July 14th, 2009 Brian Herzog
A couple of weeks ago, the director of the Wadleigh Memorial Library in New Hampshire wrote me with this question (I’m paraphrasing):
We have an intern for the summer, and she’s started a blog about her work at the library. However, the next thing I knew, there was a link to her blog from the library’s homepage (it’s since been removed). While I like the idea of the public getting a bird’s eye view of what we do at the library, I have to think of worst case scenario….
I couldn’t find your blog linked from CPL’s website, but you do publicly announce on your blog where you work. Does CPL have any policies in place about staff blogs? Have you ever had anything you’ve written come back to bite the library?…
This is a very interesting question. Something I wrote once did come back to bite, and the Town, the Library and I were all threatened with a lawsuit. That prompted a discussion between my director and me about separating library and personal, although no written policy ever came of it. But in general, here are the blogging guidelines that I follow:
- Nothing written can be unwritten - think before you publish
- Get permission before using names, and be vague when referring to people otherwise
- Personal website has a disclaimer disassociating the library/town from me
Which is basic, I know, but since it’s a personal website done on personal time, there’s not much keeping me from doing whatever I want - other than common sense, experience, and goodwill towards the library. Since most of what goes on in libraries is public record anyway, pretty much everything I do at work is fair game, so long as I don’t break the law or violate patron privacy.
Even still, it might be a good idea for libraries to create some sort of guidelines for staff who publicly use the library’s name online. I don’t think libraries can force people to do or not do most things (aside from using library resources and time), but basic guidelines might help a well-meaning library employee avoid awkward situations they might not have otherwise considered.
A few resources for these guidelines are:
It’s a great idea for library employees to share their work with the public (and other librarians). Especially if the library is going to link to that personal blog from the library’s website (in which case, the library might be entitled to more control over the content of that personal blog). If no employee is doing this on their personal blog, the library’s blog itself could occasionally spotlight behind-the-scenes activities in the library.
I guess the bottom line is that people are still discovering Web 2.0, so there’s a lot of inexperience and new situations out there. Libraries shouldn’t try to prevent their employees from participating, but instead can assist them in doing it well (remember 23 Things?).
After our email discussion and speaking with library Trustees, the Wadleigh Library decided to put the link to their intern’s blog back on their homepage, which was good news. So if you’re looking for a model on how to do this, check out Lexi the Intern’s blog - she’s doing a great job.
Tags: blogs, communication, libraries, Library, Personal, policies, policy, public, social networking, social software, web 2.0, Websites See Also
Posted under Library, Technology | 5 Comments »
February 3rd, 2009 Brian Herzog
Before and since the Obama Administration moved into the White House, there’s been much talk about how Obama was using technology, really using it properly, to get things done.
These ranged from his change.gov and recovery.gov websites to the Blackberry battle to tech problems in the White House to Obama’s Technology Agenda to the newly revamped White House website and blog.
I subscribed to the White House blog’s rss feed on 1/20. In addition to reading the posts, I also paid attention to how many other subscribers there were. At the end of the first week, there were about 800 subscribers in Bloglines, and about 3,000 in Google Reader. As of 2/2, it’s up to 1,100+ Bloglines and 16,000+ Google Reader.
This is out of a country of 300 million people - I’m surprised it’s so low*.
I think it’s great that the government is putting effort into reaching people in new ways, so people can get the information the way they want to be reached. But at what point does it become worth it? These numbers don’t take into account people that use other rss readers or actually visit the website, but they do seem low.
Regardless, leading by example is a good thing - if the White House is taking bloggery seriously, then perhaps other parts of the government will also be making information available quicker and easier via technology. The Library of Congress blog predates Obama (191 Blogline/241 Google Reader subscribers), and it has a flickr stream too (~90/226 subscribers). Also, iLibrarian recently pointed to a recap of the Best Government Uses of Web Technology, and that’s interesting reading.
These web 2.0 communication channels are now an integrated fact of life for many people, so it makes me feel better that our government is deliberately addressing it instead of trying to ignore it.
*My
library’s blog isn’t much better - out a of a town of about 32,000, we’ve got 3 Bloglines and 4 Google Reader subscribers (we average over 700 page visits a month).
