1	Five Weeks to a Social Library: Blogging Beyond the Basics Nanette Donohue Technical Services Manager Champaign Public Library February 15, 2007
2	Overview Developing a purpose and a vision for your blog Assembling your blog team Types of blog entries Responding to comments and controlling comment spam Troubleshooting your blog Blog statistics Battling blogging burnout
3	What’s Your Blog About? Promoting a specific collection? Getting a specific audience into the library? Providing content and information for people who currently use the library? Providing content and information for people who do NOT currently use the library? These are things you need to consider before you start assembling a blog team!
4	Determine Your Coverage What types of materials will bloggers be discussing? Think about: Age range: include juvenile and teen materials in the same blog as adult materials, or have separate blogs? Format: include movies, music, audiobooks, and other A/V in same blog as books, or have separate blogs?
5	Assembling Your Blog Team Whenever possible, bring in employees at all levels from all areas of the library Key employees with ties to specific demographic groups (e.g., teen librarian) or types of materials (e.g., audiovisual materials librarian) should be included Locate employees with varied tastes to reflect community interests
6	Blog Posting Schedules Develop your posting schedule based on: Number of people on the blog team How much time team members have to work on the project Always work with supervisors to ensure that blogging staff have time set aside to write posts--this should become a regular part of their work. Staffing the blog can be one of the most difficult problems to overcome!
7	Staff Training Group training or one-on-one training? Group training can allow you to convey a lot of information in a short time Best for people who are confident in their ability to learn new technology or people with blogging experience One-on-One training can allow you to tailor training to specific needs Better for people who are less confident in their ability to learn new technology May be most appropriate following group training
8	Training as Play PLCMC’s Learning 2.0 project Allow your blog team to experiment with the technology without worrying about “breaking things” Set up a private “sandbox” to let staff play with the software and get used to the features before going live (This isn’t just appropriate for blogging--it works for other new technologies as well!)
9	Types of Blog Entries: Library News/Information Used to convey information about the library and its programs, rather than specific materials Can be effective for any type of library: Ann Arbor District Library’s “Library News” blog University of Illinois Undergraduate Library blog Mabry Middle School Media Center blog St. Mary’s Health Sciences Library News blog Can also be used for internal communication on an intranet
10	Types of Blog Entries: Virtual Displays Takes the in-person display concept and brings it to the Web Can also be used to showcase new books or books on a particular topic--anything you can do in person, display-wise, you can do on your blog Example: Robert Altman entry from Champaign Public Library “Film Takes” blog
11	Types of Blog Entries: Virtual Displays Some ideas: Tie-in with holiday or celebration (Women’s History Month, St. Patrick’s Day) Tie-in with library programming (recent book group picks, hobbies, etc.) Celebration of author or public figure’s life Hype for upcoming book (Harry Potter is the obvious one!) School/academic libraries can use virtual displays to highlight reference resources, including online databases
12	Types of Blog Entries: Reader’s Advisory Provide “what do I read next” guidance More conversational than a virtual display Can be excellent prompts for comments Allow library staff to use their knowledge of the collections to steer users towards materials they might enjoy A powerful tool for promoting collections!
13	Types of Blog Entries: Reader’s Advisory Some examples: Madison (WI) Public Library MADReads (public library adult materials) Plymouth District Library Teen Zone (public library teen materials) Greenlake Library Kids Lit (public library children’s materials) Northside Elementary Library Book Blog (for elementary school-age students) Valley View Middle School VVMBookBlog (for middle schoolers and teens) East Chapel Hill High School Book Blog (for high school students)
14	Coping with Comments Drawbacks of comments Need to be monitored Spam, spam, spam Benefits of Comments Allows patrons to express their opinions and give their input Allows conversation between library patrons and library staff
15	Coping with Comments Most of the major free/low-cost blogging software (Wordpress, Blogger, Movable Type, Typepad, etc.) offers some kind of comment authentication This can allow you to filter out most of the spam comments--but it’s not foolproof, and it won’t keep human commenters who are intent on creating mayhem away from your blog Another option: require registration for comments, or require moderator approval before comments go live on the site. Requiring registration may discourage some people from posting their comments Moderator approval is labor-intensive if your blog becomes popular
16	Coping with Comments Deciding whether or not to allow comments should be an individual decision based on your library’s purpose for having a blog! If you do choose to allow comments, make sure you monitor them. Often, your patrons will start conversations with you, and nobody enjoys a one-way conversation. If it doesn’t work out and you’re inundated with spam or are having problems with users leaving inappropriate comments, you can always shut them off.
