Libraries Need to Market their Blogs!

Difficulties with Group Blogs

By group blogs, I am assuming that we are discussing library group blogs where several staff are posting to the same blog. On a non-professional basis, I have been part of a group blog for six months and find it to be highly successful. However, in a professional setting, I can see some difficulties.

1. The mentality that it’s’ the other guy’s responsibility to post – the result may be that no one posts and then the blog uses regularity and possibly credibility or readership
2. Lack of consistency in formatting (caps, paragraphing)
3. Lack of consistency in writing style
4. Lack of consistency in focus of content
5. Lack of consistency in tone of content (will different posters’ biases be an issue?)
6. The personal agendas of posters will inevitable creep in, and other posters might get insulted
7. The “Right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing” syndrome – may result in inconsistent content or redundancy

In addition to my ideas provided last week for library blogs, I present the following:

As a tool for internal communication:

Pre-discussion for Staff Meetings
Pre-discussion for Board Meetings
Share interesting web resources
Announcement Board for Staff
Bulletin Board for Board Members

As a tool for external communication:

I liked Fichter’s idea to use blogs to target new user groups and to engage the community in community events like an election or local fair. Some other ideas that I have:

Fiction Book Club
Non-fiction Interest Group
Announcement Board for the public
Platform for public to make suggestions regarding programs, collection
Inform public of new programs, collections

Case Study Blogs

The Garfield County Public Library System’s Library Lounge provides good links in the link section of its blog. They would be relevant to the users’ interests. I liked that the blog utilized traditional blog conventions. As many writers about blogs advocate, the library makes frequent posts, sometimes several per day. When I first visited this blog, I was unsure as to whether the blog was being used for internal communication or if it was publicly accessible and usable. From the content found in the blog, I hope that it is a blog that is only used for internal communication. If this is not the case, it seems to break several of the guidelines that were discussed in this week’s reading. If the point it to engage the public, this is not being accomplished since most comments are from library staff. There is also a lack of consistency in the blog content as the posts range from random pictures of deer to why a library should take inventory to pictures of a new baby. This does not seem very professional to me. Regardless of whether the blog is being internally or externally, it’s being used primarily as a bulletin board rather than a forum for discussion. There are very few comments on the posts.

Not being a gamer myself, I was not sure that I could totally enter in or even evaluate the St. Joseph County Public Library Gameblog. With my incomplete knowledge of the topic, I make the following comments. The blog does seem to be engaging to community that it has attracted. Posts are often followed by a thread of comments. As advocated by blog specialists, posts are purposeful in that they all cover a similar topic. I liked that there was a bit of explanation as to who was doing the blog and how contributing to the blog works. The Net Rage article from this week’s reading emphasize the importance of this explanation. I was surprised that there was no blogroll, as this seems like a logical blog element for a gaming blog and the gaming community. Finally, I did not find that the blog’s link to the public library system was clear enough. Having entered from the backend, it would not be immediately clear that the blog is connected to the library. One way to do this might be to provide a link on the blog to the library’s homepage or to include books that the library has on the subject of gaming. Perhaps even a review section on these books would be a good idea.

I really liked the Virginia Commonwealth University's Library Suggestion Blog. I found that it closely adhered to many of the blogging guidelines that were discussed in this week’s readings. The title of the blog clearly indicates its focus and purpose. Furthermore, the categories are well-organized and labeled. A user would easily be able to locate a posting that he/she is seeking. The whole idea of creating a blog as a means of managing library users’ suggestiojns is, in my opinion, both innovative and highly practical. This way users can see that their suggestions are being taken seriously and are being considered. Even if the suggestion is not “taken,” the user can know why rather than just slip the suggestion into a box somewhere and into the abyss. The ability to comment on blog posts provides an easy forum for further public discussion on the issues. It is also an excellent way for the library to guage how important certain issues are.

Each of the posts is a reply to a suggestion given by a library user. The replies are written by the most credible person in the area of the suggestion. The “bloggers” put their full name and title on the posting, which adds to the blog’s credibility. In some posts, the bloggers add links to features of their library catalogue, website or previous posts. As Fichter writes, this is a great way to attract attention to your services and to market the library in general. The writing of the posts is informal enough to be easily accepted by the blogging community, but professional enough to ensure that the library maintains a good name. Finally, I enjoyed that use of traditional blogging conventions, as well as the links to “Ask a Librarian” and “Make a Suggestion.” This blog was clearly well thought out and strategically designed before “going live.”

A round of applause for the Darien Public Library blog initiative. I was “wow”ed by what I saw! They have been very careful to think through the content, structure, purpose and audience for their various blogs. I believe they have followed all of the blogging guidelines given in this week’s readings. I really like how they explained terms like blog, RSS etc on the main blog splash page and that they also provided instruction on how to use them! The non-blogger will feel comfortable on this page! They have done a great job at dividing their blog material into different categories. Rather than sift through blog posts that have to relevance to their individual interests, users can head straight to the blogs that interest them. This subject or audience divisions also allows them to further subdivide the content in categories in the various blogs. What organization! They have provided relavant links (links section) on most of the blogs that lead the user to other relevant sites or to other pages on the library website. They have provided an easy link to the library’s homepage by using a web design convention (clicking on logo) that most users would know. The blogs work in a traditional way so that users can easily tell that they are on a blog and can know how it works without too much thought.

Closing Remarks

After having looked at several library’s initiatives at blogging, I have noticed a common theme. Very few of these blogs have any comments. In cases where there are comments, they originate mainly from other library employees. So are the library’s really taking advantage of the blog software or is it just another “website” of the library? Perhaps the problem lies in marketing. With blogs being a rather new concept to much of the public, library’s need to make a greater effort to market their new blogs and to get the community involved. One way to do this might be to hold workshops on Web 2.0. Another way might be to start with the younger generation who is more familiar with the technology…perhaps go into schools? The possibilities really are endless, but it seems a pity to spend so much time and energy on a blog when it’s not used as it should be.