Working with IFTTT & Blogs

The IFTTT - aka If This Then That - app has been patiently residing on my iPhone with other web resources, many which have been ignored for an extended period of time. Waffling about actual need for the service,  I have been following conversations in the twitter-sphere (yes, lurking) regarding ease of use and the variety of channels available. After being invited to participate in a faculty college session on social media resources being used personally and professionally, I was surprised by the number of attendees who did not know the IRC had a blog, twitter account, or Pinterest site. I decided it was time to explore ways to make these accounts work together.

I signed up for an account (free) and determined the simplest way to begin was having IRC blog posts automatically Tweet to the IRC account when published. Blogger, the platform used for the IRC blog, is one of the available channels. After providing login credentials for the IRC blog and twitter accounts, I created a recipe; new posts published to the IRC News and information blog are tweeted to @IRCaulibrary.  After determining what text and post information (title, content, URL) should accompany the tweet, I also decided to include the hashtag #IRCblog. The first entry posted with new juvenile books:

From the IRC News Blog: Juvenile Books: Fiction http://t.co/mqFw8hBKGh The following new books have been added to the juvenile circula...
— IRC - AU Library (@IRCaulibrary) August 29, 2013

With post title and content ingredients in place, the hashtag did not display. I adjusted the recipe and removed the content component leaving text, post title, URL, and hashtag in place for the second juvenile books blog post.

From the IRC News Blog: Juvenile Books: Fiction http://t.co/M4jogdbC8S #IRCblog
— IRC - AU Library (@IRCaulibrary) August 29, 2013

The hashtag was visible, but without accompanying post information it lacked interest; I missed the narrative. I made a 'final' recipe adjustment and moved the hashtag directly after the text and returned the content element. The next blog post tweeted picture books added to the collection.

From the IRC News Blog #IRCblog Juvenile Books: Picture Books The following new books have been added to the ju... http://t.co/mRAKaFPE25
— IRC - AU Library (@IRCaulibrary) August 29, 2013

This is the current IFTTT recipe for published IRC blog posts to automatically tweet.  I've watched it display on the library digital sign for a few days now and like the updated content it presents. That said there's no telling when I may change my mind again.

Weekly reader wrap-up

The sheer number of posts in my reader this week was astounding. After several days break from all things computer (with the exception of my online classes) I logged in Tuesday morning and was greeted with 1200+ unread feeds. Quantity does not equal quality; I admit to ruthlessly weeding and deleting posts to reach a manageable number. Then came the web equivalent of making copies of articles I wanted to read later and passing along the journal, I added posts to my delicious account and selected a few to post here. The result is this short, technology related group of posts:

• Search Engine History
  "We looked at the history of the crawlers and if you thought there was only Google, Yahoo and Bing this infographic will show you how wrong you are. For the Internet nerds among us, let this infographic take you on a trip down memory lane." -- Franky Branckaute, Performancing, 10/20/10.


• Student Dog Helps Students Get Organized
  "Student Dog is a freeware application that will help students stay organized. It will help students manage and organize their tasks in a more efficient manner. Managing and organizing your tasks will lead to better planning and actions. To put it in simple terms, this application will make your student life more simple." --Debaditya Chakravorty , Lost in Technology, 10/20/10
  


• OJC Technologies chosen to oversee ALA website migration to Drupal
  “Moving the ALA website to Drupal aligns us with libraries’ community-focused ideals. ALA will be able to engage with its almost 7 million website visitors in a lively way. Of key importance, member-volunteers who assist with the creation and maintenance of content will find it much easier to work in Drupal,” said Aaron Dobbs, the chair of the ALA Website Advisory Committee (WAC). -- ALA News, 10/19/2010


• Media, Rapid Authoring, Teaching, and 'Where Good Ideas Come From'
  "The other thought I had after watching the video is that this is the sort of work I want our students to be able to accomplish. Shouldn't our students learn to communicate visually and to tell stories with video, in the same way they learn with text? No 5 minute review or synthesis of Johnson's book can ever be as compelling as the video below - sometimes video is the most persuasive way to communicate." -- Joshua Kim, Technology and Learning, BlogU, Inside Higher Ed, 10/21/10

I've been working with Google Docs this week and hope to share my new favorite option, forms, next week.