17	Troubleshooting Your Blog: Technology Yet another benefit of free or low-cost blogging software: a knowledge base that is generally free for users to access Blogger: Blogger Help Movable Type: Knowledge Base Wordpress: Wordpress FAQ TypePad: Knowledge Base There are also free design templates available if you want to change up your design for free!
18	Troubleshooting Your Blog: Personnel Have a selection of backup posts available We use a wiki to keep ours organized Make sure you have supervisor’s approval before inviting someone new to join the blog team--and make sure that the supervisor buys into the project Allow people to step away without penalty or guilt when they get too busy
19	Troubleshooting Your Blog: Personnel Poor quality writing Set clear, understandable criteria for content of blog posts Require bloggers to use spell-check Have a probationary period for new writers where their entries will require approval by the blog administrator Have the blog administrator make all posts (very, very labor-intensive for the administrator!)
20	Troubleshooting Your Blog: Personnel Bloggers who volunteer, then disappear Make requirements clear up front Get supervisor’s permission Try to include writing for the blog in performance plan, if possible Develop criteria for when to drop bloggers from your roster
21	Statistics for Bloggers Time = Money (in administration/board’s eyes) Having a clear vision helps you determine whether you are accomplishing what you set out to accomplish
22	Statistics for Bloggers: Page Views Most of the free/low-cost blog software out there comes with a statistics package Page views Referrers Search engine terms Talk to the person who administers your web site to see what statistics are available Set goals: “to increase visitors to the blog by 10% each month,” etc. See if you can get statistics for links that your visitors click on to leave your page (WordPress offers this)
23	Statistics for Bloggers: Materials Use Requires advance planning Can show how promoting collections via your blog is affecting circulation Prior to posting a blog entry, check the title in your ILS. Are there any holds on the item? Is the item currently checked out? How many times has the item circulated?
24	Statistics for Bloggers: Materials Use After the item has been featured on the blog, check again. Are there holds? Is it now checked out? Has it circulated more frequently? Experiment with adding images to entries or featuring on front page of library web site--does this affect circulation or page views?
25	Battling Burnout Everyone gets tired of blogging! As with any project, people are most excited at the beginning. It’s important to try and maintain that excitement for as long as possible. Invite new bloggers to join the team as others leave Use special features to keep things fresh
26	Battling Burnout: Special Features 50 Book Challenge: Read 50 books in one year (And blog about them!) End of year “best of” posts from staff A good way to include perspectives of people who are not regular bloggers Genre challenges Ask people to “read outside their comfort zone” and write about it March Reading Madness Similar to The Morning News “Tournament of Books”
27	Battling Burnout: General Stuff Administrator should communicate with the blog team regularly In-person meetings E-mail list Eliminate the dead weight and bring in the new blood Stay positive and upbeat Keep posting fair
28	Resources for Library Bloggers Blogging Libraries Wiki Add your library to the list when you start blogging! Libdex listing of Library Weblogs Includes articles about blogging for libraries LIS Zen Blog Search Searches 600+ library blogs--add yours! LIS Wiki Blog Listing List of blogs maintained by libraries and by librarians
29	Contact Information Nanette Donohue Champaign Public Library nwargo@champaign.org AIM: nanette amplified Yahoo Messenger: amplifiedtorock Google Talk: nanette.donohue@gmail.com HAPPY BLOGGING!