Blogging in Libraries—Part 2

I wanted to pass along this paper by a library school student at Catholic University on blogging in libraries. Our own blog and Elizabeth Periale figure very positively in the work.—Martin kalfatovic, Head, Digital Services Division

You may read yesterday's installment, part one, here.

Blogging in Libraries, Stephanie Maxwell, November 9, 2010

Although the positive impact of having a blog seem extremely obvious initially, starting and maintaining a blog is not necessarily a simple task, and there are certainly risks that come along with it. In her book Effective Blogging for Libraries, Connie Crosby addresses the positive and negative impacts of library blogs, giving this advice early on:

Just because everyone else is doing it does not mean you should. A blog is just one tool in your larger toolbox of communication tactics. Think about your target audience, which community or communities you want to reach, and whether a blog is the suitable vehicle to reach them. Look at your organizational mandate and strategy, and determine if a log correctly aligns with them. (3)

A blog can really work well for some libraries and not for others, and the nature of the community and users needs to be taken into account when considering a blog. Crosby is confident enough in the power of blogs to write a book about how libraries can best adopt blogs, but also considers the risks of beginning a blog. Crosby sent out surveys to 88 libraries which had blogs and reports,

Risks identified include balancing the amount of time spent on the blog with the value (or reward) received in return; and getting others to support the blog project initially, including management, IT departments, Webmasters, and other staff members in the library of the library’s parent organization. (8-9)

The time and energy that is expended in order to maintain a blog is often a full- or part-time job in itself and can be stressful and seem thankless, thus it is imperative for the library to have a strong plan and organizer for the blog, making sure that there are policies as to how often it is updated, what will be posted, who is responsible for posting, and other matters concerning the blog.

No matter if the purpose of a library’s blog is to interact with users, showcase their collection, humanize their staff, or generally expose the library’s offerings, the content of the blog needs to be determined and adhered to in order for it to be effective. In their study on what they call “blog stickiness,” (which Lu and Lee define as, “the time spent in the blog and retention to the blog” (22)) Lu and Lee found that the content quality, more than any other factor is what determines a blog’s “stickiness:”

… content quality is the only determinant of blog retention. The ability to forward articles via email and giving the number of readers who are willing to recommend this blog can facilitate the impact of social influence on first visit duration, but not retention. The user will revisit a blog only if the first visit attracts them to stay for a while and the content quality is good. (32)

The quality of the content is a direct determinant of the impact of the blog, and should thus be given serious consideration in planning for a blog. The main risks of beginning and maintaining a blog are time and support, but King and Brown have suggested that these issues can be reconciled by simply changing the way we look at libraries:

David recommended a change of focus; instead of thinking about the time needed to keep up, one should have a willingness to change focus to make learning new technologies a priority. He encouraged audience members to think of it as ‘this is an important part of my job’ … . (40)

Earlier, I discussed the notion that the ways people access and want to receive information is changing, and as such, the library needs to change with it to remain relevant and useful for the community it serves, and this idea feeds into a library’s consideration of beginning a blog—if the community would benefit and utilize a blog, then time should be made to accommodate that need.

In order to better understand what it takes to institute and maintain a blog, I discussed the matter with Elizabeth Periale, the designer for the Smithsonian Libraries Blog. The Smithsonian Libraries Blog was launched in December 2007 as an experiment in outreach. Periale says, “The Libraries just wanted to try out a blog and see how it would go. It was pretty unstructured at the start. Just a few of the staff were involved and would post something when an event or conference or item of interest came up” (Periale). Although originally relatively unstructured at first, Periale volunteered to manage the blog in February 2009 which is when the blog began having daily postings. Very simply laid out, the blog features generally one post a day provided by the librarians at the different branches of the Smithsonian Library system from whom Periale solicits posts:

I send out a call for articles, with some suggested topics and the entire library staff (~100) is free to volunteer. Sometimes I do a special request to one of our branch libraries if I am looking for something relevant (American History do a post on D-Day, e.g.) I schedule the posts week by week or in advance as necessary. We try not to post more than once a day, but if we do, that's OK, too. I also have the blog feeding into the Libraries' Twitter and Facebook accounts. We're trying to reach out more and more. (Periale)