Weekly reader wrap-up

As an academic librarian in Ohio, one of the more interesting and important announcement / article links in my reader this week was from the OhioLINK What's New Blog:

• New Executive Director for OhioLINK Announced
  "Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric D. Fingerhut announced Thursday, September 30th that Jeffrey G. Trzeciak has been selected as the next Director of OhioLINK. He was nominated by the OhioLINK executive director search committee, which was formed on March 17, 2010, and co-chaired by Lev Gonick of Case Western Reserve University and Dr. Victoria Montavan of the University of Cincinnati" -- OhioLINK What's New, Zoe Stewart-Marshall (9/30/10)

More information about this announcement:

• Chancellor Fingerhut Announces Jeffrey G. Trzeciak as Director of OhioLINK
• Moving On, Mcmaster University Library, University Librarian

I need to stretch the term "weekly" a bit this week, the first entry is an article from last Friday (9/24) afternoon. It caught my attention because we discussed the idea of having a few Kindles in the library briefly in a staff meeting a few weeks ago after an update on OhioLINK's digital text book initiative. The remaining blog posts caught my attention for one reason or another (weeding and bad hair) throughout the week.

• Why There's No "Kindle" Freedom in Libraries
  "We're shifting to a publishing economy that makes sharing illegal. If you can afford it, a Kindle delivers books to you faster than any library has, and much more simply. Libraries are working with companies like Overdrive to license and share music and books, but the most popular platforms won't play with libraries, and these alternate systems cost a lot - before you even pay for content - and frustrate those who would rather use their own devices and think their libraries are being stupid and backward by not using the popular platforms." -- Inside Higher Ed,Library Babel Fish, Barbara Fisher (9/24/10)
• Half the Books are Checking Out Permanently
  "The average book in an academic research library is only checked out once every 50 years. That is why Library Dean James Bracken is looking to reduce the library’s in-house collection by 50 percent." -- Kentwired.com, Frank Yonkof (9/22/10)
• Can't Get Out of Your Own Way, Me Neither
  "It's one of those days: I can't believe how trapped I feel, how overwhelming every task appears, and how lousy my hair looks. It's all tangled together, of course, this sense of being unequal to the task of making it through the day." -- Brainstorm, Gina Barreca (9/28/10)
• Libraries Make it Personal
  "At a time when technology is said to be creating a gulf between librarians and students, a handful of libraries are trying to make their relationships with undergraduates a bit more personal." -- Inside Higher Ed, Steve Kolowich (9/28/10)
• Sudden Thoughts and Second Thoughts
  What's the Biggest Mistake You've Made as a Leader
  "It’s a long road and hard work becoming an effective leader, whether you are responsible for the vision and direction of a library, a single unit or program within the library that needs leadership for it to survive, or leading your colleagues in an association effort." -- ACRLog, StevenB (9/29/10)
• The Biggest Mistake a Leader Can Make (Video)
  Imagining the Future of Leadership (Series)
  "Through Imagining the Future of Leadership, a symposium at the Harvard Business School and accompanying blog series, expert thinkers gathered to investigate what is necessary today to develop the leaders we need for tomorrow. "-- Harvard Buisness Review Blogs (8/31/10)

This last one isn't a blog feed, it's a Facebook link and definitely fun ...

