1a. Blogs – Blogger

The What

Think of blogs, short for “weblogs,” as an online discussion. The author posts content and the readers can read and comment on the subject. The main content of blogs is text but images, links to other websites, videos, music and audio can all be part of a blog. Blogs can be personal, more like an online diary, or they can be corporate in nature, promoting a business or organization. Some blogs focus on particular subjects such as politics, travel or librarianship.

The Why

Blogs can be a quick and simple way for you to communicate with your audience whether it is personal or business. They are a great way to disseminate information about upcoming activities and to receive feedback from your audience, customers, or patrons. With well over 100 million blogs out there, there is something for everyone. Check out these library related blogs:

The How

Discovery Exercise

There are several places where you can set up a free blog account. One of the popular ones is Blogger.

  1. First, take a moment to plan your blog. Is this going to be a personal blog, a library blog, maybe a department blog. What kind of content do you intend to supply?
  2. Go to www.blogger.com and under the Learn More links, take the Quick Tour to learn the basics.
  3. Click on “Create a blog” at the bottom of the tour page and create an account.
  4. Add your first blog entry.  Stuck for topics?  Blog about your favorite book, a program at your library, or a way your library might incorporate blogging.
  5. Send the blog address to a friend or colleague asking them to read your first blog entry and to post a comment on the blog.

More for the Curious

When you start to have a lot of blogs that you want to follow, it can be quite cumbersome to bookmark them all and visit each page on regular basis. There is software that allows you to set up ”RSS feeds” so you only have one place to go to see all the blogs you are following.

Communication Home | Next up: 1b. Instant Messaging – IM

About the Author

Ross Callender

Ross Callender

Ross Callender works as the Western Colorado Regional Consultant for the Colorado Library Consortium and is based in Grand Junction but travels all over the Western Slope, visiting libraries and providing continuing education opportunities. You can communicate with him via: