Dear diary

Review Article

2005-11-14T08:41:00.000-05:00

Yes Virginia, blogs do belong in Libraries
By Melissa Victoria Mazar

Review of Article from Ariadne:
Garrod, Penny. (2004, July). Weblogs: Do they belong in libraries? Ariadne issue 40 Regular Column. Retrieved November 5, 2005 from http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue40/public-libraries

In her article, Weblogs do they be long in Libraries?  Penny Garrod argues that blogging is becoming an important research tool for libraries, and provides a very basic overview about weblogs and how to get one. She provides some examples of how blogs are currently being used in libraries internationally and suggests they could be used in libraries to communicate with people at a local level. Her article does not stress the importance of this fairly new medium to libraries, nor does she look at the potential for blogs to change the general view of the library as an outdated source of accessing information. In light of Garrod’s article, the Guelph Public Library can overcome problems like the lack of support from citizens and city councilors, gain an active young adult population to the library, and create a bridge between libraries and education through blogging.

To use the Guelph Public Library as an example, many citizens are against the building of a new main branch because they do not believe that a new library is needed because of the internet. In fact, there is a major schism in Guelph between those that believe the library is important and those who do not. In chapter three, of Management Information Systems, a case study of K-mart revealed that Walmart’s success was due in part because of the software they developed that shipped new products automatically if they were out of stock. Walmart embraced new technology and as a result were better able to communicate with their customers from store to store. As a result, K-mart’s sales declined, they became known as a dated and old fashioned store, not up with current trends. In some cases, the library could be considered in the same position. A recent letter to the Guelph Tribune questioned the need for a new library in Guelph:

In light of the fact that in the next year, between Imperial Tobacco and ABB, 800 people will lose their jobs. I find it hard to believe this city really “needs” a new city hall at $38 million or a new library…What is the reasoning behind a new city hall? Will the current one not do? And in the age of computers and the wealth of information they provide, I would have thought the need for a new library a bit of a dated idea. I certainly don’t see the need, as I have never had any trouble getting through the “crowds” of people who are currently using the several branches we already have. (Cleveland, 2005)
.
The potential for libraries as a source for acquiring information from sources other than books is something that Garrod suggests in her article. Interestingly, weblogs have the potential for expanding the library virtually, if not physically. The more people use the library with these expanded services, the more likely they will accept that libraries are an important connection to the community and will then support the building of bigger library. Garrod also suggests that a weblog containing links to things like job opportunities would provide more community centered information.  The argument that Cleveland makes in his letter, opposing a new main branch, could be redirected. The library is a space where people who have lost their jobs can go for help to acquire new jobs. Blogs could be used as a messenger for information and as a way to speak directly to members at city hall. The library as host, could act as a neutral meeting place for residents and members of city council. Far from being outdated, the library like Walmart, who focused on the needs of its customers from store to store, has the capacity, with the use of blogs, to become much more focused on the specific needs of its city residents.

Secondly, Garrod points to some library blogs that have specific `teen’ pages but she never suggests that this is a potentially revolutionary way to attract the teen population to the library. In fact, many libraries are struggling to create specific teen spaces to meet with current trends in young adult literature, but the image of the library as uncool is still common among many teens (Meyer, 1999). For a long time, teens were virtually ignored as patrons, it has not been until very recently that libraries have begun developing programs and spaces specifically with teens in mind (Project, 2005). The Guelph Public Library is embracing the teen population; however, lack of space, forces teens to share space in the children’s department: A space they do not want to be in. One way to change this image would be to consider hosting a blog. The teen blog in the library could attract teens to a virtual space, specifically designed for them:

Modern technology which [teens] enjoy and perceive to be cool can be used to support and encourage reading. Weblogging in a controlled environment, can provide young people with a safe, shared Web space in which to develop writing skills and share experiences (Garrod, 2004 )

The result would be that the library would hopefully lose its image as being too geeky and a place for little kids. Another positive addition to blogging  would be as a way for teens to communicate one on one with librarians. For example, the library would be able to get feedback on what teens want and what they do not.  Garrod mentions that Sue Monk Kid, a writer, who was able to interact with kids from a school, and answer any questions they had about her book, The secret life of bees. This option is rich to potential teen authors, graphic novelists, and zine writers not only to expand their own market but an opportunity for teens to gain further insight into the books they enjoy and possibly provide them with opportunities to create their own stories. Thus, even without a physical space, the problems that many libraries face in attempting to attract the teen population to its doors, could be answered through blogs.

