I had no real problem with setting up a blog even though my previous experience was only as an occasional reader. They have made the steps in creating basic blogs very intuitive and posting very comfortable. My greatest challenge when if comes to any sort of composition has always been settling on a title for the piece and a suitable pseudonym to write under.
When it comes to a library's position on a blog, blogs fall into the problematic realm of all electronic resources. There are too many that are too frequently updated to be consistently analyzed. I think blogs about a single underlying topic are easier to get handle on and less prone to tangential posts. Personal blogs tend to read like an open diary to world. All blogs (even this one) are well within the realm of editorial content. This mean that the accuracy, authority, and even plain content are the responsibility of the blog's author and some bloggers will be more rigorous in this area than others. Unlike with newspaper editorials, the opinions presented are not balanced by other, dissenting opinions or ideas unless the author chooses to present them. In this sense, a blogger (and his audience) will only get as much out of the blog as is invested in it
Interesting post. It's true that blogs are generally more conversational in tone than authoritative, but as you say, there is a difference between personal and organizational blogs. If the latter, you do need to be careful to maintain balance. That being said, a library that offers book reviews is offering their opinion, but an expert one, and that can be valuable.
ReplyDeleteGreat job, I like the thought you put into this.