• Portland's Heathman Hotel Library is One of a Kind
  "Guests who wander up to the Heathman Hotel's mezzanine discover one of the most exclusive libraries in the country: 4,000 volumes, all signed by the author and most of them first editions." -- The Oregoinan, Tom Hallman Jr. (9/21/10)
  

Bloglines reliant

I love my Bloglines account; even if I don't read every post every day, it is one of the 2.0 tools I rely upon for news and information. Sure, there is duplication between the blogs I follow and Facebook pages where I have "become a fan," but I am comfortably technology old school enough (circa 2005) to stick with Bloglines for my feed needs. It comes as no surprise I was a unhappy to see the colorful maintenance screen this morning.

I tried again early afternoon, to no avail, then succumbed to curiosity and Googled; it seems I missed an announcement last week (4/13):

"The Bloglines Plumber will be back in action as the Bloglines undergoes some routine site maintenance from 4am PT April 22th to 1am PT April 23th. We assure you that the process will be completed quickly and all will be back to normal. Thanks for using Bloglines and we apologize for any temporary inconvenience..."

Now I am pondering my dependence on this technology and wondering why I don't have a backup plan in place with Google Reader. Maybe a better question is before the immediacy of blog updates, how did I retrieve this information?

The Library Blog Awards

Irony is a funny thing (ha-ha), it can be glaringly obvious or quietly humorous. For example, this afternoon I was instructing a student regarding correct use of the IRC's desktop laminator. During our brief discussion, I was careful to highlight the importance of placing the project and film inside the carrier pouch before running it through the machine. Though the carrier pouch is a safety net, it is not required for successful usage, once or twice a term the laminating film gets stuck in the machine resulting in an accordion-like end result for the project. It's not pretty. I can personally vouch that statement as after the student left I laminated my own project sans carrier and it is now in the trash bearing a striking resemblance to a paper-fan folded by a first grader.

Earlier today I published a post with an embedded Muppet Studio video. More for fun than academic library oriented, it was my cheerful tone for April 1st. After posting I continued wading through accumulated email and found a message titled "The Library Blog Awards."

Congratulations. Your blog has been nominated for a Library Blog Award by readers of it. You should be thrilled so many think so much of what you have to say. You are among a number of nominees that our judges will consider. Best of luck to you. We hope that our awards will publicize the most interesting, entertaining and provocative library blogs out there. -- Peter Tobey, Salem Press

Sincere thanks to the reader(s) who took time to nominate Library Cloud for this award. I spread the good news via email to my fellow blog contributors via email a short time ago. With the spring library conference and workshop season in full swing, I am sure we will have much to contribute to the blogosphere in the coming days.

For instance, my new HP netbook arrived today and I will be taking it on a test run when I present and attend Computers in Libraries 2010 ... but that is another blog post and topic for another day.

Grants Available - Deadlines Looming!

The State Library of Ohio has sent out a reminder about their Blog which lists grants.

"BlogJunction Ohio has a category for posting grant opportunities. Some of the current listings have deadlines coming up soon.

I encourage you to check out the posts, set up an RSS feed so that you get up-to-date postings, and share information about other funding opportunities."

- Marsha McDevitt-Stredney -

http://webjunctionworks.org/oh/blog/index.php/category/ohgrantopp/

Batting 1000

I missed the third anniversary of my first library blog earlier this summer (it was June 10th), but this morning I noticed something more interesting. Today marks the 1000th post for my Instructional Resource Center Blog. While not overly surprised the post in question details new juvenile books added to the collection, nor concerned it took three years to get to this point, I admit a tiny part of me is amazed the blog has lasted three years. The first official post, I specify "official" because until post option was available allowing users to schedule post dates, the IRC blog had one lonely post dated 2003 that refused to be changed, was The New IRC Collection Blog published June 10, 2005.

"Welcome to the Instructional Resource Center Collection Blog! Beginning with the fall 2005 academic school year, this blog will replace the yearly book lists published on the IRC web page. Items, both circulating and reference, will be entered as they are cataloged and available for use. Each entry will have an accompanying heading, specific to the genre. Please note that anyone with a specific book request will continue to be personally notified via email when the books arrive."

