or, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Fear and Loathing at a Public Library Reference Desk


2011 Salem Press Library Blog Award Winner!

   June 14th, 2011 Brian Herzog

2011 Winner - Salem Press Library Blog Award - Public LibraryHey, check it out - my website won the 2011 Salem Press Library Blog Award for the Public Library category!

What a nice way to come back from vacation.

Thank you to everyone who voted, and to everyone who reads my website. It's great to get feedback that lets me know people find what I have to say useful and helpful.

And congratulations to all the 2011 winners and nominees:

General Interest: Blogs providing broad discussions of library topics and trends, including reviews of books and products.

Academic: Blogs targeting academic librarians and academic institutions

Public: Blogs addressing the challenges and triumphs of public librarianship

School: Blogs covering topics relevant to school libraries and K-12 education

Local: Institution-specific blogs promoting the interests of a public, academic, or school library

Commercial: Professional blogs written for profit, generally tied to a trade publication

Newcomer: Blogs by next-gen librarians who have only recently started blogging

Quirky: Character-driven blogs covering an array of library topics that defy categorization

I read quite a few of these blogs (and quite a few others as well). One thing I like most about the field of librarianship is our spirit of collaboration and cooperation - there is no way I could do what I do without all the people I swipe ideas from.

Thank you again everyone - I'll try to keep earning this.



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Last Call for 2011 Salem Press Library Blog Awards Nominations

   May 10th, 2011 Brian Herzog

Salem Press Library Blog AwardsYou only have a few more days to submit your nomination for the 2011 Salem Press Library Blog Awards - nominations close May 13th.

Last year's inaugural awards went to some very deserving blogs, so be sure to support your favorite - new and old - again this year.

Read about the judges and full details on Salem Press' website, but here's a bit about awards, nominations, and judging process:

2011 Nominations
Please share your favorite blogs with us. Doing so will enter your beloved online reading in our 2011 Awards process. We'll be accepting suggestions through May 13, 2011. To send us nominations (including a working link to the blog), email [email protected].

Bigger & Better
This year, Library Blog Awards returns with the same goal—to recognize blogging excellence across the library spectrum—but with a new structure. We have increased the number of volunteer judges (from four to 15) and blog categories (from five to eight) and added a new dimension to the process: the public vote.

After our judges complete the first round of eliminations and finalists are announced on May 18th, we will ask readers and interested parties to cast their votes online. The list of winners (one per category) will follow in mid-June.

Last year I was awarded gold star recognition, which is great. But what I like most about these awards is how they work as a discovery tool in finding new bloggers and resources.

If you are so inclined, send in your nomination before May 13th.

Update 5/17/11: Public voting is now open until June 1st - cast your vote for your favorite blogs (and thanks everyone for nominating me for Public Library blog!)



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Salem Press Library Blog Awards

   June 3rd, 2010 Brian Herzog

Salem Press Library Blog AwardsThe winners of the first Salem Press Library Blog awards were just announced - congratulations to:

General Library Blogs

Quirky Library Blogs

Academic Library Blogs

Public Library Blogs

School Library Blogs

I hadn't heard of most of these blogs before this award, so yay for having a bunch of new people to listen to (which I end up doing every year when LISNews announces their 10 Blogs to Read, too).

Another nice side effect of this contest is that Salem ended up with a Library Blog Directory, of all the blogs that were submitted or nominated for the awards. They're divided into categories, General Interest Blogs, Quirky Blogs, Academic Library Blogs, Public Library Blogs, School Library Blogs, which makes finding even more points of view relevant to your field easier. Thanks for doing this, Salem Press.

Gold StarOne last point: my website earned a gold star in the Public Library category, meaning it was judged "to be of significant quality that they stood above the norm." This made me realize one huge drawback of the online world - it's much more difficult to hang something like this on the refrigerator. Too bad for the kids who have to turn their homework in by email or Google Docs - they're missing out.



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