Tags: 2.0, blogs, communication, government, government 2.0, information, libraries, Library, obama, public, Technology, web 2.0 See Also
Posted under Library, Technology | 5 Comments »
December 18th, 2008 Brian Herzog
In addition to this blog, I also write a weekly post for my library’s blog. I don’t feel like I’m spreading myself too thin, but sometimes I have to wonder if there is any connection between my online and real-life activities.
Last week’s post for the library was a Holiday Book Guide. It contained a list of kids books suggested by our Youth Services Librarians, and also links to other websites with end-of-the-year book recommendations. The list of other websites is short, but I tried to find a good mix. However, apparently, I wasn’t reading them very closely.
A couple days ago, I was going through a cart of new books with a coworker. He held up three books and said “hey, I saw all of these on that Boing Boing list of books.” It was then that I realized that, although I had read all of the lists I linked to, apparently I had retained nothing because none of the books he was holding looked familiar.
This must have been a case of me working faster than I was thinking, trying to get a useful blog post up by the (self-imposed) deadline. But it’s also a reminder that websites aren’t just something to link to as information for other people - I need to read them, too.
I guess I need to remember to stop and smell the roses - or in this case, stop and read the blogs.
Tags: blog, blogs, Books, guide, holiday, libraries, Library, post, posting, public, reading See Also
Posted under Library, Random | No Comments »
October 21st, 2008 Brian Herzog
Right now I’m in Manchester, NH, for the 2008 NELA conference. In addition to being an attendee and a speaker, I’m also blogging the sessions I attend for the NELA conference blog (read my posts).
This year there are ten volunteer bloggers, and I think it’s great -
- great that NELA is supporting a blog
- great that people volunteer to contribute
- great that the notes we take during sessions are available for all attendees, people who couldn’t come, trustees who need to see these things, and anyone else who is interested
There are lots of worthwhile conferences and workshops every year, and I go to very few of them. I think it’s important for these conferences to extend beyond the conference dates and facility to reach the people who can’t come. Considerations for “virtual attendance” seems to be getting more common, in fits and starts, but I think it’ll happen.
Along these lines, RUSA has recently asked a small group of librarians to look at this very issue. The goal of this task force is to recommend
a suite of technology-based approaches to virtual membership, virtual attendance at conference, podcasting or videocasting conference programs, the creation of webinars to be hosted by RUSA, and a range of other approaches that would provide resources to our members – both those that attend conference and those for whom conference attendance is a barrier to participation.
Now this is an organization moving in the direction of its members. Thank you, RUSA. I’m not sure what the end result of the task force will be, but just the fact that a large, member-based organization like this is paying attention to the needs of its members is a step in the right direction.
And hopefully, once RUSA develops and implements a good model, it will spread to the rest of the ALA.
But for the time being, don’t be afraid to let your consortia, library associations, or other conference groups know what works and doesn’t work for you, and where your needs are and aren’t being met. That’s the best way to get the resources tailored to our needs.
Update: I forgot to mention that the Internet Librarian conference is also going on right now - check out blog posts tagged with il2008 on google blog search.
Tags: blog, blogging, blogs, conference, Conferences, librarians, libraries, Library, nela, nela2008, new england library association, notes, rusa, sessions See Also
Posted under Conferences, Library, Technology | 1 Comment »
August 26th, 2008 Brian Herzog
This email came in to my work address yesterday from EBSCO:
Dear EBSCO Customer,
Some of you have asked us to consider adding full text blog content to our databases, which would have no impact on the cost of your subscriptions.
Before we move forward with this idea, we would like your opinion. Below is a link to a quick, five-question survey. Your answers will help us to gauge the value of adding this type of content to certain EBSCO databases.
http://support.epnet.com/contact/surveys/index.php?sid=71644&lang=en
Please note that we would only consider using “vetted” blogs, and would provide you with the option of disabling access to blogs.
Thank you for your participation in this survey. We will carefully evaluate all responses, as they represent a very important part of our product development process.
I don’t know what criteria will be used in the “vetting” process, but I was very happy to see this initiative.
They aren’t saying they are absolutely doing this; they are saying they see an emerging source of potentially reliable information, and are asking us what we think about it.
Imagine - getting our input to help design a product that we will use. Thank you, EBSCO.
See Also
Posted under Library, Technology | No Comments »