While this blog endeavor was specifically created for outreach and information, it had the exciting dual purpose - a perk - of being a time saver for me. Instead of carving out time to create collection lists at the end of the year, I was able to present new books as soon as I had the slips from technical services. With the blog I am able to categorize purchases added to the IRC, education, and juvenile collections, and tag them for ease of use. I have also quit flooding faculty member email inboxes with notifications and provided them access to new book lists at their leisure.

The blog has evolved somewhat with color, widgets, photographs, search boxes, and links to library web page and other library blogs. And, I do post IRC hours, technology updates, and basic news and information on an as needed basis. But it's main function and purpose remains the same ... a time saving technology to present collection development information and market the IRC. Here's hoping the technology remains viable for another few posts.

Spring Cleaning

Sara's post, Spring is in the air, along with a few days of watching students clean out dorm rooms (bring those books back to the library!), files and binders, network drives, and flash drives, compelled me to make the leap to spring cleaning my Bloglines account. I periodically weed the garden, weed library and IRC collections, and sometimes when I'm feeling adventurous I weed my IE bookmarks. But in the last year or so I have only added blogs to my reader, I have not removed ones I no longer read or have become stagnant. Viewing my plethora of updated feeds after lunch, I spent a few minutes weeding my Bloglines account.

Naturally, because I could not help myself, I put together a short list of criteria to speed things along. I did not let the number of other people subscribed to a blog sway me (no peer pressure) and nor did I consider what I should read verses what I wanted to read. I removed:

• Blogs without posts in the last six months
• Blogs I routinely preview but do not read
• Blogs that no longer were of interest
• Blogs that I felt had become tired

In about fifteen minutes - and with little remorse - I removed twenty blogs from my reader; I now have a more manageable number of resources with 58. A bit of irony, one of the first blogs I removed detailed ten tips for better blogging in the new year with the first resolution noted was to create a schedule for posting. It was the most recent post with a date of January 3, 2008.

Now I am ready to add new blogs to my feed reader!

Wondering about the srping flowers? The tulips pictured above are on the AU campus, near the library. The campus is especially colorful during the spring as we ready for graduation.

Better late than never

Over at Walt at Random, in early January blog posts and subsequent discussion centered around Walt Crawford's new book Academic Library Blogs: 231 Examples. My curiosity was tweaked when a January 19th post, Academic Library Blogs: Who's Included, presented an alphabetical listing of the blogs included the (okay, my) IRC blog at Ashland University Library was named. After ordering the book for our library, having the wrong blog book arrive necessitating return, and the correct book still on order from Yankee, I ordered the book for myself through Amazon; it arrived today.

I have not yet read the book, but did turn quickly to the page describing the Instructional Resource Center Blog, Ashland University Library (p. 155 for those interested). With one notable exception, a comment stating "no apparent links from either home page," all is well. The IRC blog is linked from both the IRC what's new page and IRC site map. I am looking forward to reading the information presented on other academic library blogs, as well as the metrics and standouts of each. As we continue to work on a new library web page, this title will provide resources for what other academic libraries are doing with their blogs.

Dissention in the ranks

I've been reading folks' library blogs and they are interesting, to say the least. The names of the people who post are very creative and often bordering on risque. The topics that are covered range from informative and instructional to ranting and raving about lack of training, preparation or nasty coworkers/patrons. I must say, I would be curious to see how my staff might decribe their working conditions in our library. True, we are small and we often have to take in stride our quirks, crises and plain bad days. But I often ask in evaluations what is needed to be able to do their job - more specialized training, learn something new to enhance their professional development, going to school to to earn a degree, etc. I also ask what I could do to make their job easier or better - better directions, more communication, more flexibility, clearer instructions, leave them alone, jump in the lake, etc. Regardless, I try to allow the opportunity for input, even if it is during an evaluation.



