which is the organization that hosts the blog. They are also very qualified regarding the subject of the blog, which is themselves. They also lack the viewpoint of the patron, but comments are enabled so patrons can give feedback. I do not think that this is a particularly challenging bias to overcome.
Scope/Content: What seems to be the purpose of the Blog and/or the site to which it belongs?
- The purpose of the blog, as well as the site to which it belongs, is to inform the interested public about the Free Library of Philadelphia. The content of the blog postings range from Workplace Wednesdays, which is a series of free programs designed to assist adult job seekers regarding such subjects as resumes to interviewing skills, to the passing of bill 1828 by the Pennsylvania state senate that will allow the Free Library of Philadelphia to stay open.
Accuracy and Reliability: Has the author indicated sources for facts being presented?
- In many cases, they are their own sources for information, but they do link to sites and post phone numbers when called for.
Audience: Does the Blog deal with the topic at a level that suits you and the requirements of your patrons or project?
- The level certainly suits me; the legislation that almost closed down one of the largest libraries in the U.S. was what led me to the blog. As someone with a future working in the field this was a relevant and concerning subject for me. As to the requirements of my patrons there are many interesting services available that are definitely at a suitable level. I would, for instance, recommend this blog to anyone interested in ancestors who lived in Pennsylvania, anyone moving to Philadelphia who will be looking for work there, and anyone looking for good book reviews.
Currency/Volume: Is the Blog updated regularly? When was the last update? How often are new articles added?
- Postings can be anywhere from 3 a month to 22, so I would say that the blog is updated regularly and frequently. The last update was September 22nd, 2009, the posting before that was on September 17th, 2009. They date back to September 27th, 2006 (it’s their anniversary as I write this) and have never dropped off since then.
That last post was by Alison Davidson
ReplyDeleteOh, and Wintermitts is Rachel. Ooops.
ReplyDeleteThe Ubiquitous Librarian (Brian Matthews)
ReplyDelete1. Authority – The author of The Ubiquitous Librarian received his MLIS from the University of South Florida in 2001. He is a newly Assistant University Librarian for Outreach and Academic Services at UC Santa Barbara. His previous position was as Information Services Librarian & Distance Learning Services Coordinator at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta.
2. Publisher/Author Affiliation – The Ubiquitous Librarian has been the personal blog of Brian Matthews since May 2006. He is an active member of the library community; presenting at conferences in 2001-2009 and contributing to library publications in 2004-2009. In 2007 he was named one of Library Journal’s Movers and Shakers. Many posts revolve around his position at the Georgia Tech Library but there does not appear to be any official sponsorship.
3. Scope/Content – The Ubiquitous Librarian is an informal blog aimed at library professionals interested in finding new ways to interact with patrons. The blog’s sub-heading is “assessment + empathy + creativity + design + media + marketing.” Matthews blogs about research reports, library politics, conversations with other library professions, fellow library bloggers, and events at his library. He does take a casual approach and includes his personal thoughts in a majority of the posts. His ideas may also appear unconventional. For example, he wrote about a welcome week celebration at the Georgia Tech Library that featured Guitar Hero, speed dating, and pizza.
4. Accuracy and Reliability – The author includes references to current reliable sources, such as other academic libraries, peer-reviewed journals, and library organizations. There are also links to Amazon, Twitter accounts, and library blogs.
5. Audience – Matthews writes from an academic libraries perspective but many of his posts can be translated for any library trying to attract patrons. Many commenters are librarian professional or students. His blog does not require that commenters have websites so information on all commentators is not available.
6. Currency/Volume – The Ubiquitous Librarian blog is updated regularly. A new post is added approximately once a month. The most recent post was August 26, 2009.
Matthews, Brian. The Ubiquitous Librarian. (2009). 24 Sept. 2009. http://theubiquitouslibrarian.typepad.com
Cindy
Badman, Derik, et al. In the Library with the Lead Pipe. (October 2008). 29 September 2009. http://inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/ ISSN: 1944 6195.
ReplyDelete“In the Library with the Lead Pipe” (subtitled “The murder victim? Your library assumptions. Suspects? It could have been any of us”) is a blog with the lofty goal of improving libraries and communities through presenting new ideas and prompting dialogue. A collective of six librarians, along with occasional invited guest writers, are the authors. These six librarians are located throughout the United States, from New Jersey to Texas, Oregon to Pennsylvania. They are all employed as professional librarians in universities or colleges. Many are published authors, as well. ITLWTLP is not affiliated with any particular organization. Rather, the authors are interested in functioning as a catalyst for progress in the general library world.
While the blog’s articles are very conversational in tone and there is an open-minded approach to the general topic of libraries, I would consider ITLWTLP to be somewhat formal. The articles are all formal essays, complete with thorough citations, published on a consistent, predictable basis (every two weeks). The authors allow and encourage comments, as their mission is to start conversations. It appears that most of the comment-makers on the site are also professional librarians, ITLWTLP’s target audience. The content of ITLWTLP ranges greatly, though it is all of course library-related. Recent articles include one on how to improve the quality – and create a standard of quality – of images in interlibrary loans and document delivery, while another discussed using librarianship to motivate students and patrons to learn.
The most recent article was posted on September 16, 2009. Based on the history of the blog, the next article should be posted on September 30, 2009.
The MS Library's Book Blog (Samantha Brown) http://web.me.com/mvelthuizen/BookBlog/Book_Blog/Book_Blog.html
ReplyDeleteI had decided to do a examination on a Book blog used in the MS Library. There isn't much discussion on the blog, but it does display different books that are suggested to read for different types of readers. As a whole the blog is full of information on styles of books and has two sections for Adults and for Children/Teens. Each section has a different book that is given the summary of and a suggestion on which type of reader will like what book and so on. The audience the blog is targeted for is a public audience so that anyone can get on and find out what they like to read, or what books would interest them. I am not certain who made the blog other than the MS Library. There have been no comments on the different books that are shown, which may be an indication that not a lot of people have discovered or viewed this blog, or it may mean that most of the people who have viewed the blog just go on to see which book may interest them. It looks like it is updated daily, but has stopped after a certain time. I found the blog to be interesting, but unfortunately, was possibly ended in 2006. If the libraries decide to create such a blog, I believe that there will be more of the public going on a discussing the different books which would help libraries figure out which books can be bought for the public to use.