In her article, Garrod provides a general overview of the use of blogs in education, suggesting that children will gain a better understanding of the writing process because blogs are the new and easy way to publish. However, she again fails to see the potential for blogs as a way in which to provide better communication between libraries and schools. Blogs also have the potential to make the library more relevant by providing access to better research tools through blogging. At the Guelph Public Library, materials for certain subjects on the curriculum are more popular than others during different times of the year. Many students come into the library looking for materials that have already been borrowed because so many of the other students in Guelph are doing the same subject. The result is that patrons become frustrated with the library because the materials are not available. One way that this could be prevented would be with a library blog specifically for teachers to communicate with other teachers in the city, to ensure that books in the library are available to their students when they need them. This could be as simple as coordinating their subjects and when they teach them, to correspond to when the books are available in the library. Links could be added for more information on related topics. Parents and students would also be able to see what topics are most popular and choose accordingly. So not only do blogs provide school kids with opportunities for accessing a larger technological world as Garrod suggests, but also would provide local teachers and others in the community with better knowledge about what is going on in the schools. Libraries would become essential partners in the community, as well as providing better access to materials for their patrons.

Interestingly, Garrod never answers the question she puts forth in her article but her position is clear: blogging does belong in libraries, in fact many libraries, 544,000 at last count, are blogging. Does this make for a phenomenon or more importantly, does this make it a valid form for the access of information? Blogging is gaining momentum. More and more businesses, schools, libraries and universities are using this method because it is a cheap, easy and an accessible way to connect with others. More importantly, blogs have the capacity to connect citizens to their community. Moreover, a  lot of  local communities are lost due to technology and the modern world; in using blogs, this phenonmenon could potentially be thwarted by using technology to bring citizens back together.  The Guelph Public Library, and others like it, is on the verge of something potentially revolutionary, if weblogging is taken seriously as tool for virtual communication.

Works cited

Cleveland, J. (2005, November 8). We do not need a new library [Letter to the editor]. The Guelph Tribune, p. 7.

Garrod, Penny. (2004, July). Weblogs: Do they belong in libraries? Ariadne issue 40 Regular Column. Retrieved November 5, 2005 from http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue40/public-libraries

Gilham, Virginia. (2005, October). Where are we now?- Library Update. Mr. Dewey and friends: Newsletter of the Friends of the Guelph Public Library. Retrieved November 11, 2005, from http://www.friendsguelphlibrary.ca/docs/Newsletter/Fall2005.pdf

Laudon, J and K. Case Study: What happened to Kmart? Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm, Second Canadian Edition, Prentice-Hall, Toronto: 2005. pgs104-107

Meyer, E. (1999) The Coolness factor- ten libraries listen to youth
Urban library Council: Strenghtening the public library as an essential part of urban life. Retrieved November 13, 2005, from http://www.urbanlibraries.org/showcase/cool.

Project for public spaces. (2005) Teen Central at Burton Barr Library. In Community Builders: teens turning places around.  Retrieved November 13, 2005, from http://www.pps.org/tcb/teen_central.htm

Shallit, J. (1995, January 15). Librarians and Computers. Paper presented at the Ontario Library Association Conference on public networks and censorship. Retrieved November 11, 2005, http://www.swiss.ai.mit.edu/6805/articles/censorship/shallit-network-censorship-jan15-95

The Little Company that Did: Examining the importance of Blogger

2005-10-02T21:14:00.000-04:00

The Little Company that Did:
Examining the importance of Blogger
Despite the image of the blog as being nothing more than an online diary; Blogger’s user-friendliness, accessibility to all and free services have the potential to change the method in which we communicate. On the surface, Blogger is a very unassuming little product, created by three friends who launched it “for fun” in the summer of 1999 (Mead, 2000). Originally, blogging was invisioned as an easier way to interact with friends on-line (Mead, 2000). The image of blogs in the mainstream is still one of frivolity. (Mead, 2000). Blogs are basically diaries, people’s opinions but definitely not anything newsworthy. Andreas (Are blogs like diaries section, para.10), states, “the vast majority of blogs are self-centered and trivial. It's like reading someone's diary.” For example:

yeah, so today we went to Samba Brazil for lunch, and there was a newer girl there. I ordered the nachos (which were not very good this time) like I usually do and requested no sour cream. She was like "that's odd" and did this annoying giggle... (Andreas, Are blogs like diaries section, para.10)