I was reading the Annoyed Librarian blog on courses that people wished they had offered in library school. I found some of the "descriptions" to be hilarious and often on the mark. I found myself saying "yeah, that would have been a good one to have learned about" or "man, the poster really has had some bad experiences, work environments, etc." The entry obviously struck a chord - there were about 66 replies as of this morning. I certainly didn't have all the answers or the experience when I was hired; I learned many aspects on the job. I learned how to respond to people both in writing and verbally in a way that didn't raise hackles or cause ill will. I learned that I didn't know everything and sometimes the old way is just not better.

I hope that all our new library professionals keep that in mind - even years of being in the trenches does not always make you the authority just as coming straight out of grad school does not give you the right to criticize mindlessly without first learning how it works in the first place.

Blog Etiquette

I just read the September issue of Campus Technology last night and in it was an a column about blogging. The Editor-in-Chief, Katherine Grayson, was commenting on an IT blog that was not getting read. She offered some suggestions, which I thought were useful for bloggers to remember (which now means me!). The particular blog was intended to mark the progress of a construction project, but no one was reading it. She mentioned some good points, such as many blogs are long- winded and not organized for easy retrieval of info. Being succinct, using bullets, boxes, headlines and other editorial type features would be more helpful and allows readers to see quickly what was new. See the complete article at http://www.campustechnology.com/articles/49914/

It's Blog Day 2007

Library Garden had a post today reminding readers today is the Third Annual Blog Day. What is Blog Day; I missed it last year, but do remember reading about it and possibly posting late? The Blog Day 2007 website defines the event:

BlogDay was created with the belief that bloggers should have one day dedicated to getting to know other bloggers from other countries and areas of interest. On that day Bloggers will recommend other blogs to their blog visitors. With the goal in mind, on this day every blogger will post a recommendation of 5 new blogs. This way, all blog readers will find themselves leaping around and discovering new, previously unknown blogs.

I am not a fan of playing blog tag and realize that is the basic point of having Blog Day. I will, however, post the five newest library and technology themed blogs I have added to my Bloglines account this summer. So in no particular order:

• Lifehacker, Tips and Downloads for Getting Things Done
  "Lifehacker points out software downloads, web sites, do-it-yourself projects, how-to's, tutorials, shortcuts and tips for going beyond the default settings and getting things done in the most clever, unexpected and efficient ways. Think of Lifehacker as self-help for geeks."

• Information Wants to Be Free
  "A librarian, writer and tech geek reflecting on the profession and the tools we use to serve our patrons."

• YALSA Blog
  ALA's Young Adult Library Services Association Blog

• Cranky Geeks
  "John C. Dvorak, whose crankiness knows no bounds, is a contributing editor of PC Magazine, for which he has been writing two columns, including the popular Inside Track, since 1986. "

• Compiler - Monkey Bites
  "Wired.com's Compiler blog is everything you need to know about software that makes the web tick — and how you can put it to use on your own website and digital media projects. By Wired News Senior Editor Michael Calore and Wired News blogger Scott Gilbertson."

With the campus change to MS Office 2007 this summer, the new blogs on my list are more heavily technology oriented than library. I also admit to letting my Bloglines account stagnate somewhat instead of adding interesting new reading. I will tag this post with the requisite Blog Day 2007 Technorati tag and look to see what others are reading.

Anything to recommend?

Tags: Blog Day 2007, Blogging, Library blogs, Technology blogs

Blogging librarians

Are you a librarian that blogs? Are you interested in learning more about the librarian blogosphere? If so, take a few minutes and complete a survey developed by Meredith Farkas, author of the Information Wants to be Free Blog:

“If you consider yourself a “biblioblogger,” please consider taking this survey and pass the word on to other library-related bloggers. The more people who fill it out, the better picture we will have of the characteristics of the library blogosphere. I’m looking for both people in the profession who have blogs and people who blog at their library as part of an official library blog. You don’t have to have an MLS to be a part of the survey and you don’t have to work in a traditional library setting. If you consider yourself a part of the profession and you blog, please do take part. I’ll probably keep the survey open for four weeks.” (Farkas, 7/29/07)

Check out the 2007 Survey of the Biblioblogsphere. Thanks to Walt at Random for pointing readers to this information in his post: Surveying the State of Liblogs.