Librarian Activist
ReplyDeletehttp://librarianactivist.org
Authority: There are four contributers, including Danielle Dennie, Jeff Lilborn, Jason Hammond, and Alexandra Yarrow. All of them work in a professional capacity in the library field.
Affiliation: The Librarian Activist does not have an official affiliation, but they do list Advocacy Groups and Library Activist Groups.
Scope/Content:The topics are about the political and social issues surrounding libraries worldwide, such as a summary of the SAVEOURNET Ottawa Town meeting, to a time of a date of an Anarchist Bookfair, to a notice of the Philadelphia Free Library System shutting down. Most articles have links to words you may not understand, and links to other articles.
Currency: The posts generally vary from 1 or 2 a month, depending on the library issues that arise during that time. The last post was posted on September 24, 2009.
Audience: This is written for academics, advocates for the library, and professionals in the library field.
Kara M.
Evaluating Blogs: Library of Congress Blog
ReplyDeleteAuthority
The two main contributors to the Library of Congress blog are Matt Raymond and Jennifer Gavin; their names link to a mini biography which details their position in LOC and previous experience. Both write confidently and cleverly; they always manage to link any subject back to the library
Publisher/Author Affiliation
The LOC Blog is affiliated with the Library of Congress! It is not an official LOC communication, as the fancy disclaimer notes, but the blogger are employed by the library. The blog is biased in favour of the LOC; but as it carries the libraries name, this is to be expected.
Scope/Content
The blog’s posts are usually about the library such as: upcoming events, new areas of the website and recent additions to the library. If the article is not directly related to the library, the blogger will link to a different area of the website that contains more information on the subject. The blog is written in an informal but purposeful style. Commenting is available but not heavily used.
Accuracy/Reliability
If the article refers to another source or statistics, a link will be provided within the body of the post. Many of these links are to another area of the LOC website and provide additional information on the topic. The September 22, 2009 article “Do Your Homework (Literally!)” by Jennifer Gavin refer and links to statistic from the U.S. Census Bureau. Further on in the article, reference is made to another area of the LOC website and a link is also provided.
Audience
The blog provides the general public with an insight into what is available at the LOC. It also provides information on new additions or events. The information is up to date, accurate and suited to the viewers expectations.
Currency/ Volume
Since the beginning of September, seven articles have been posted to the LOC blog. The postings do not come out on a schedule and seem to vary in number each month.
Raymony, Matt and Gavin, Jennifer. Library of Congress Blog, (2009) Library of Congress. 27 Sept. 2009 http://www.loc.gov/blog/
Adrienne Schut
EVALUATING BLOGS
ReplyDeleteTurning The Page...
Authority
This blog has 27 listed contributers. Each is a self-confessed reading enthusiast, and all are staff members of the Public Library of Cincinnati. The only other listed information about the authors is their first names. Since the reviewers/staff are all part of a collective, I assume they prefer to keep some form of anonyminity, but other than their affiliation with the city's public library, there's no way to validate any of their personal opinions.
Publisher/Author Affiliation
Turning The Page is maintained by staff members of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. A quick search of the Cincinnati Library's website proves to be interesting, as there are very active postings, book reviews (of course, by the same staff that review on the Blog), and of note, a pretty cool collection of U.S. Produced WWII Posters. I found the old artwork to be fantastic, and definitely worth checking out:
http://virtuallibrary.cincinnatilibrary.org/virtuallibrary/vl_browse.aspx
Scope/Content
The blog is a reviewer's blog, where there are hundreds of posts for staff reviews of all kinds of books, audiobooks and some DVDs. All of which are broken down into 30 different categories to help in finding exactly what you might be looking for. Mostly, the reviews are not terribly in-depth, but the opinions that the authors do have are at least interesting to read, and helpful for a reader who might be trying to find a reviewer with the same tastes.
The 'search' feature is helpful for finding a particular book that the reader might want to hear about.
The only books/materials reviewed on the blog are ones that the Cincinnati Library already has available on the shelves.
Accuracy/Reliability
The reviews are chock-full of links to each individual piece of material within the Cincinnati Library's collection. There is also a direct link to the library's catalogue, as well as links to other groups (mostly for kids/teens) organized by the library.
There's an area for users to submit their own reviews/comments for any of the books on the blog. It's nice to find a site that you don't have to sign up for and where you don't need to fill out pages of information to post your opinion. The reviews are limited to 300 words, and are posted as a comment under the original reviewer's post.
Audience
The blog was created BY people who love to read FOR people who love to read. Personally, I enjoy searching sites for information on new books to read, and blogs like this one are usually a great place to start. The reviews are varied enough (general fiction, cookbooks, kids books, gay & lesbian, and travel) that almost anyone can find something of interest.
Currency/Volume
Generally, reviews are posted every couple of days, and the archives date all the way back to May 2006. The latest post is dated Monday September 28th, so it's still a very active blog.
Turning the Page...(2009). http://www2.cincinnatilibrary.org/blog/
-by Ryan Morris-
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteEvaluating Blogs
ReplyDeleteThe Blog I chose to evaluate is “Musings about librarianship” and can be found at http://musingsaboutlibrarianship.blogspot.com/.
Authority:The blogger is named Aaron Tay who happens to be a Librarian at the National University of Singapore. I came across many blogs that were written by librarians in America or Canada, but this one stood out to me. I chose this blog because I was interested in reading about a librarian's experiences in Singapore.
Audience:The discussion is open to and most useful to library users, librarians, and students in the library domain. The posts are informative to anyone versed or learning about the library related and researching tools available online. Even if you are a beginner, like me, step by step instructions complete with screen shots are very helpful in guiding the user through Google Reader or even social bookmarking sites such as Delicious. The discussion tends to be detailed and was very enlightening especially to me as I am relatively new in discovering these sites. It definitely meets my needs and the needs of the group I am recommending it to and even takes it further, making it a great place to learn both visually and through text by a step by step process.
Scope/Content:The typical content happens to be a mixture of steps, description and opinions on different researching tools and search engines used in the library domain. Messages are factual mixed in with opinions regarding the specific topic. Often a conclusion is posted with closing remarks about the topic and in this way a certain degree of informality is introduced. The topic coverage is broad which enlightens the user in a wide variety of search engines, bookmarking tools and tips in dealing with those respective topics. The content is very reliable and I have learned a lot from browsing a lot of the posts, both new and old. Screen shots are provided adding to the reliability of the materials. References (websites) are often provided to back up what is being talked about.
