LIR HEANet User Group for Libraries Seminar ~ Emerging Technologies for Libraries and Education ~ 8th Dec 2006
Libraries and Blogs: new communication tools for academic librariansJosh Clark, University College Dublin
Diarmuid Stokes, UCD
UCD Library An Coláiste Ollscoil, Baile Átha Cliath
Leabharlann UCD
What is a Blog?
• from the term “Web log” invented by Jorn Barger in 1997
• A website that contains entries, or “posts”, displayed in reverse chronological order
• Posts often contain text, images, video and links to other websites
• Readers can comment on posts, making it an interactive experience
Blogs can be many different things….
• Personal diary or journal
• News and information service
• Ongoing project report
• Photo gallery
• Collection of links
• Etc.
Why Blog?
• Communication
• Collaboration
• Free and (relatively) simple!
• Don’t need to be a “techie”
• Effective Broadcast tool
Why Blog?
• Public relations & library marketing tool
• Can be more dynamic than your website
• Take advantage of “Web 2.0”
• Attract and engage younger users
(“digital natives”, or “millennials”)
UCD Science Library Blog<http://ucdscience.blogspot.com>
• Created in April 2005
• Uses Blogger software (free)
• Originally 2 librarians, now 3 team members
• (Try to) update regularly (150+ posts so far)
• Covers all sciences
UCD Science blog screenshot here
Reasons for creating our blog
• Communicating science library news and events
• Advertising training sessions
• Announcing new e-resources (especially IReL!)
• Recent acquisitions (monographs and journals)
• Free resources on the web
Our Target Audience
• Students of all science subjects
• Science staff (academics)
• The wider academic library community(?)
Statistics• We have an RSS feed AND a web counter
• 59 subscribers(?)
Statistics
RSS Feeds
StatisticsSitemeter – free statistical service that tracks
where the viewers are coming from….
Notes on updating…
• Try to update regularly
• Always something to post
• Work as a team
• Collaboration helps!
Notes on updating…
SO…..
feeling
UNDER PRESSURE
to post?
Why
Not
Collaborate?
Marketing your library blog…
• It’s the key to success!
• Include in your library orientation & information skills sessions
• email your users (academic staff)
• Why not include your blog URL in your email signature?
Marketing your library blog
• Advertise on your library website and/or newsletter
• Include a link from your subject portal(s)
• Create posters for your library
• Place your blog on blog directories, i.e. Technorati
Overall Effectiveness?
• Positive feedback from academic staff
• Employing free statistical software
• Showing hits from all over the world (including UCD!)
• Still, could use more marketing…
Overall Effectiveness?
• We’re also referenced in
Slebodnik, Maribeth. Marketing and Outreach for Science & Technology Libraries: Selected Resources. Issues in Science & Technology Librarianship. No. 45, Winter 2006.
Found at:
<http://www.istl.org/06-winter/internet2.html>
Overall Effectiveness?
Mentioned by Michael Stephens of
“Tame the Web”
http://www.tametheweb.com
Overall Effectiveness?
Some Irish academic blogs
• University College Dublin (academic staff blog) http://www.podvet.com/blogs/
• University of Limerick Library http://ullb.blogspot.com/
• Dundalk Institute of Technology Library http://dundalkinstitute.library-blogs.net/
•http://www.podvet.com/blogs/
Examples from the wider world
Some Types:
• Subject specific
• Acquisitions/Cataloguing
• Systems
• ILL
• General library news
• Collaborative within the profession
Subject-Specific
Acquisitions
Systems
InterLibrary Loans
Library News (General)
Collaborative Blog across distances
Blog Directories
Blog Directory Wiki
<http://www.blogwithoutalibrary.net>
Library & Information Science Wiki
http://liswiki.org/wiki/Weblogs
Technorati
http://www.technorati.com/
THANK YOU!
Josh Clark Tel: 01 716 7646email: [email protected]
Diarmuid Stokes Tel: 01 716 6207email: [email protected]
University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4