Co-creator of Blogger, Meg Hourihan’s own blog was the object of an on-line New Yorker digital culture article entitled, “You’ve got blog: How to put your business, your boyfriend and your life on-line” by Rebecca Mead. The article talked a lot about Meg’s crush on another blogger and how they eventually met and fell in love. This type of blogging certainly does not seem to be newsworthy to anyone but the two that are falling in love. However, Meg and her crush, gained a wide audience of other bloggers. The cultish fame that the founders of blogger.com acquired is evident by the shrine blog created in their honour, entitled Pyra Shrine (Mead, 2000). The fact that people focused on her love life says more about how they could not take her seriously as a tech geek and had to turn it into a romance story. All of this is important, when you look at why traditional news media would discredit blogs as being frivolous and unnecessary.

A lot of people were surprised by the acquisition of blogger by google.com in 2003. Critics questioned why an internet search company would want access to blogs (Blogger.com)? Terms such as big brother and other all encompassing end of the world banter went back and forth on the internet. Again, blogger was dismissed as a company who was eaten up by the big guy. There are a lot of articles on the web discussing the evils of Google, and how it would infiltrate blogs, because it would be able to track who was visited what and where (Olsen, Kane, 2003). This did not happen. This year, Google.com announced it had created a new search tool just for blogs. Blog search on Google.com not only allows easier access to blogs, it erases the fears that google would give favour to blogger.com in its ranking system (Andreas). The marriage between google and blogger.com did raise eyebrows at the time because people still did not take Blogger all that seriously (Sherman, 2005). That being said, Google’s purchase of Blogger.com helped push blogs and blogging into the mainstream (Moschella, 2003).

Bloggers became more well-known through the toppling of a major news story on 60 minutes (Wikepedia). Traditional news sources began to be looked at more critically. The advent of the blog and its popularity has created a community of voices that are generally not heard from in mainstream culture media (Kirkpatrick, Roth, 2002). However, their power lies in their sheer numbers. Blogger is important because it is the biggest and most well-known service for blogs (Jelling). Just like the invention of the Gutenberg press, blogs have the potential to change the way we access information. However, just like the Gutenberg press, it also encountered resistance from those with power. The invention of the Gutenberg press allowed wider distribution of information in Europe. The printing press allowed books to be printed more quickly and cheaply. Now the advent of the blog makes publishing and accessing information even easier. Now you do not need a physical printing press, you just need access to a computer to start a blog and publish. Thus, the traditional news media are rightly upset. They are being taken over by people who are not supposed to know anything. The story about Dan Rather is so shocking because it demonstrates that we often blindly accept that the news we are given is fact. Blogs allow us to create a community in which we can hash out what we believe to be truth and what is false. The power has been taken away from big news sources. The masses are forcing traditional news media to be honest and tell the truth. The fact that Dan Rather and CBS apologized for the mistake emphasizes that blogging had become mainstream and big corporations like CBS could not close their eyes to it anymore (Kirkpatrick, Roth, 2004).

Blogger, the little company that became “a little bigger,”(Blogger, about section, para. 1) when it was bought by Google, continues at least on the surface, to hold the same ideals it started with (blogger.com). The service is still free to anyone “with an email address and a password” (blogger.com). It is easy to use, so even if you are not a computer programmer, you can still have a web page. The idea of the blog as irrelevant because of the proliferation of bloggers who post pictures of their cats is still prevalent (Andreas). Even one of the co-founders, Evan Williams was disappointed with some of the drivel that is common on blogs, stating "It's like being frustrated with your kid, when you know he could be doing so much more” (Mead, 2002, para.11). There is so much potential” and so much that still can be done with this new tool, that is yet undiscovered. In a sense, even the co-founders are dismissing the bloggers as “kids” that need to stop playing and grow up and do something more important and worthwhile. One idea, the co-founders of Blogger would like to see is Blogger.com installed on the intranets of large companies to make it easier to share information (Mead, 2002). Other ideas would be blogs in classrooms and universities. Blogs as links between universities and libraries (Mazar, 2005) and blogs as a worthy news source (Mooney, 2003). Like the advent of the printing press, blogs offer us a radical change in the way we get and consume information, and for those that ignore it, they will almost surely be left in the past.