Currency/Volume:There are both regular and recent postings when it comes to this blog. The last post was September 20th, of this year. The messages are extremely manageable and I as a beginner have a lot to learn and hope that Aaron will post more often.
General:The blog meets its intended purpose. It intended to be a collection of general musings about the library world but is more than that. It is a collection of useful tips, resources, new features, instructions, time saving tips, opinions and library related tools. Comments are scarce but are helpful nonetheless. The blog also maintained to be original, which it definitely is. While looking across many blogs, this one stands out in its helpful tips, advantages and disadvantages and screen shots. No other blog that I came across was this helpful and offered step by step instructions. This truly makes it an original blog filled with musings about the library world.
Tajpreet Sohi
Evaluating Blogs
ReplyDeleteThe blog I am evaluating is the Annoyed Librarian.
Find the blog at: http://www.libraryjournal.com/blog/580000658.html
I chose this blog because the author rants about the library world and other interesting topics she will sometimes throw in.
Authority
The author of this blog is AL (Annoyed Librarian) who remains anonymous. I searched up the author and found out that there are a lot of fakes and people posing as ‘the real AL’
Publisher/Author Affiliation
Her blog is affiliated with library journal which is a website that hosts her blog amongst many others. She is very opinionated, often sharing her views on topics such as “Worse ways to make a living” where she rants about a company profiting off human misery. Although she can often sound cynical or negative in her posts, she makes it amusing to read and welcomes comments.
Scope/Content
The purpose of the blog is to discuss issues affecting the library field and is delivered in a very informal tone. She is very insightful and thought-provoking on specific topics that she is passionate about. In the posting titled “Something’s Gotta give”, she talks about changes being made in libraries and the impact it has had on society. She talks about everything from issues/concerns in libraries to banned books in Brooklyn.
Accuracy/Reliability
She often links websites to her posts so that subscribers can view the full article to see where the original source came from. The reader can find out more about the topic, especially the ones that are not exactly library related. This makes her content more reliable for subscribers.
Audience
The audience will find her reviews reader-friendly even if they are not in the library field. I myself am new to the library field so I have a hard time understanding library related topics but her posts are enjoyable to read because she speaks so casually. Generally other library professionals comment on her posts but there is also the occasional curious reader who drops a comment here and there. She receives an abundance of comments from her subscribers who in turn leave valuable feedback.
Currency/volume
AL has a total of 122 posts and averages about 2 a week. The archives date all the way back to May 2004. Her blog is quite active and the latest posting was made on September 30, 2009 so she does update regularly.
From Steph
Blog: Pop Goes the Library
ReplyDeleteURL: www.popgoesthelibrary.com
Pop Goes the Library is a blog written by public, school and academic librarians interested in what libraries can learn from popular culture to enhance their collections, improve services, and better connect and interact with their communities. These contributors include Sophie Brookover, Liz Burns, Melissa Rabey, Susan Quinn, John Klima, Carlie Webber, Karen Corday and Eli Neiburger. Brookover and Burns have written a book together entitled 'Pop Goes the Library: Using Pop Culture to Connect with Your Whole Community', and other contributors have blogs of their own on library-related topics. Google searches confirm that contributors to this blog work within libraries, mainly as children's and young adults librarians. Articles can be found on Carlie Webber where she is named as one of 2009's 'movers and shakers' and one of the top librarian professionals. This indicates that the contributors are experts in the area and well known in the library field.
As none of the contributors work in special libraries, the blog is biased towards issues impacting school, public and academic libraries. The blog is informal and does not speak on behalf of any one institution. While the blog does sometimes promote the book written by Brookover and Burns, promotion is the not the main objective of this library blog.
Links are provided in most blog posts as reference or in order to provide additional information, and range from links to ALA publications, to blogs, to celebrity websites and newsletters. For example, in a blog post entitles "Gwyneth Paltrow, Your Library Director" that looks at how the format of a newsletter produced by a Hollywood actress could easily be emulated by libraries to help conntect their communities to expert information, links are provided both to Paltrow's website and individual newsletters. In a post about library closures, links are given to other blogs (http://www.shutteredlibrary.blogspot.com) and websites (http://saveohiolibrarias.com) both which deal with saving libraries from closure. While information on library closures and ALA publications can be found on other library blogs, the popular culture aspect is quite unique to Pop Goes the Library.
Comments are allowed, but often it is other contributors to the blog commenting on something a fellow contributor has written. When it is not another contributor posting a comment, little information can be found about the commenter. Some do claim to work in libraries or to be librarians, but their claims cannot be verified. Some personal information on the daily lives of the contributors is posted on the blog, but postings do not generally stray too far off of library topics and are useful for library professionals looking for new ways to connect libraries to their communities. New technologies such as Skype and social networking tools are sometimes discussed, and so the blog may be of interest to tech-minded librarians and library technicians.
The latest posting on Pop Goes the Library is dated September 14th 2009. Pop Goes the Library has an archive dating back to April 2004 and it is updated often with usually at least one update per month. The blog has a unique take on how to implement new ideas that are based in popular culture into the library field and may be referred to librarians, library technicians and library directors who are looking for new ways to connect to their community.
Librarian Activist
ReplyDeleteDennie, D., et al. Librarian Activist. (2009). September 29, 2009. http://www.librarianactivist.org/
The Librarian Activist was established by Danielle Dennie in 2003. She is a science librarian at Concordia University and posts along with three other Canadian librarians. Jeff Lilburn is a librarian at Mount Allison University, Jason Hammond is a public librarian in Saskatchewan, and Alexandra Yarrow is a public librarian in Ottawa, she also founded the CLA blog.
There is no affiliation with a particular organization, so the blog is categorized as personal. All of the bloggers are interested in social and political issues, both personally and professionally, which is reflected in their posts.
Danielle Dennie states the purpose of the blog is to promote political and social awareness with relation to the library world. The blog is a mix of fact and opinion. Within each post there are lots of links to original sources and supplementary information related to the story. There are also links to other Library Activist Groups and similar blogs.
The posts cover a variety of topics, sharing stories from around the world, and they all deal with social and political issues, which is the purpose of the blog. There are not many comments on post, subscribers might be “lurking” and reading the blog to inform themselves. The blog is updated twice a month with two to three posts, and the most recent post is from September 24, 2009.
