TITLE: Effective Blogging for Libraries
AUTHOR: Connie Crosby
STARTED: January 3, 2011
FINISHED: January 21, 2011
PAGES: 139
GENRE: Library Science
FIRST SENTENCE: Nowadays it seems as if everyone has a blog - but not all of them are successful.
SUMMARY: [From Amazon.com
] The Tech Set is a series of 10 field guides—if you will—to library technology. Each one provides practical tips for library staff to fully integrate Web 2.0 applications into their jobs and libraries, and because the books are focused for libraries, the reader does not have to reconfigure or reformat the ideas for library situations. In addition to the print volume, each has a podcast as well as author wikis. The volume reviewed here, Effective Blogging for Libraries, consists of six chapters for the aspiring library blogger covering blogging basics, planning, implementation, marketing, best practices, and measures of success. Author Crosby provides advice on blog marketing, managing staff bloggers, and how to assess the viability of blogging in the organization. This and other titles in the Tech Set series are recommended for libraries that want staff to participate fully in the Web 2.0 experience. THOUGHTS: Holy bucket of ideas, Batman! This book is chock full of good stuff. While Crosby is a wee bit heavy on the technical language (fine for me, possibly bad for a n00b), this book is a fantastic manual to beginning, maintaining, and grabbing an audience for a library blog.
The book is organized (more-or-less) chronologically: why do you want/need a blog, how to get one, what to write, how to maintain, get and keep audience. Crosby writes in a step-by-step manner through the process of blogging, discussing all the highs and lows of being a member of the blogosphere. Libraries are jumping into blogs left and right and many don't understand quite what they are getting into. Crosby has written a "Survival Manual" for any library who is or wants to get into blogging. Let it be your guide - it is good.
What I appreciated most about this book (aside from the abundantly helpful information) is that Crosby is a realist. She's not asking people to take on more than they can chew. Maintaining a blog takes a lot of hard work and, sometimes, has an emotional toll on the owner. Crosby discusses all of the downsides of blogs while still showing how they are a powerful tool.
This book is good enough that it's still on my nightstand waiting for me to go back through it and collect ideas. While I love this here blog I write, I know it could be better.
RATING: 7/10 [Very Good]
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