Blogging Forum - Agenda
Discussion Leader: Rachel Vacek
I. Background
II. Introductions
III. Discussion about blogs in the library system
Here are some suggested topics to discuss today. We do not have to address or answer these. It’s just to help initiate or guide the discussion.
Administrative stuff or suggested guidelines for blog management
- From Chris Benda who wanted to attend but was unable to: “Rationale: Could the information you want to communicate be presented to an audience in a better way than a blog?”
- Purpose of blogging? Need a statement?
- For example, The Heard Library system is interested in pursuing new and emerging outlets for communication and discovery, etc…
- Acceptable use?
- Professional postings, correct grammar, correct information, basically, putting your best foot forward, etc.
- Does the Heard Library system need a blog policy?
- For example, The views expressed in this blog are mine alone and do not necessarily represent the views of the Heard Library system.
- Should procedures be developed for managing and monitoring blog comments?
- Consequences of having open or closed commenting?
- How to deal with spam, flaming, or inappropriate comments?
- Blogging code of ethics?
- Should the blogs be governed by a creative commons statement of some kind, or refer to the library’s copyright statement?
- What about additional pages within blogs? Should there at least be a “how to subscribe to this blog” type of page?
- From Chris Benda: “Audience: who is/are the intended audience(s) for the blog? Will the intended audience(s) be interested in a blog, or should you think about a different way of reaching them?”
Blog Management
- Who and how does one oversee their blog?
- Who will be doing the blogging? Ideas or suggestions on creating a blogging calendar?
- Who deals with the technical questions or problems?
- How do we keep track of all the new blogs that will be developing?
- Is the library system at all interested in archiving blog content?
- Developing appropriate categories – suggestions on making your information more easily found to your users?
Content, Content, Content
- According to Chris Benda: “In my view, a blog lives or dies based on interesting content. What content do you have, will anyone find it interesting, and will you be able to generate enough of it with enough frequency to attract people to your blog?”
- From Chris Benda: “Repurposing: how might the content of the blog be repurposed to reach a larger audience? (I'm thinking of how you--Rachel--repurpose blog content on the Walker Management home page.)”
Blog Training
- Should there be any sort of training for those that are uncomfortable with using blogs?
Development, Support, Maintenance, and Assessment of new blogs
- Can individuals request their own blog from LITS, or should they go through ITS? Who can or cannot get a blog?
- What plug-ins and themes are recommended? Who decides this?
- How involved should LITS be in overseeing or monitoring this?
- Should there be standard templates for individual Library blogs? Or key features that need to be incorporated on the blog so they are recognizable as being part of the J&AH Library system?
- How and who will support the staff running the blogs?
- How should we keep track of all these blogs so library staff know how to find them and can subscribe to them easily?
- How should these blogs be assessed after a period of time has passed? Are they functional, meeting their purpose, appealing to the intended audience?
IV. Conclusions & Next Steps
Based on the discussion, what was decided or is going to happen next?
Blogging Forum – Minutes March 12, 3-4 pm @ GLB 6th Floor Classroom
Attendance: Chris Waldrop, Suellen Stringer-Hye, Jason Battles, Sara Byrd, Celia Walker, Molly Dahl, Janice Adlington, Jacob Thornton, Dale Poulter, David Carpenter, and Rachel Vacek
Scribe: Rachel
Rachel opened the meeting by talking about how this meeting came to be. In the past year, several blogs within the Heard Library system have been introduced to library staff for internal as well as external communication, and it's very likely more will be developed. However, as the creative proliferation of blogs continues, it will become important to not to duplicate efforts but rather increase communication among the various blogging groups regarding suggestions on developing a purpose, writing schedules, management techniques, monitoring comments, maintenance, support, and initial development of blogs.