“In the Library with the Lead Pipe” http://inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/
ReplyDeleteI thought this blog had a catchy title and the slogan – “The murder victim? Your library assumptions. The suspect? It could have been any of us.” – prompted me to further explore what this blog was all about. This blog’s purpose, as stated on their website, is to “help improve our communities, our libraries, and our professional organizations, […] to explore new ideas and start conversations, to document our concerns and argue for solutions.” This blog is updated approximately three to four times monthly and the latest post, “An Inflection Point for American Public Libraries” by guest blogger Jean Costello, was added on September 30, 2009. The blog is powered by WordPress.org.
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The authors of “In the Library with the Lead Pipe” are six librarians – Derik A. Badman, Brett Bonfield, Ellie Collier, Hilary Davis, Emily Ford, and Kim Leeder – working in different types of libraries (academic, public and school) across the USA. They all work in high-ranking positions within their respective libraries, and they all have completed some form of diploma or degree relevant to Library Science as well as other disciplines. They are all openly affiliated with their respective libraries, as noted in their individual descriptions in the “Authors” section of the blog. Guest writers such as educators, library community members, and special collections librarians also post to the blog regularly.
All of the bloggers, including guests, have expertise in each of their realms within the library community. Their expertise is further reinforced by the fact that each posting is peer-reviewed by another blogger prior to posting. This is advantageous because it ensures that the subject matter is accurate, and also because it ensures that any one author’s biases will be reviewed and possibly edited by another member of the blogging team.
The purpose of the blog is to provide a space for the authors and guest authors to present their articles written about current issues that libraries are facing. Recent posts include such topics as the recession and its effect on libraries, changes in the public library system, teacher-librarianship, and open-source library software. My favourite post was an informative piece titled, “What Not to Do When Applying for Library Jobs”. The blog is a good mix of formal and informal – formal in that most posts are in essay format with references to information sources; and informal in that (some) colloquial language, personal opinions, and anecdotes are present. This blog allows comments that are respectful, on-topic, and that provide constructive feedback.
All authors, both regular and guest, provide sources and references for the facts they present in their work. Most guest authors provide a References list and footnotes throughout their articles. Also, many of the writers use hyperlinked text in the body of their writing to link their sources to the blog post. Most sources are to reliable and factual sources such as books, academic journals, university websites, etc. The audience of this blog, judging by the comments on the posts, consists of library workers and other scholars. The majority of comments are thoughtful, academic, and well written. Commentors include people who identify themselves as public and academic librarians, library and systems technicians, and students. Other commentors do not reveal their affiliation and so are assumed to be members of the general public with an interest in librarianship and current library issues. All commentors seem to respond positively to the material presented by the bloggers, and the bloggers respond informatively to many types of questions and comments. Overall, this blog deals well with the topics at hand and meets the needs and expectations of its audience.
Leah Tottenham
Ramsey, Carly LIBR1111Classroom. (2009), Langara College 29 Sept. 2009 http://www.librarian.net/
ReplyDeleteJessamyn West, a rural library consultant writes this blog. She has experience working in various libraries and has also written and had published many books and articles on libraries. There is a link to her resume on the blog website.
I could not find any information about the publisher of the blog.
The purpose of this informal blog seems to be to keep people connected to news and events going on in the library world. The blog includes links to talks the author is participating in, books she is currently reading, articles on libraries and ideas for the book community.
This blog is updated a few times a week. It has been active since April, 1999. It meets the needs of a reader looking for some interesting news and innovative contributions from members of the library community.
Evaluating Blogs: By Patrick Siebold
ReplyDeleteAfter much mucking about I chose Librarian in Black - http://librarianinblack.net/librarianinblack/ - as my blog to review. Sarah Houghton-Jan is the author/host of this blog and she sent out her first post in December of 2003 and since then has posted upwards of 4,000 times. The subtitle may be a little off-putting in its glaring lack of modesty: "amazingly informed and therefore properly opinionated." The cheekiness challenges one to question her authority.
Houghton-Jan's credential do seem to check out unfortunately. She conveniently provides links to her CV, works published, conferences, and even a reference. It is almost as if she is looking for a job. After a little more poking around one realised that she is indeed advertising her services as a speaker on a number of technology related topics. While she does list her work as a consultant for the non-profit Infopeople Project, which offers technology based training for libraries, she doesn't appear to work for any, actual, traditional library organization anymore. One soon sees that while the blog may not have began as such, its popularity begat a new career for Houghton-Jan: celebrity appearances and conferences. The blog appears to be her baby; I couldn't find any host or publisher other than her. If anything Houghton-Jan should be applauded for her success. It is very much in keeping with the capitalist, entrepreneurial spirit of our society. And it is certainly no less preferable to the thought of some large cooperate entity lurking in the background and promoting who knows what. Nevertheless, while self-promotion may not be the sole purpose of the blog it is important to recognize that there is a bias.
Even though there is some obvious self-promoting going on, the content of the blog and links therein do seem to live up to the founding principles (ie. to sort through dozens of websites, blogs, and RSS feeds related to librarianship).
The tone of this active blog, overall, seems quite informal. And there is a range from the very general to the very specific in a given topic. And the scope of the content is quite broad. Technology as it relates to libraries is the focus but anything that loosely relates seems fair game, with more emphasis on technology than on libraries. For example you will find a piece of PC Magazine's 100 top cites that has very little to do with libraries but a lot to do with technology.
There are many links to journal articles as well as other sources if you wish to refine your search to something of particular interest. The references and sources used by the author do usually check out in that they lead or contain links to a journal article. However, some links might lead to a dead end (ie. they might lead to other blogs which contain no references). This is probably a good thing however. If authors and commentators were forced to cite everything from academic journals it would be a lot less vibrant format. Opinion is very much a part of blogging. Still, one should be careful about pulling information out of here without thoroughly checking with some alternate references.
While the blog may gloss over some points that one might like a little more detail on, in general, it seems to cover topics appropriately, with not too much, or too little information. One could argue that the blog format isn't intended to be a reference tool, more a dialogue in which relevant links can be explored if desired.
If you haven't checked this blog out I would recommend it. It is very active with multiple daily postings and some interesting links. The commentators range from library patrons to library professionals and academics and everyone in between.