Works cited

Blogger.com, The Story of Blogger.com [Electronic Media]retrieved September 29, 2005 from http://www.blogger.com/about

Jelling, J. What is Blogger.com [Eletronic Media] Sidetube. Retrieved September 30, 2005, from http://www.sitetube.com/google-tools-services/what-is-blogger-com.shtml
Kahney, L (2003). Why did Google want Blogger? [Eletronic Media]. Wired News. Retrieved September 29, 2005, from http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,57754,00,html
Kirkpatrick, D, Roth, D. (2004) Why There’s no Escaping the Blog: Freewheeling bloggers can boost your product—or destroy it. Either way, they've become a force business can't afford to ignore [Eletronic version] Fortune. Retrieved September 29, 2005, from http://www.fortune.com/fortune/print/0,15935,1011763,00.html
Mazar, R. (2005) Library- Issues [Electronic Media]. Random Access Mazar (Blog), Retrieved October 2, 2005, from http://www.mazar.ca
Mead, R. (2000) You’ve got blog: How to put your business, your boyfriend, and your life on-line [Electric version]. The New Yorker, Retrieved September 29, 2005, from http://www.rebeccamead.com/2000_11_13_art_blog.htm
Mooney, C. (2003) How blogging changed journalism—almost [Electronic Media] post-gazette. Retrieved September, 29, 2005, from
http://www.post-gazette.com/forum/comm/20030202edmoon02p1.asp
Moschella,, D (2003) Blogs bring content alternative [Electronic Media]. Computer World. Retrieved September, 29 2005, from http:www.computerworld.com/news/2003/story10,11280,80907,00.html
Olsen, S, Kane, M. (2003). Reasurance’ a key word as Google grows [Electronic Media] CNet News.com. Retrieved September 29, 2005, from http://news.com.com/2100-1032-990685.html
Sherman, C. (2005) Google launches Industrial Strength Blog Seach [Eletronic Media] SearchEngineWatch. Retrieved October 1, 2005, from http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3548411
Sullivan, D (2003, March 4). Google throws hat into the Textual Advertising Ring.[Electronic Media]. Search Engine Watch Retrieved September 29, 2005, from http://searchenginewatch.com/sereport/article.phpl/2183531
Wharton. (2005). The future of blogging. [Electronic Media] CNet News.com. Retrieved September 29, 2005,from http://news.com.com/The+future+of+blogging/2030-1069_3-5654288.html

Wikepedia,, Rathergate[Electronic Media] retrieved September 29, 2005 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rathergate

textbook rant

2005-09-20T09:34:00.000-04:00

The purpose of this blog is for a library school computer course. I hope to become more comfortable around computers, and what they can do and I am interested in the whole on-line approach to learning. I am impressed with the course calendar. I love that we can view clips, listen to radio broadcasts, and check out websites of interest, all at our fingertips! I only wish the course textbook was as easy to get my hands on.

Interestingly, chapter 3 of our textbook, waxes on about synergy and efficiency within a corporation through computers; yet, I had to run around in a circle trying to obtain a photocopy of the chapter from the textbook. How is that effecient? Could the authors not be as progressive as the organizations they talk about and create a website for the book? Maybe they did and I am completely wrong.

Does anyone else find that the race for the textbook in the library after class seem a tad frustating compared to the easy access to all the other information that is offered. Is this just me or is it just the way university courses have to be. Is the competition for recources part of the learning process? There must be a way to make this easier. I am just wondering.

melissa

Helen Oxenbury

2005-09-18T21:26:00.000-04:00

This is a mouse by Helen Oxenbury

2005-09-18T13:35:00.000-04:00

max as a turtle