People introduced themselves and explained their interest in blogging and the ideas that they had. Here are some ideas floating around that people are considering as well as some that are already in existence:
Possible and current externally-focused blogs:
- An external blog for communicating news, announcements, and services to any J&AH Library user (faculty, staff, students, alumni, community users, etc.) – already under development
- An external blog for data and GIS resources, announcements, and communication
- An external blog for letting people know what electronic resources the J&AH Library system is investigating, and for soliciting feedback on those trials – already exists: http://weblog.library.vanderbilt.edu/etrials/
- An external blog for sharing with users recommended books within the Central Library’s Leisure Reading Collection – already exists: http://books4fun.library.vanderbilt.edu/
- An external blog for communicating the latest news, announcements, events, new resources, and workshops going on in the Walker Management Library – already exists: http://wmlspotlight.wordpress.com/
Possible and current internally-focused blogs:
- An internal blog for communicating the latest changes within cataloging standards or policies to the cataloging department – already under development
- An internal blog for communicating status of student projects or class assignments, mentioning new reference resources, or the sharing of any information that impacts the reference desk staff
- An internal blog for communicating library technology news (from LITS, Owen IT, and various library technology resources) to the Walker Management Library Staff – already exists: http://wmltech.wordpress.com/
Some people weren’t sure if blogs or wikis would best meet their needs. We talked what blogs do versus wikis, and why those who have blogs chose that format for communication. Someone suggested that you need to understand what you want to do first, and how you want to communicate to the users, and THEN decide upon a tool you want to use. Blogs are easier to use than wikis, for example, and have a very different purpose.
Developing content is essential for blogs to survive. This is especially important for externally-focused blogs. If there is no content, users won’t read the blog. It’s like having no blog at all.
Someone else pointed out that there is actually plenty of content within the library webpages. You could highlight each database, research guide, staff member, each and every service your library provides. Then there is the academic calendar. So it’s not necessarily having content. It’s also about getting more than one person involved in writing the content. In all the already running blogs mentioned above, there is typically only one person who posts to them. The trick is getting others involved too.
Also, depending on the purpose of your blog, just having content may not be enough. It needs to be engaging so the users want to come back and read it.
In regards to developing a set of suggested guidelines, maybe 2 separate sets need to be developed – one for internal use blogs and one for external ones.
Currently, the unwritten/verbal policy for getting a locally hosted blog is to Netfix it in to LITS, briefly describe its purpose, a have a name as well as what you want the directory to be within the DNS. They (primarily being Dale Poulter and Jason Battles) will set up any library related blog. (But how do you define library-related?) LITS already has a basic template set up, complete with plug-ins and numerous themes to choose from. Blogs can also be password protected, limited by IP address, or restricted in many other ways - LITS is flexible and will work with you to meet reasonable needs. There are many additional questions around this that need to be answered by the Project Team, such as the development of a stylesheet that will help the blogs look similar, not necessarily all look exactly alike.
The Project Team will need to write a statement or describe the steps involved in getting a blog set up, who has what obligations for customizing it, supporting it, maintaining it, etc.. It also needs to be clearly explained what the differences are between locally and remotely hosted blogs (wordpress.com versus wordpress.org, for example). Also, where is the ideal place to have your blog - remotely hosted, library hosted, or hosted by ITS? Once those guidelines are all set up, an announcement should be made to all library staff.
The conversation again went back to the important of developing and contributing content. But engaging one’s colleagues to help participate in creating content is just as important.
It was agreed by everyone in attendance that the Project Team will probably just write the policies, suggested guidelines, tips, explaining the procedures for getting a blog, explaining what LITS will and will not do, developing a blog FAQ or something similar, etc., but that a “support group” of some sorts continue on after the Project Team has completed its charge (which is, by the way, in the process of being written). This “support group” would more than likely consist of volunteers who are comfortable with Wordpress and blogs and willing to help library staff get started (beyond what LITS initially sets up for them). This may involve group or one-on-one training, and may function similarly to how the Java Joes and Java Janes list works. It would be like contacting the “local hero” for help. They also would probably be the advocates of blogging and would promote the libraries’ blogs in a variety of ways. But the purpose and formality of the support group concept will be determined by the Project Team and the Communications Committee.
Someone asked about possibly developing a test blog before going full-swing. This is fine. Just request a blog as you would normally and just play with it. You don’t have to make it public until you are ready.
Want to participate?
If you or if you know of someone that couldn’t be here today that might be interested in participating in a Blogging Project Team, please contact Rachel: rachel.vacek@owen.vanderbilt.edu or call 2-3818.
We have a few wonderful volunteers already to participate on the Project Team, but we would love to have additional library staff full of enthusiasm, new ideas, and passion about helping the library system investigate and integrate Web 2.0 technologies.