THE GREEN LIBRARY
ReplyDeletehttp://thegreenlibraryblog.blogspot.com
Scope/Content
The green library is informal and designed to help libraries become more environmentally friendly. In particular, they provide resources to help libraries increase their efficient usage of energy, water and material while decreasing their harmful effects on their environment. The blog focuses on four resources:
• environmental Organizations and Initiatives
• financial resources
• green buildings
• programming ideas
The site has links to other related sites as http://www.ala.org and www.greeningyourlibrary.wordpress.com. There are also numerous articles written by other contributors. There are articles you can download and a blog achives with articles going back to 2008. The site is nicely layout with green being the dominant coloring. The site is nicely layout with pictures and drawings with different shades of green as highlighter. Cosmetically it is easy on the eyes but with enough information to get you where you want to go. They are also on facebook.
Authority
The author's is one of Gerry McKiernan. He holds a master of Science degree in Library Science from the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign. He is currently employed by the Iowa State University Library as an associate Professor and Science and Technology Librarian and Bibliographer. An internet search found out that he is a theoretical librarian and that he gives speeches on current trends. Gerry served worked in a museum at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and as an assistant Librarian with the Library of the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. In his current employment, Gerry is responsible for collection development, instruction, and reference and research services in chemical and biological engineering, civil, construction and environmental engineering, environment sciences, industrial and manufacturing systems engineering and mechanical engineering.
Audience
The blog does sufficiently deals with the topic at a suitable level for patrons. His commentators are from the States, Sweden, Canada. There is also an online conference available and the next one is Wednesday, October 7 from 8 am to 4 pm. These online conference are from both public and academic library presenters. The day's topic schedule are all laid out with the corresponding time and speakers.
The blog is updated regularly with articles as current as September 2009 and goes back as far as 2008.
Comments
Overall, I found this blog to be quite useful, and informative. As the world is going green per say, this is an extremely useful site. There are many links to resources and talks, and comments available. I definitely would subscribe to this blog.
Lelinh Vuong
iLibrarian
ReplyDeletehttp://oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian/
Authority:
The blog is run by Ellyssa Kroski. She is a technology information consultant, librarian, writer, speaker, and instructor. She has written 2 books (Web 2.0 for librarians and Information Professionals, and On the Move with the Mobile Web: Libraries and Mobile Technologies). Based on this info, it’s safe to assume that she is an expert and a reliable source of information.
Publisher/Author Affiliation:
Ellyssa is a faculty member at Long Island University’s Palmer School of Library Science, as well as Pratt Institute, and San Jose State University. The blog is aslo linked to Online Education Database.
Scope/Content:
The focus of the blog is on technology, Web 2.0, library 2.0, social networking. She uses the blog as a way of providing news about technology and library issues.
Accuracy and Reliability:
A lot of the posts are simply links to things like articles and videos created by other people. They link to information from a wide variety of sources, not just a few select people or groups.
Audience:
The blog does deal with the topic at a suitable level. It’s geared toward others in the library technology field, and provides links to useful information on new and important technologies that are available to libraries. Visitor comments are enabled; however there don’t seem to be many comments, if any at all.
Currency/Volume :
The blog is updated regularly, the most recent post is from Sept.29,2009. New posts are made at least every few days, if not more frequently.
Overall, this blog is an interesting and useful resource for those in the library technology field.
Lisa
Designing Better Libraries (DBL). http://dbl.lishost.org/blog/
ReplyDeleteAuthority- This blog has 6 authors who are all professional academic librarians, and work in both the USA, and Canada. They may be biased by the fact that all of the authors are from North America, and they are all academic librarian; none of them work in public libraries. Most of them have links in their bio to the places that they work, so their identities can easily be confirmed. For example Steve Bell, a co-founder of DBL, can be found on Temple University’s website at http://library.temple.edu/about/directory/stafflist.jsp;jsessionid=15746DB0B08582154D1A9A0D4BD0E17F?criteria=library&type=department&bhcp=1 just as he claims.
Publisher/Author Affiliation- This blog is hosted by WordPress which is a free site online, where anyone can create a blog. The authors are all working as librarians in academic libraries, and have had lots of experience. The purpose of this blog is to create better libraries
Scope- “Designing Better Libraries is a blog about design thinking and how it applies to library settings.” This is an informal blog where you are able to make comments on the postings. This site links you to sites relevant to what the author is talking about in their posting.
Reliability- Links to articles, and sites that the authors refer to are available easily in the posting, so you are able to easily check what the author is writing. The ease of which you can check facts makes this a very reliable blog.
Audience- This blog is very user friendly by comparison to other sites that talk about the same topic. DBL is a blog designed for librarians, yet it is easy for the general public to understand. There are not many comments since the postings are mainly informative, and not opinionated, yet the comments that are made can be made by anyone.
Volume- This blog is updated about every two weeks with the last update being September 18, 2009.
Melissa Loewen
Blog Review - Attempting Elegance - http://rogersurbanek.wordpress.com/
ReplyDeleteAs I surfed the blogs, one with a photo that reminded me of my grandmother as a young mother popped up. I started to read it, and thought: "This is the one for me!"
Attempting Elegance is the blog of Jenica P. Rogers, Director of Libraries at the State University of New York at Potsdam. She is a Librarian who became a Manager. Her blog is very interesting and extremely well-written. She writes about what a Library Director does all day (incuding Twitter checks).
Authority:
She is what she writes about-- herself. There was a recent article on her in Libraryjournal.com --
http://www.libraryjournal.com/MS2009Inductee/2140336014.html
Publisher:
Her blog is Wordpress-- an unaffiliated blog site. She recently changed "themes".
Scope:
It's a very personal blog about her and her work. There are links to her Flickr photo albums. She writes about how she solves library problems, and writes a lot about human relations and office psychology.
Accruacy:
She documents her posts with photos. She supplies links to workshops and articles.
Audience:
Lots oflibrary students read the blog and leave comments. Other Librarians too.
Currency:
Attempting Elegance has several new postings every month. The latest was yesterday.
Blog Review – if:book A Project of The Institute for the Future of the Book
ReplyDelete(http://www.futureofthebook.org/blog/)
Authority
There are many authors for this blog and all of them have expertise in various fields that pertain to the creation and distribution of books. This is helpful because the blog takes a look at the digitization of books; however, many of the authors may be bias because they work with traditional books and may be against electronic alternatives.
