Mattering in the Blogosphere

The March 07 copy of American Libraries cover story features, "Mattering in the Blogosphere: Observations from the Well-Connected." Since I had been wondering if doing this is really worth anything because I doubt anyone is really going to read it, I quickly turned to this story and was excited to see some familiar names from librarianship that I had learned about from my web travels and from my Foundations class. Some things that I took away from the article were that blogging provides a forum for discussing issues that aren't discussed in the mainstream (Librarian at the Kitchen Table) such as unions and librarys' connections to human rights issues, that blogging provides a place for humor (Goblin in the Library), and that blogging can connect those who are working in rural, often technologically underfunded communities with a larger community (Librarian.net). To quote a few responses, "When you're open and honest and allow people to participate, they really feel more attached to what you're doing. Librarians need to let go of their fear of losing control and of using a less-than-perfect system" (Blake Carver, LISNews). "The other thing I'd really like to see is biblioblogs that interact more with their communities. It would be interesting to have a public library blog with the local government or a school media specialist blog with a class of students, that type of interaction" (Jenny Levine, The Shifted Librarian). Actually, one of my brainstorms has been that there could be many students in my school who would love to blog about reading and books, but since we have a no blogging policy in my district, it becomes an issue that needs to be discussed and considered. After visiting each of these people's blogs, I realize that some of my issue with blogging stems from my present state of mind. I am in the middle of my first year of my first full-time library job and am finding that I am in a mental whirlwind--I don't really know what I know and I don't really know what I think about everything that is happening or not happening around me. In some ways stepping out and actually blogging would help me define my beliefs and reach out to other people. One of the aspects of a school media specialist position that I didn't forsee is the isolation and loneliness factor of being in a library when I am new to the school and only know a few people on staff. There are days when I hardly speak to anyone--beyond learning of their AV needs, since there aren't too many opportunities to get out into the rest of the school. I'm gaining insight into how Web 2.0 is helping many librarians to fight isolation and the resulting disconnect from the rest of their colleagues. I think if I could have a blog that focused mainly on popular reading and book discussion and even magazines, that would be more my thing--I am not ready to break into all of the politics of librarianship.