EXERCISE 2

I’ve realized that I’m beginning to define blogs by my choices. The differences run to the extreme in the five blogs we chose for the aggregators.

1. In the Library With the Lead Pipe

This is a well written post regarding the issues facing part time librarians as and potential part time librarians (read new librarians).. I like the blogs but they do seem like medium length nicely researched articles rather than blogs . The very nice thing about them is that they allow immediate feedback which works as a sort of an editorial process. I read a couple of other posts and came back with the same opinion. While the topics are interesting, this feels more like a process of an online magazine.

2. Librarian's Commute

The blog is likable right away because of his writing which is interesting and his posts which are short. He tells stories and talks about solid subjects. This is an easy sort of blog to read. It’s like the previous blog in that it uses a literary focus to talk about the world.

3. The Distant Librarian

PLAYTIME!!! I looked at more that half of the gadgets he talked about and wanted to play with most of the others. These posts are interesting in themselves, short, quick, funny and they suggest something fun to do. This may have nothing to do with thinking about the world but boy is it fun!

4. Librarian by Day This blog seemed disjointed; while there was a lot of good information I had trouble following it. I didn’t like the twitter effect that started a thought out of nowhere. It wasn’t fun and while there were interesting ideas in there, they weren’t easy to follow. The blog style seems to bridge a generation gap from writing about the world to twittering in it.

5. David Lee King I seriously had no idea there was such a thing as a promoter for libraries. He has a lot of enthusiasm and great ideas for presentations. I kept reading some of the posts because they were fun - especially about the videos. . It’s like the distant librarian in that it comes up with new playful things to do.. And it’s an enchanting idea for a libraryblog-ways to mesmerize the public .

I was thinking about which of the five I would keep in the reader after the class finished. I would keep David Lee King to learn how to do the next do dad in promotional gadgetry. I’d probably want to keep an eye out for the distant librarian just to see the next interesting gadgets. I like the leisurely pace of in the library with a lead pipe and librarians commute. There is a readability built into them that resonates with my generations years of newspaper articles. At the same time I love the immediacy of blogs such as the Librarian in Black and Tame the Web Office.

And on to other blogs:

AIDS Librarian: This is a beautifully organized blog. The blog looks a great deal like a web site and it’s updated on a regular basis with commentary provided by the organization. I particularly like the range of books and stories the site shares.

Eleventh Stack: This is just a great read of a blog. It’s a list of good reads, gentle commentaries about life. Written by a group of employees from the Carnegie Library of Pittsberg, the blog is a frequently updated ode to good writing.

The Librarian In Black She’s someone one I might want to read every day. She’s interesting. She’s sort of subversive in a field that isn't seen as subversive even though we so often are. She reads and talks about library life and and life as a librarian. Her posts are not too long. There are better writers but she is a library writer and I like that. Can I tell from these what makes a successful blog? Or at least a well read one?

What I see through the successful blogs are orginal, resourceful writing. Clear interesting ideas that drive the blog help to activate the readers interest. I think that’s another thing as well. A blog should have an involvement with the reader to be successful. That may be why some of the blogs I looked at didn’t resonate. They had content, they were current, but there was no connection. Finally design counts. If a blog is difficult to read and no one has to read it, they won’t.