Why I blog

I suppose it would be cheating to just point to this post by college teacher, Barbara Ganley, about student blogging (discovered via Will Richardson's blog). But I have experienced many of the benefits she describes for her freshmen, even though I am in graduate school and a mature student and writer.

My blog started out, in the summer of 2004, as a kind of annotated bookmark keeper--with maybe half a thought to eventually being a kind of electronic portfolio. I formulated a new mission for my blog around January of this year for several reasons.

For one thing, I no longer needed annotated bookmarks. The tool del.icio.us had arrived to serve that purpose. But, even more, my searching skills had improved so dramatically in library school that I no longer needed to keep track of every cool thing I found on the web. I trust my ability to find it back--or something even better--should the need arise.

I realized at the beginning of 2005 that this would be a unique year in my library career. I had taken all the required courses except Management. I read widely and regularly in the field. I provide expertise to meet the information needs for family, friends, and strangers on the internet. In short, I feel like a librarian but I don't work in a library. I can think about libraries in imaginative ways because I'm not burdened by any physical or fiscal constraints. My blog became an on-line manifestation of what I learned in library school, an expression of my inner librarian. Pretty much what Barbara Ganley sees with her students:

the first attempts at blogging by my first-years have me convinced that sustained blogging over the years, not just in the classroom, but after and outside the classroom experience, as a way to reflect on and discuss the connections between the lessons learned inside the class and the world outside our walls, is perhaps the most promising way to use blogging and other social software in a liberal arts institution.

Then the most amazing thing happened. I began to connect to people because of my blog. First it was the occasional email or the rare link from another blog to mine. Then it was the price of admission to the blogger dinner at ACRL and the blogger bash at ALA, like being invited to eat at the cool kids' lunch table. Now it's the vehicle for collaborative ventures with other librarians like the Carnival of the Infosciences and this post to participate in Travis' round-up of student posts about why we blog. The spontaneous collaborations are great, too:

• My post and The Gypsy Librarian's post give advice about reading journal articles.


• Walt, Dorothea, and I imagine life-changing events.


• Rochelle, Dorothea, and Meredith talk about blogs and work and, months later, I have something to add.

I blog to remember. I blog to learn. I blog to connect. That's why I blog.     #

June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007