Publisher/Author Affiliation
From “The Institute for the Future of the Book” homepage there is a link to an “authors” page which has short bios on all of the contributing bloggers as well as contact information for the bloggers. A Google search of the authors reveals that they are indeed who it says they are.
Scope/Content
The blog looks primarily at the digitization of books, but it also looks at other electronics that can be used as alternatives to traditional methods of reading, writing, printing, etc. The blog is slightly informal but is presented very clean looking.
Accuracy and Reliability
The blog provides links to all sorts of trustworthy websites (official Microsoft website) and references to many notable newspapers and magazines (Newsweek). The contributors also provide links to all of the websites they are talking about and make it clear which books, journals, or magazines they are talking about when they are talking about them.
Audience
The blog is aimed towards people who are interested in the technological side of the future of books. Most of the people commenting seem to know what they are talking about for both the literary and technological aspects of the blogs, and they also know how to formulate arguments and utilize the English language which is always nice.
Currency/Volume
The updates on the blog seem to be a bit sporadic. Sometimes the blog is updated three days in a row and sometimes it’s updated every three weeks. Also commenting varies from post to post, some posts have very few to zero comments where others have over ten.
Navdeep Khabra
I really like Amy Sonnie's blog "banned librarian". It focuses primarily on social and political injustices and how the library, any library, can play a role in educating people on their rights and freedoms. In 2002 Amy Sonnie published "Revolutionary Voices" (ISBN 1555835589) an anthology of creative writing by young adults who also happened to be gay. The Texas Youth Commission took great offense to this creative endevour and banned it from ever seeing the light of day. When asked to comment on this experience Sonnie stated "I was upset by the news but not surprised as 3 of the 10 books banned that year were removed for homosexual content". (There is a great interview with her at http://blog.librarylaw.com - a blog hosted by lawyers Mary Minow and Peter Hirtle)
ReplyDeleteThe truly interesting thing about this event is that TYC's decision to ban the book inspired Sonnie to BECOME a librarian.
Sonnie describes the "banned librarian" as "a blog for librarians interested in social justice issues, and community activists who recognize the importance of freely accessible information." She can be found on Twitter, Wikipedia and also contributes to other social commentary related blogs (linked through her site). In 2000 Sonnie and her collegue yk hong founded RESYST, a "community of queer artists and activists that recocognized the role of art and writing in social change".
Amy Sonnie works as a librarian in Oakland and maintains an active interest (and comments on) the socio-political events that impact the access to, and distribution of information to the general public. To say the scope of "banned librarian" is vast would be an understatement. Sonnie has postings on everything from Barrack Obama's administration to local indignities and comments on these with both grace and a measure of enlightenment.
There are many links on "banned librarian" that offer further insight into issues that are discussed in the blog. (she is firmly rooted in fact and does not deal in rumour or conjecture) One of the most interesting features of this blog are the TAGS that take you all kinds of interesting places, with a single click you have access to information that the common web-dweller might not realize even exists.
The "banned librarian" takes a grassroots approach to many of today socio-political issues. It is easy to follow and you don't necessarily have to be interested in libraries or information technology to find something in the blog that grabs hold of you. The blog sees regular contributions from librarians, lawyers and the socially conscious and is updated every week.
Check it out. (http://bannedlibrarian.wordpress.com)
Honestly, the world became a crappy place so somebody became a librarian to try and fix it. Wow. - Dave Tuomi
What I Learned Today...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.web2learning.net/
This blog is a great blog to learn valuable web 2.0 and programming tips and library related news.
Authority : This blog is authored by Nicole C. Engard, who is currently the Director of Open Source Education at ByWater Solutions. Just by taking a glance at her resume posted on the blog, you can affirm her knowledge in both the library and technology field. She has written on magazines and journals, recently has edited a book, and participates in library associations and volunteer committees. Furthermore, she was named one of Library Journal’s Movers & Shakers in 2007 (http://libraryjournal.com/article/CA6423441.html).
Publisher/Author Affiliation : The blog is powered by WordPress, but is not affiliated with the organization. The articles on the blog is mostly of the author's own opinion on the topic, sometimes introducing articles of a different blog that is useful. As she has recently edited a book called Library Mashups: Exploring New Ways to Deliver Library Data, there is a post announcing the publication, nevertheless does not advertise it by such as repeatedly referring to it on other posts.
Scope/Content : This blog is an informal blog where the author reviews and introduces tips on various Internet tools. As she describes herself as "technology enthusiast," she is involved in most of the major social networks, like Facebook, Flickr, and Delicious. There is also a link at the bottom to other sites that she is involved in, perhaps for people who want to know more about her. It seems the blog is completely open to public on the author's activities online and offline.
Accuracy and Reliability : The content of the posts are mostly of her own opinion, but she does give credit each time she introduces a new information by linking it to the original source. When giving tips, there are sometimes visual images for clarity.
Audience : The blog is truly user friendly. As the author herself is immersed in the technology, the layout of the blog is simple to its purpose. The blog successfully meets both the reader's expectations and her own pleasure. Most of the articles exceeds over 300 views, and at time over 1,000 views. Because this is an informal blog, her reviews are casually written, but are concise and readers can understand the content easily.
Currency/Volume : Anyone interested on the topic would achieve new information from her reviews, for the blog is updated almost daily. Also topics are categorized specifically and easily searched. ---Mikako Sato
Blog Evaluation by Jen Pringle
ReplyDeletehttp://thegreenlibraryblog.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-06%3A00&updated-max=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-06%3A00&max-results=20
Authority
Gerry McKiernan is a librarian at the Iowa State University Library. He manages several blogs and is a frequent contributor to the DIGLIB listserv (Digital Library Research Discussion Group). When I googled him the first page of results were connected to his blogs, his Facebook page, his Twitter. On the second page of results was an upcoming information technology conference in the USA for which he is the keynote speaker. I also search Academic Search Premier through EBSCO and found that he has published several articles.
Publisher/Author Affiliation
The Blog is hosted by Bloglines. The Blog is not affiliated with any institution.
The purpose of the blog is to promote the cause of creating Green buildings and green work practices.
Scope/Content
The Blog is relatively formal. The links in the posts generally go to journal articles, websites of institutions or libraries, news websites, or conference websites.
The focus of the blog is on green building, specifically in libraries.
