Getting Librarians Excited About Blogging and RSS
v discusses the state of blogging and RSS feeds among archivists, then she types: “Librarians, in general, it seems, are adopting RSS and weblog technology, slowly but surely. Yet, I would argue that many of the weblog workshops for librarians are “preaching to the choir” of tech and reference librarians. There is little in either the titles of these workshops or the methods of advertising them to convince archivists and special collections librarians that these workshops are useful or relevant for their field.”
How do we get archivists, special collections librarians, and other information professionals into blogging and RSS feeds? I’m working on this by writing an article about RSS geared toward some of my colleagues. I’m also planning to write a proposal for an article about blogging and news librarianship. I’m serving on at least one panel to talk about blogging this year. And I’ve been posting about blogging to several discussion lists I’m on. Many of my colleagues know they can use me as a resource if they have questions about blogging and such. I’ve started helping with some workshops for new bloggers, too. What else can I do?
I think there’s a general trend in librarianship (and many other fields) to wait to see how others use or apply new technology before many people begin adopting such tools. How can we change this, besides becoming and encouraging early adopters ourselves?
