The Blog on Blogs

The contents of this blog is in part copied from and expands upon one of my earlier posts "On Tough Decisions: picking blogs to follow."


For class we had to pick four library related blogs to follow. Two by people or on topics directly related to our future career goals in libraries, for me that would be special collection libraries, and even more specifically special collection libraries specializing in early modern books and manuscripts, Shakespeare, and or English history.  The other two, by people or on topics that are not directly related to our career goals, and perhaps even a little out of our comfort zone. 

 Blogs Selected

For the two related to my personal interests I chose:

1. WYNKEN DE WORDE, by Sarah Werner. 
2. NIU Rare Books and Special Collections Blog, by Lynne M. Thomas .

For the two stepping outside my comfort zone I chose:

1. Librarian.net, by Jessamyn West.
2. Librarian By Day, by Bobbi Newman.  

Blogs Selected: the details

WYNKEN DE WORDE, by Sarah Werner.

Sarah is the Undergraduate Program Director at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Associate Editor of Shakespeare Quarterly, and Editor of The Collation, a blog about scholarship at the Folger (which I also be follow. I actually wrote a guest post for The Collation last year about my Alternative Spring Break at the Folger).

Areas of Interest:  

• Shakespeare and modern performances of Renaissance drama. 
• Scholarly publications and digital media.
• Teaching/education in Special Collections.
• The way in which rare book libraries might act as classrooms, and how "the materiality of special collections might work in conjunction with (or sometimes wrestle against) the new tools of digital humanities scholarship."
  
  

NIU Rare Books and Special Collections Blog, by Lynne M. Thomas  

Lynne is the Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.  Lynne is also one of the Hugo Award-winning editors of Chicks Dig Time Lords, and the Editor-in-Chief of Apex Magazine (Apex Magazine is an online prose and poetry magazine of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mash-ups of all three).

Areas of Interest:

• Web 2.0 tech for cultural heritage collections. 
• Teaching/education in Special Collections.
• Issues related to the NIU Special Collections Library.
• Information about items held by the NIU Special Collections Library.
• Information about items related to the collection held by the NIU Special Collections Library.
  
  

Librarian.net, by Jessamyn West

Jessamyn is a public librarian, a self described "library technologist," and a "sometimes librarian, sometimes writer, sometimes blogger, and sometimes technology instructor/consultant" living in Vermont. She also states that to the best of her knowledge hers is the first single-editor library-oriented weblog. When looking at her "about" section I found this statement particularly intriguing - "I am not currently a member of ALA though I was elected to be an ALA Councilor in 2004. I feel the double-edged sword of participating in a flawed system versus sitting out and not participating at all." I don't think I've ever heard anyone say anything but good things about ALA, and this made me curious to hear more of her thoughts and opinions as expressed through her blog. 

Areas of Interest:

• "library-oriented things."
• Preservation of "what is special about libraries"-Libraries as the manifestation of the public sphere in the United States.
• User oriented services
• Activism for libraries
• The intersection of libraries, technology, and politics.
  
  

Librarian By Day, by Bobbi Newman.  

Bobbi is a blogger, a Tweeter and an international public speaker. Bobbi is an ALA Councilor-at-Large, a member of the OITP Advisory Committee, and a serves on the advisory board for the Pew Internet & American Life research on Libraries in the Digital Age. I thought Newman would be interesting person to follow as a contrast to West of Librarian.net makes a point to say that she is not a member of ALA.  

Areas of Interest:

• The challenge of continuing to offer equal access to information and equal opportunity to all regardless of economic standing, physical location, or technological platform in the 21st century library. 
• Implementing digitally- and technologically- based services.
• Bridging the digital divide.
• "Improving existing services through expanding traditional methods while creating innovative new practices."
  
  

Trends

The biggest overall trend that I noticed in every single one of the blogs I selected, as well as the numerous other blogs I considered following, is an interest in and focus on technology.  Whether it is - the implementation of  digital technologies in special collections libraries, user interaction with technologies, user education and technologies, copyright issues in digital technologies, or the challenges and opportunities provided by new technologies - technologies, digital humanities and their use in libraries is a huge issue that continuously pop up across all of these blogs.  

With the two blogs in my particular area of interest, special collections, there is a trend towards talking about technologies and how they can interact with special collections.  Including education, digital publications, and preservation in special collections.

In the two non special collections blogs I am following the issues related to technologies vary a bit more widely.  Jessamyn of Librarian.net seems interested in the issues of digital rights and authority posed by digital technologies such as open source journals and wikis. While Bobbi of Librarian by Day seems interested in the implementation of technologies in libraries and using technologist to provide greater access to users and user services.

 Takeaways

I think one of the most interesting observations I have made thus far from following these blogs is just some of the subtle and not so subtle ways in which special collections librarians talk and think about libraries, users, and technologies as compared to public and even non special collections academic librarians.  I believe that all of the blogs I follow have similar goals, which at the most basic level speak to the need for assisting users and providing access. However, both of the blogs that I follow written by individuals working in special collections zero in a lot more on their specific collections and educating and engaging people with special collections and the materials they hold.  Sarah's blog is her personal blog, while Lynne's is the official NIU special collections blog, but both at their heart deal with much of the same issues.

The other two blogs I follow Jessamyn's and Bobbi's so far seem to be tackling what I suppose I would call more general or overarching issues dealing with libraries and information professionals.  This is not to say that this information is any more or less focused or useful. I simply point it out because it seems that as non special collections librarians they seem to feel a bit freer to tackle a wider range of issues dealing with the library community as a whole.