Exercise 2

Overall the first five blogs touch on current issues related to libraries and/or the library professionals. However, I did notice differences between the blogs.

In the Library with the Lead Pipe

This blog focuses on the library as a profession; the blog posts are lengthy and more than blog posts are essays. There are several authors.

Librarian’s Commute

Uses the Google Blogger platform; the posts are regularly a few paragraphs in length; the blog posts are usually about the author’s personal comments about library issues in a community library setting.   

The Distant Librarian

This blog is basically about technology in general, technology related to the library field (with a focus on instruction) and general library including book reviews. The lengths of the posts are a few paragraphs.

Librarian by Day

This blogs touches on current subjects related to technology and libraries (the latest post was on how to checkout and return Kindle books at public libraries) and also just books. The posts are lengthy compared to the Librarian’s Commute and The Distant Librarian.

David Lee King

I love this blog. The author shares his own experiences working at a public library and talks about other topics such as technology, web 2.0, vendors, web design, etc. The lengths of the posts vary.

My favorite of the five blogs was David Lee King. His posts have a positive feeling. I like how he shares his experiences working at a library and the variety of the topics he covers.

The three extra blogs I picked were:

Tame the Web

I love Tame the Web. The author is a SJSU SLIS professor; the blog is mainly focused on technology for libraries, but includes a variety of topics that range from interesting YouTube videos to iPhone apps recommendations.

Librarian in Black

This is the only blog from the list provided I have read in the past. The author focuses on technology in general and technology for libraries, in addition to experiences related to her professional career and personal life. Her posts are easy to read and include some humor.

ACR Log

This was my least favorite blog. The blog posts have different authors. The topics refer to academic and research library issues.

Based on what I liked and disliked from the eight blogs discussed above, I think a combination of the following three characteristics could make a library blog successful:

*Right length, not too long or too short

*Frequently updated

*Interesting, current topics; not only one subject

To the three characteristics you could add a conversational writing style, a positive overall feel (not an outlet for complaining), and patrons interested in following a blog.