The blog features articles written about resources, books, and unique items found in the Smithsonian Libraries, often showcasing videos and photos to support the articles. By seeking out various staff from different branches, Periale is able to create a community from separate libraries with separate interests which is held together through their common goal of outreach and education for their users and potential users. Periale herself often contributes to the writing of the blog while also synthesizing the articles, editing them, and posting them. When asked if she has come up against any resistance to the blog, she says,

There's no real resistance. I don't pressure anyone to post. Cajole, maybe … The only "resistance" is that people are already doing so many things that they don't think they can add blogging to the list. Sometimes they realize they can, sometimes they pass. More and more of our staff seem to post each month. (Periale)

Not only does the blog invite the public to participate in the Smithsonian Institution community, but has the potential to create a stronger community within the staff as well.

Although comments do not seem to proliferate on the blog, Periale seems pleased with the level of readership that the blog garners:

Our readership grows monthly. When I took this on we only had a spotty readership. Now we get about 400 hits a day, directly to the blog. We also are read on Twitter and Facebook, so it's hard to know how large our audience is exactly, but our Twitter followers have climbed since February 2009 when we started posting daily from 79 to over 2500, so we're definitely getting more visible. We get some comments and questions, but mostly our posts are retweeted on Twitter or "liked" on Facebook. (Periale)

Here, Periale brings up another method of outreach using blogs, which is to link it to social media websites and RSS feeds, allowing users to share and “like” articles posted on the blog, giving readers the opportunity to view the blog in the way they prefer and to widen the readership by sharing what they find on the blog. Although it seems that the blog did not have a definite goal or structure in the beginning, it soon came under the direction of Periale who has commandeered the blog to a solid readership and has enabled the library’s collection to be noticed by and accessible to people who may not have had that opportunity without the blog, accomplishing the basic goals of a successful library blog.

Adopting a blog can be an extremely fruitful and positive endeavor for a library—it opens the line of communication between librarians and users, can inform users about activities and new happenings at the library, showcase the library’s collection, and generally institute the library as an active member of the blogosphere and community. Although the benefits of introducing a blog into a library’s current workload can have wonderful benefits, there are also risks to be taken into consideration such as time and staff support. Without a solid plan for the maintenance and content of the blog, these issues of time and staff support can easily cause the blog to fail. A library should only begin a blog if they have the time, staff, and enthusiasm to support it in the long-term. When Elizabeth Periale was asked if she saw any downsides to the Smithsonian Libraries Blog, she says,

I can't see any downsides. The benefits are that we get the Smithsonian Libraries out in the blogosphere every day. Our collections are much more accessible. Through Twitter we have connected with other museums and libraries and people in a very easy, relaxed way—it's much more easy to read our latest blog post by following us on Twitter than it is even to access it through our website—fewer clicks. Personally, for me, it's been fun to discover new things about the Libraries' collections, both by myself for the articles I write, and through the articles written by my colleagues. (Periale)

The Smithsonian Libraries Blog is a perfect example of how a library blog can become successful, and this statement encompasses the benefits of a blog—constant reminders to users of the library’s presence, connections with other institutions and prospective users, new discoveries for users and for staff, and a general feeling of educating about and exposing people to the library and its collection.

Bibliography

Chua, Alton Y.K., and Dion H. Goh. “A Study of Web 2.0 Applications in Library Websites.” Library & Information Science Research 32 (2010): 203-211.

Crosby, Connie. Effective Blogging for Libraries. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2010.

Etches-Johnson, Amanda. “The Library Blog: Serving Users and Staying Relevant.” Last One Out Turn Off the Lights. Ed. Susan E. Cleyle and Louise M. McGillis. Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, 2005. 31-44.

King, David Lee, and Stephanie Willen Brown. “Emerging Trends, 2.0, and Libraries.” The Serials Librarian 56.1 (2009): 32-43.

Lu, Hsi-Peng, and Ming-Ren Lee. “Demographic Differences and the Antecedents of Blog Stickiness.” Online Information Review 34.1 (2010): 21-38.

Periale, Elizabeth. Personal interview. 2 Nov. 2010.