Define:
Do you know what a blog is?
Grab yourself a fresh cup of coffee/tea or a Coke, and enjoy this 3-minute video about blogs:
Discover:
Now that you know what they are, let's take a moment to explore some library blogs.
- Feel-good Librarian - “the true stories of one small middle-aged Reference librarian, sheltered safely somewhere in a Midwestern public library”
- Library Garden - a group blog from several NJ librarians
- MADreads - Madison Public Library’s book review blog
- The Shifted Librarian - Jenny Levine and cool technologies for libraries
- Tame the Web - Michael Stephens’ blog about libraries and technology
- Stephen's Lighthouse - "Stuff of interest to me that may be of interest to library folk."
If you enjoy the truly irreverent, take a peek at:
- A Librarian's Guide to Ettiquette - "A polite librarian is a good librarian."
And don't forget our own blogs! See these on our website:
What's New @ Roselle Publc Library - just what the name implies
The Blogger Book Club - news and reviews of books from the Youth Services collection
How can libraries use blogs to connect with their patrons?
As you learned in the video, blogs are all about spreading the news. Libraries use blogs to:
- promote library events
- list new arrivals of books, movies, music, etc.
- review books
- provide community news
- reach a new audience of web-savvy patrons
Think about other ways that libraries can use blogs.
Do:
And now, let's create your blog!
You will be using your blog as an online journal for your Playtime 2.0 experience. After completing each Thing, you'll write a post related to that Thing. A TEAM member will keep track of your progress by reading your posts and also be available for help and hand-holding if you need it.
To help your TEAM member track your progress, use the Thing # as the title of your Playtime 2.0-related posts (e.g. Thing #1: Blogs)
Feel free to use your blog for non program-related posts as well.
Although you may decide to delete your Playtime 2.0 blog after the program is over, you might find that you like blogging so much, you’ll keep it up - which would be awesome!
You will set up your Playtime 2.0 blog at Blogger. There are other blogging services that you might want to look at on the Web, like WordPress, but for this program, we will use Blogger.
Go to Blogger and click on the orange “Create a Blog" button.
Step 1: Use the email account you created in Getting Started to create an account at Blogger; use a password that you will remember (Write it down!).
Step 2: Name your blog and give it a URL (a web address). For the name, think of something that is unique to you, the program, or the library (You can change the name at any time).
Step 3: Choose a template (You can always change this later, too).
Congratulations! You have a blog.
Now you are ready to write your first blog post.
Use "Thing #1: Blogs" as the title of your blog post.
In the post, write about:
- your experience with Blogger
- a few of the library blogs you sampled
- your ideas for making better use of blogging at Roselle Library.
- your opinion about blogs: a good thing? a bad thing?
When you're finished writing, click “Publish.”
Click “View Blog” to take a look at your blog.
To complete this Thing, let us know about your blog.
Send an email to TEAM 2.0 at rpldplaytime20@gmail.com to register your blog.
In the email include:
1. your (real) name
2. your screen name, if different than your real name
3. the name of your blog
4. the address of your blog (this is the "http://..." that is in the address bar of your browser when your blog is open on the screen)
Your TEAM member will acknowlege your blog either by email or by commenting on your post.
We will also place a link to your blog in the Participants' Blogs list in the right sidebar of Playtime 2.0 so you, and everyone else, can access it easily.
You're all finished with Thing #1
You explored a little about what blogs are and you looked at a few examples
You discovered how blogs are being used by libraries to connect with patrons.
You played with Blogger, ceated your own blog and registered it with the Playtime TEAM.
We hoped you learned a lot about blogs!
Optional BONUS activities:
With each Playtime 2.0 Thing, we will add a few optional bonus activities.
There are blogs on any subject you can imagine! Look for blogs on a topic that you're interested in at Technorati or Google Blog Search.
Add a few blogs to your blog's link list. Click here for instructions on how to add a link list and other page elements to your Blogger blog.
If you'd like to learn more about blogs and libraries:
- read Darlene Fichter's article at Information Today: Why and How to Use Blogs to Promote Your Library's Services.
- read the article on WebJunction: Blogs for Libraries
What a great start! Wasn't that fun? Next week we will move on to Thing #2. It's all about RSS!
Leave us a comment about Thing #1 if you like.
1 comment:
If you choose to read "The Librarian's Guide to Etiquette," don't miss the comments; some of the comments are as funny as the original posts! In addition, many of the comments are posted by other blogging librarians, with links to their blogs.
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