Tags: Meredith Farkas, 2007 Survey of the Biblioblogosphere, Librarians & Blogs, Librarians who blog

A new sidebar widget

Hidden amongst the ALA Conference postings is this brief explanation of a new sidebar widget for Library Cloud. The Technorati Blog Widget works in conjunction with Technorati Tags added to our posts to create the Top Tags on Library Cloud displayed in the sidebar. This cloud differs somewhat from both the ZoomCloud already in place; it feeds from all of the words in our posts, and the Blogger post labels added by both intrepid Library Cloud bloggers.


Tags: Sidebar widget, Technorati Tag Cloud, Blog Widgets, Tehnorati Widgets

ALA: Poster Sessions

This year marked the 26th Annual ALA Poster Session. The 2007 Annual Poster Session Abstracts booklet presents a history of the sessions stating that they "cover a broad range of subjects grouped according to such areas as management, collection development, technology, reference, and library services to special groups." (More information about poster sessions may be found here.)

There were six specific sessions of twenty posters scheduled throughout a three day period, June 23rd - 25th, totalling 120 posters of different ideas and topics from a diverse group of presenters. Poster sessions were in the exhibit hall, and even though a last minute change of location from one end of the hall to the other made finding them a bit challenging, I was very pleased with the interest generated.

My first poster session, Keep Blogging Along: Side by Side Library Blogs, was 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 24th, part of Poster Session IV: Outreach: Posters on Interlibrary Cooperation, Library Services to Special Groups, and Reference, and Information Services.



Presenting a poster is a great opportunity to converse one-on-one with people who are interested in your session topic. I had occasion to talk at length with current and budding bloggers about projects that worked, ones that did not live up to their potential, and how to determine the difference. There was significant interest in the blog widgets, particularly in how I was using LibraryThing in conjunction with the library specific blogs in IRC (unbeknownst to me, there was a session prior to poster time slot featuring a speaker from LibraryThing), as well as time management and blog purpose.

A Tale of Collaboration: The Art of the Picture Book Conference was 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Monday, June 25, part of Session V: Connections: Posters on Cooperation with Non-Library Institutions and Agencies, Interlibrary Loan, Library Use Instruction, and Public Awareness.



Thanks to everyone who stopped to talk and my apologies, again, to the last dozen or so people who did not get one of the blog poster session information/handout CD's. As promised, I have posted the CD information from both sessions online:

• Keep Blogging Along: Side By Side Library Blogs
• A Tale of Collaboration: The Art of the Picture Book Conference

Tags: 2007 ALA Annual Washington, D.C., Poster sessions, ALA, Academic Library Blogs, Academic Libraries and collaboration

Blog header images

I have been preparing screen shots for my blog-themed poster presentation at ALA and pondering a way to add the IRC logo to the IRC Blog. While I have changed the blog colors to match the IRC web page color palette, the logo would provide a nice visual element currently missing. I knew it was an achievable goal, I did it here. But to insert the Library Cloud logo it was necessary to mess (a technical term) with the blog html and then find a way to access the picture. Doable, but cumbersome, and not suffice for my current needs; I wanted to keep the deep purple background as a frame for the IRC logo by inserting it into the existing page element as opposed to replacing it as I did here. I reasoned that with the new "drop and drag" options accompanying updated Blogger templates there had to be a better way. There was!

I discovered a new option, at least a new to me option, in Configure Header. Choosing to change an existing header, users are able to add images by either uploading from a computer or linking to an existing online image. Once the image is added placement options - behind title and description - and - instead of title and description -are available to personalize the selection.