Accuracy and Reliability
At the bottom of every posting Gerry McKiernan has posted links (labelled source) to the original source of his information. The links I tried, several of them, were all still good links directly to where the information came from.
Audience
Many of the postings are providing information about recent books or upcoming conferences on green libraries. Because of this the blog doesn’t have much flow from posting to posting making it a bit of a chopping read.
Comments are allowed on the blog, but very few people do. Through bloglines I couldn’t discover who the people commenting are. I googled the one person with a real name and found that there were several options even in the library world. From the comments made it seems like about have the people commenting are library professionals.
Currency/Volume
Currently there are about two posts a month, with the most recent from September 4th.
YASLA blog is the official blog of Young Adult Library Services Association. YALSA established in 1957. YALSA is a well known name in the library field. YALSA is fasted growing division of ALA.ALA established on October 6; 1876.The purpose of the ALA is to promote library services and librarianship. The motto of the ALA is “The best reading, for the largest number, at the least cost.”
ReplyDeleteThere are several authors of the blog and most of the authors are qualified librarians and teachers from reputed institutions ; some committees perform as authors (Allen Country Public Library, Division Membership Promotion Committee, Intellectual Freedom Committee and Trails West Library) This blog provides informative and useful information to the readers.
The purpose of the YALSA Blog is ‘to provide a fast, focused, and flexible format for publishing information about time sensitive issues such as news in the YA field, programs, conferences, initiatives, resources, and activities of use to YALSA members and the YA librarianship community.” The main focus of the blog is on teen- readers and new technology. It provides the links to some other useful websites
This blog is very user friendly. It is very easy for every reader to understand. Manager and co-manager are responsible for overall blog administration. To provide a good quality they recruited the blogger based on personal expertise in the topic, writing ability and technical abilities. Authors provide reliable information and links to other useful and authentic sources and websites.
Most of the audiences are library professional, especially young adult librarians. Opinion and reaction to post are welcome. Comments are open to all and may be moderated by blog manager.
This blog is fairly active blog. The last update was on Sept. 30th. (This posting provide information on ALA’s online clearinghouse for school/public library cooperation managed by the AASL/ALSC/YALSA Interdivisional Committee on School/Public Library Cooperation). There are 32 postings in this month and some comments from readers.
Resource Shelf
ReplyDeletehttp://www.resourceshelf.com
Authority: Gary Price started the Resource Shelf blog in 2001 and has been the editor ever since along with six other contributing editors. I found three websites that verify he is valid: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Price
Search Engine Watch: http://searchenginewatch.com/3411711
WebSearch University: http://www.websearchu.com/2009/.
For two years Gary was the director of Online Information Resources at Ask.com and has his MLIS degree.
Publisher/Author Affiliation: Gary is not affiliated with WordPress (http://wordpress.org/about/) who hosts the blog. The purpose of the blog is to post resources that can be referenced and utilized by “information professionals, educators and journalists”. Most of the contributing editors also have their MLIS or MLS degree. A slight bias of the blog would be that it is US based.
Scope/Content: The blog is informal; the posts are snippets from articles, interviews, radio shows and other mediums that relate to a specific category(everything from Information Industry to Web 2.0). The content is not so much someone’s opinion but a gathering of information/news taken from credible sources. For example: one post is from the New York Times regarding digital books. Most links on the site are to serve the blog such as archives, background, subscribe, contact us and so on.
Accuracy and Reliability: Really convenient is the “From the Article….or Announcement:” link at the top of every posting which links you to the original source. A good way to navigate the blog is to scan the categories in the right hand column to find resources pertinent to your topic of research.
Audience: People can make comments on what is posted but there are not too many due to the postings being information sources not opinions.
Currency/Volume: In the category “Libraries and Librarianship” the last three postings came in today. Postings occur daily in most categories.
Blog Title: Library Boy (Legal Research News from an Ottawa Librarian)
ReplyDeleteAuthority: Michel Adrien-Sheppard authored the blog. I found out through his blogger information that he was once a news researcher and journalist and he is now the reference librarian of the Supreme Court of Canada. From the Google search engine, I found out that he also writes for www.slaw.ca , a “cooperative Canadian weblog on all things legal.” It is no doubt that he is an expert on Legal Librarianship and its issues, which are what mostly he talks about in his blog. Does he have any bias? If there was any, he has a terrific way of hiding it by staying away from any personal comments on his postings and staying in an objective format. He even wrote a disclaimer in his site that says any postings and links found in his weblog does not reflect the views of his employer or association that he belongs to; he also reiterates that his blog is purely personal.
Publisher/Author affiliation: Although he is associated to the Supreme Court of Canada and other library association, his blog resists from promoting any of the organization that he belongs to. Rather, Mr. Adrien-Sheppard keeps any mention of his affiliations at a minimum. And any mentions were done objectively such as his article, “Tenth annual Justicia Award for Excellence in Journalism,” which was awarded in the Supreme Court of Canada. If he has any bias, the author has kept it well-hidden by posting research type of postings and refraining from any subjective posts.
Scope/Content: The purpose of the weblog is to share information about library issues and legal research. The site is formal .His links are sites that contain legal documents and news that are related to his range of topics. The author links to such websites as Supreme Court Judgments and Lawyers Weekly. I will say that he has some journal articles that really interest me such as the posting about Google Scholar and its holes, but mostly his articles are purely legal and pretty hard for me to understand. It is really a great site for researching and I would recommend it to anyone who has great interest in Law Librarianship and keen understanding of legal issues. Overall, Michel Adrien-Sheppard has accomplished the purpose of his blog.
Accuracy/Reliability: The blogger has indicated sources for facts being presented whenever needed. For example, in his article “Official European Union Website Gets Makeover,” he linked to the official website of EU and a tutorial on how to use the new site. His credential as a reference librarians makes him a really reliable source.
Audience: The blog deals with some topics that might be helpful for me. Compared to a link such as “Judgments of the Supreme Court of Canada,” I noticed that Library Boy weeds out the information that he thinks is most essential for his readers. This reason makes his blog really personal. There are not a lot of comments from the site, but there is a comment from a possibly satisfied law student who used the blog in her research.
Currency/Volume: The blog is updated regularly. The last time it was updated last Wednesday, September 30, 2009. Most often he posts an article every day.
