Blogging libraries- looking back

Thinking back to week 1, I am glad to see that re-reading (or at least skimming again) and looking at the examples about blogs in libraries after finishing this course has allowed me to see so many more possibilities for blogs in libraries. I initially thought that blogs might not be the best thing for a library, and that wikis were the way to go as they are searchable and are not arranged by time posted. But looking at Kansas State's extensive blog has made me think again. K State's blog is extremely in depth, but the fact that you can subscribe to certain feeds makes it extremely useable and not overwhelming. I still wonder about upkeep and interest, but as I have learned over the course of this class, that is a constant concern and not one that there is an easy answer to. To maintain interest in a new technology librarians must be the ones who are enthusiastic about it and must make it a part of their everyday lives. The only way to do this is to participate in classes like this - at the beginning of this class I thought blogs were only used as internal staff blogs for library news and announcements - but after looking at K State's blog and VCU libraries blog suggestiong box I definitely have a different view point.

Looking at some of my notes from the first week I see that I had doubts about how socially engaging blogs really were - weren't they just some way for people to vent online or not interact in 'real life'? Thinking about the term "continuous partial attention" made me think about all the times I would sit in a class or be teaching a class or be at a conference and see people typing madly away - not sure if they were blogging, but felt like it cut down on people to people interaction - after the past five weeks though, I am seeing how libraries might be a place to find a balance between the online world and the real world. At least that's what I am hoping for...