I needed to adjust the size of my logo/image, it was bigger than the allotted space and bled out over the background, but was able to add the IRC logo to the blog header quickly and without any problems. I chose the instead of title and description option, but left the blog title showing. Now the blog title is not on the blog, but does remain on my dashboard.

With some irony, a new Blogger Buzz feed was present in my Bloglines account this morning. It was a post from Pete at Blogger Buzz: Learn How to Add an Image to Your Blogs Header.

Tags: Blogger,Blogger header images, Academic library blogs, Blogger Buzz

I am an "Omnivore"

Catching up on my bloglines account this afternoon I found yet another interesting post from Walt at Random; Lackluster veteran: Bias, much? concerning a Pew Internet report that includes a quiz that promises to help me determine what kind of information technology user I am. Since I am a technology sucker for this type of online quiz, I recently took a blogthings quiz and found out I am a chocolate cake, I did answer the questions honestly. Of course, since I could continue to take the quiz as often as I wanted, making it easy to manipulate the results, it does give one pause.

The quiz in question is called an Internet Typology Quiz and was introduced accordingly:

"Do you cringe when your cell phone rings? Do you suffer from withdrawal when you can't check your Blackberry? Do you rush to post your vacation video to your Web site? The questions below allow you to place yourself in one of the categories in the Pew Internet Project's Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users. To identify the typology group to which you belong, please answer the questions below. When you press the 'Calculate MyResults' button, a new page will tell you in which group you fit, along with a description of the general characteristics of that group." (Pew/Internet, 5/7/07)

My quiz results suggest I am most closely related to an "Omnivore." That's all well and good, but since the basic "who are they" umbrella definition of the Omnivore category suggests I am young (uh-huh), ethnically diverse (no), male (no again), and should have a median age of 28 (smiles only), I beg to differ. I do find it interesting that 42% of people in this category are students. Working with students in the IRC on a daily basis I spend a lot of time with their technology questions as well. To be fair, the results came back with a disclaimer that while I closely resemble an Omnivore, "this does not mean that you (I) necessarily fit every group characteristic." While I do have a digital camera and have watched TV online, it did not take into account my intense dislike of cell phones (but I do have and use one).

I guess it could be said in true Omnivore fashion I took the quiz, posted the results here, blogged about it for all asunder, and provided links for anyone else who may be interested.

But I still don't particularly like cell phones.

Tags: Pew Internet, Interent Typology Quiz, Blogthings

Blogging articles

Early last week I read two different articles regarding blogging and employment. The first, an article in School Library Journal (April 2007) discusses Five Reasons Not to Blog, the second; an article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette (4/22/07), a reprint from the Wall Street Journal Online, How Blogging Can Help You Get a New Job highlights the usefulness of a blog during job searching. Both articles present valid arguments concerning blogging as a professional and how to approach the call to blog. However, both articles also present different viewpoints regarding the actual use of said blog.

Teachers and librarians are using blogging professionally and in the classroom as a tool for learning. You only have to take a quick look at Will Richardson’s blog Weblogg-ed to see how truly innovative teachers are harnessing Web 2.0 technologies to expand the traditional classroom. But, as Chris Harris mentions in his article Five Reasons Not to Blog, “unfortunately, some educators should have thought twice before answering the call to post.” Here are the five reasons presented:

• “I want to give them a piece of my mind.”
• “Oh, the stories I could tell.”
• “I think I can find some time at school …”
• “Nobody will find out that it’s me.”
• “It’s OK, I will keep it private.”

Sarah Needleman, author of How Blogging Can Help Get You a New Job, mentions a few of the same instances and states that while blogging can help you be seen,“indiscrete bloggers can derail job opportunities.” For instance:

“Job seekers who blog increase the odds that a potential employer will find information online that the candidate wants to be seen, says Debbie Weil, a corporate blogging consultant in Washington and the author of "The Corporate Blogging Book," which was published last summer. "Everybody has an online identity whether they know it or not, and a blog is the single best way to control it," she says. "You're going to be Googled. No one hires anyone or buys anything these days without going online first and doing research." (Needleman, 4/10/07).