Citation: Adrien-Sheppard, Michel. Library Boy. Blogspot, 30 09, 2009. Web. 1 Oct 2009. http://micheladrien.blogspot.com
Evaluating a Library Blog
ReplyDeleteI am evaluating 'The Annoyed Librarian'
http://www.libraryjournal.com/blog/580000658.html
The author is 'AL', has had the blog since May 2004 and has 21,000 views. She has experience with libraries because she is a librarian, workplace unknown. The site is on libraryjournal and she is affiliated to the site through her work as a librarian.
The blog is very informal, it is mainly her opinions on subjects such as: What the heck is wrong with Philadelphia? which is about the philadelphia free library having to close all it's branches because of lack of funding. Although the blog posts are written in an informal style, they keep the reader up to date on any important library issues or debates.
Other articles such as Something's gotta give talks about librarians wanting to change libraries, for the better or for the worse and what impact that has. This is a good blog for people in the library world that want an informal opinion on what other librarians think about issues affecting the industry.
The author also posts links to the news sites that she gets her topics from, which is good for looking up wherever it is valid information or not. The blog is definately audience friendly as 'AL' uses language that is easy for subscribers to understand, wherever they are in the library field or not. The style of the posts makes the reader want to find out more about the issues because 'AL' is so passionate about the subjects.
The blog is updated regularly by the author, the last post was September 23 2009 entitled 'One for the Canadians'.
September 25, 2009 7:50 AM
Blog post by Heather Wallace
ReplyDeletehttp://lawlibraries.ning.com/
This is not a traditional blog, but rather a social networking type of blog run through Ning, for the purpose of connecting law librarians and friends of law libraries.
Authority: Many of the people who post on the site law librariains, but some could be students or just commentators. There are four administrators who monitor the site.
Publisher/Author Affiliation: There are many different affiliations. Some groups have been set up by geography or interest, for example a Texas law librarian group. Many on the site are affiliated with the American Association of Law Libraries.
Scope/Content: It is mostly informal. It links to to peoples photos, and blog posts on many different topics -- from rebuilding a law library in Afghanistan to the relevance of emerging technology. It also connects to some formal areas, for example a Legal Informatics Blog. It includes a list of law libraries that appear on facebook. Some parts of the site are private, and would only be available to members.
Accuracy/Reliability: Some of the posts are opinion and others relate to facts and have sources listed, and that includes links to articles and other websites. Similarly, some people list their credentials. Overall, it is reasonably reliable, taking into account that sources would need to be checked.
Audience: The audience judging from people who post is mostly law librarians and some lawyers and students.
Currency/Volume: The blog is updated at least several times monthly.
Overall, I would recommend this blog as a place to start when trying to understand the law library community.
Evaluating a Blog
ReplyDeleteThe Other Librarian
http://otherlibrarian.wordpress.com/
Authority- Ryan Dechamps is the e-Learning Services Manager in Nova Scotia. He tends to favour online information services.
Publisher/Author Affiliation- Though the author works for the Atlantic Provinces Library Association, his blog features his own opinions. The blog is supported by WordPress. The author is educated and is knowledgeable about most of the subjects he writes on.
Scope/Content- The Other Librarian is informal and includes articles on the library professions, but many of the posts are more geared towards his opinions on other topics, such as the CBC, Twitter and magazine articles. He has posts on library ethics, the use of laptops in libraries and Twitter in libraries. Any one can comment and you can contact the author as well.
Accuracy and Reliability- The author does not site many sources, but he has a list of other websites that may be of interest. At the top of each post are links to other blogs that discuss the topic he is about to write on.
Audience- This blog is not the best for information on libraries as it frequently features his own ideas. The posts that are about libraries are very informative but fewer in number. The commentors are fellow library workers.
Currency/Volume- This blog was current, but it has not been updated since July 2009. Prior to this it was frequently updated, and has posts going back to July 2006. There are approximately 2 posts a month.
This blog was entertaining and educational. The Other Librarian is clearly passionate about his job and it shows through his writing. It is of interest to any library worker.
By Kimberly Hildebrandt
Blog Evaluation by Momoko.
ReplyDeleteDesigning Better Libraries
http://dbl.lishost.org/blog/
-Authority: This blog is comprised of a collective of library professionals. Namely, 4 MLS, 1 Library Assistant, and 1 Library Technician. All are from various places around North America and are employed by academic libraries.
-Possible bias’: Despite the fact that the authors state that the blog is “library neutral”, following a comment regarding concerns about the inclusion of public and school library issues, their academic and occupational backgrounds may favor topics related to post-secondary and research libraries.
In perusing through the posts, it appears relatively neutral, but much of the site content seems to be more easily applicable to public and academic libraries.
-Publisher/Author Affiliation: The blog is self-hosted and not affiliated with any particular organization or publisher. It is powered by an open-source website called WordPress.org.
-Scope/Content: The purpose of the blog is to create discussion and new ways of “Designing Better Libraries” with the patron experience in mind. They focus on innovative concepts of technology, space, architecture, customer service, and accessibility, all to enhance the user experience.
This site presents various concepts relevant in the design and business world, and applies them to libraries. In providing a venue for discussion on this topic, the authors hope to pass down information on how we can keep our libraries up-to-date in different ways, and most importantly, how to keep them thriving.
-Accuracy and Reliability: The authors have sourced the facts presented, mainly in the form of hyperlinking in the blog.
-Currency/Volume: The blog appears to be updated regularly, with posts every 1-2 weeks. There is an archives were posts dating back from February 2007 and on can be accessed. The last article added was on October 1, 2009.
Comments may be added by anyone, and are replied to by the author(s) when applicable.
Blog evaluation.
ReplyDeleteI looked at the personal blog of Kathryn Greenhill, librariansmatter.com/blog. She posts at least once a week, and usually every few days about general library issues and the challenges of integrating new technology in a library. I found some of the posts dealing with technology slightly too complicated for my current level of knowledge, which is not all that surprising considering Ms. Greenhill has published papers and books on the subject. Some of the publications and public appearances are listed in her “about” section but I also used Google Scholar to look for her and confirm the facts presented on the blog. The more general posts are informative and thought provoking but still tend to deal with the future of libraries and how to make the space and experience more user-oriented and user-friendly. Some have to do with her personal experience, and in some she comments on articles published elsewhere (in that case, she provides links to the original information). In any case she is clearly writing for the librarian community based on the subject matter as well as the comments posted to the articles.
Jana