Rebecca and I discussed these topics before beginning this blog last summer. It was important to both of us our bosses were made aware of the endeavor and that we had a few general rules in place for what we would present on the blog. While the blog is a great option for professional discussion, it should definitely not be the “teacher’s lounge.”

Tags: School Library Journal, Five Reasons Not to Blog, Wall Street Journal Online, How Blogging Can Help You Get a New Job

What's new: LOC Blog

New to me this week is the Library of Congress Blog authored by Matt Raymond, LOC Director of Communications. Several catagories have already been determined for regular discussion and include blogging, curators, exhibitions, news, and my personal favorite Today in History.

A hidden gem in their blogroll listing is a blog from the Smithsonian, "Eye Level."

Tags: Library of Congress Blog, Library blogs

Taking a circular route

ABC's Good Morning Americahad a short piece this morning with an interesting take regarding college students use of social networking sites. The piece, now an article on the ABC news site, After Years of Telling All, 20 Somethings Start to Clam Up, also discussed options for those who want to have their information removed from web sites. The article highlights an anonymous law school student who even with stellar grades and an impeccable resume was unable to secure a job in a law firm. After investigating she realized her job search was, in effect, being sabotaged by other people hijacking her personal Facebook pictures and posting them explicit comments on a message board. While none of the HR firms interviewed would admit to doing Internet searches on potential new hires, it is an open secret.

It has been a couple of years since I Googled myself to see what still lives on the Internet. After all, being told cyberspace is forever and seeing it are two different things. I took a few minutes this morning and searched. Most of returns were AU library, IRC, CMCIG, ALAO, and blog related. I did find a few understandable oddities; a PUBLIB list serv archive question from September 1999 (I was required to post a question for class) and a web page where an author cited a library handout I created in 2002 because I cited her article in the handout. Two of the most interesting results were blogging search engines IceRocket and LibWorm.

According to the About IceRocket page, they are "pioneering commercial search by putting the interests and wants of consumers before advertisers. IceRocket has innovative blog search technology to search blogosphere. " Arriving at IceRocket Blog Search via a blog post entry from Google, curiosity compelled me to see what I could find. I typed in my name, selected the "exact phrase" option, clicked search, and 345 posts authored by me returned! It seemed excessive until I realized the IRC blog easily has over 400 posts for collection development and information; add in this blog, the IRC book review blog, and CMCIG blog, and suddenly the number is not all that staggering. A perusal of several results pages revealed they were authored by me with the earliest dated 8/29/06 and most recent 3/5/07 (Monday). I was intrigued by a statistical selection, a small green icon next to different entries enumerating outside links. There were icons next to Library Cloud posts, but they did not work. Icons attached to other people's listings did work, so it may be linked the track back option in blogger that is not currently active here.

LibWorm is another blog search engine, "a professional development tool, and a current awareness tool for people who work in libraries or care about libraries." The main page states "Search the Biblioblogosphere and Beyond" and referres to itself as "the librarian RSS engine" with over 1500 available feeds. I first noticed this search engine a month or so ago when it was an outside link in the Library Cloud StatCounter account. When it was part of the returns for my initial Google search this morning, I decided to take another look at the product. A simple search returned over 282 records with only the first two pages actually belonging to me (as an author). An "exact phrase" search returned 44 records, only two pages, all of which were Library Cloud posts authored by me. LibWorm encourages you to create an account and submit a feed. I did create an account, but our feed already existed. Both of these blog search engines provide opportunities to search for library specific information. I have not used either beyond doing quick "me" searches, but they are worth a second look.

Tags: Social networking concerns, IceRocket, LibWorm, Blog search engines