Library Blogs & News Feeds

A Central Florida Library Cooperative Workshop

Background
Blog Software & Hosts
Blog Directories & Search Tools

Lists of Library Blogs
Selective Library/Librarian Blogs
Ethical & Legal Issues

Uses for Blogs
RSS

Background

The Blog Glossary: http://www.samizdata.net/blog/glossary.html; A list of terms used by and about bloggers, many with examples or etymology. The approach is best defined by the site itself, "Most of the terms herein really are in use but we must confess that a few are, shall we say, rather whimsical."
More Than Cat Diaries: Publishing with Weblogs: http://cat-diaries.blogspot.com/; A conference program set up as a blog, this interesting use of the technology gives background and overviews of how much more than diaries weblogs are and can be.
The State of Blogging: http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_blogging_data.pdf; From the Pew Internet and American Life Project, this "data memo" details statistics about blogs and their readers and writers in the United States as of late 2004; also compares to previous two years of statistics.
Using Bloglines (or How to keep up with dozens of blogs everyday): http://preetamrai.com/weblog/archives/2005/04/25/bloglines-how-to-keep-
track-of-hundreds-of-blogs-and-some-news-and-some-podcasts-and-some-flickrs-photos-etc-etc/; A long tutorial post with many comments and tips about information management with blogs.

Blog Software & Hosts (Selective!)

Free Blog Hosting/Software: http://weblogs.about.com/od/weblogsoftwareandhosts/a/topfreeblogs.htm; This undated article from About.com reviews and summarizes WordPress, Blogger, Movable Type, Greymatter, LiveJournal, Xanga, 20Six (UK), and MindSay.
Web Log Software, Platforms and Hosts: http://weblogs.about.com/od/weblogsoftwareandhosts/; Another undated About.com article, this bibliography includes information on "blog set up; entry weblog; starting a web log; weblog reviews, tutorials, how tos, articles, tips, guidelines, resources; blog software, blog platforms, blog systems, blog applications, blog tools, blog hosting."
Weblogs Compendium: Blog Hosting: http://www.lights.com/weblogs/hosting.html; From Peter Scott, a compiler of many library lists, this is an extensive compilation of international sites that host blogs and personal journals.
Your Own Personal Soapbox: Five Blogger Services Reviewed: http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6028_7-6040346.html; From C/Net Reviews, this covers TypePad, Blogger, MSN Spaces, Yahoo! 360° (Beta), and AOL Journals. The reviews include the editor's choices plus user reviews and the last of the editor's reviews was dated June 2, 2005.
AIM Blogs: http://pc.channel.aol.com/aimblogs; Free for anyone with an AOL Instant Messenger account.
AOL Journals: http://hometown.aol.com/ht.ssp?f=help&p=4; Help and "how to get started" information. Users of AOL, AIM, CompuServe, or Netscape already have accounts that allow access; others can register for accounts for free. Also has a search feature for AOL Journals (but not general Weblogs hosted elsewhere).
Blogger: http://www.blogger.com/; Free from Google and a very popular blog program, this is a site that will either host created blogs or publish them to an existing Web site.
Eons: http://www.eons.com/; A social site, with blogging, aimed primarily at Baby Boomers over 50.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/; A social site, with blogging, aimed primarily at college students.
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/; "LiveJournal is a simple-to-use (but extremely powerful and customizable) personal publishing ("blogging") tool, built on open source software. Joining the site is free. Users can choose to upgrade their accounts for extra features."
Movable Type: http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/; A precursor "cousin" to TypePad (see below), this is aimed slightly more, though not exclusively, at a corporate audience. Now has a limited version free for one-author personal blogs.
MSN Spaces: http://spaces.msn.com/; A community-oriented site designed to work with MSN's other features, this is a free hosting service.
MySpace: http://myspace.com; The most popular social site on the Web, complete with blogging features.
TypePad: http://www.typepad.com/; One of the more popular personal weblogging services, this (mostly) provides hosting on its own site and does require a subscription.
WordPress: http://wordpress.org/; Free, downloadable blogging software. Lists various hosts available for a fee.
Yahoo! 360° (Beta): http://360.yahoo.com/reg/beta_list.html; Currently available by invitation only, this will undergo a public beta testing later. Individuals can register here for notification when the public testing opens.

Blog Directories & Search Tools

How to Choose a Search Engine or Research Database: Specialty Searches: http://library.albany.edu/internet/choose.html#specialty; An excellent guide to general Web searching in a useful "if you want..." chart format, this "Specialty Searches" section includes numerous sources that search Blogs, News, and RSS Feeds.
About.com: Weblogs: http://weblogs.about.com/od/blogsbycategoryortheme/index.htm?iam=metaresults&terms=blogs; From About.com, this is a highly selective and annotated list of "recommended blogs by category or theme."
Blog Search Engine: http://www.blogsearchengine.com/; One of the few blog search tools that also has a categorized directory. Search engine itself is powered by IceRocket.
Blogdex: http://blogdex.net/; Calling itself a "weblog diffusion index," Blogdex tracks links to watch the spread of ideas across the Web and then generates a list of "fastest spreading ideas" from that tracking. Also allows searching by URL or text word(s). Similar: Daypop, Popdex, and Technorati. [NOTE: As of March 2006, a hard drive failure has this temporarily offline.]
Blogdigger: http://www.blogdigger.com/
Bloglines: http://www.bloglines.com/
BlogPulse: http://www.blogpulse.com/
BlogStreet: http://www.blogstreet.com/; Allows searching for blogs (some 150,000 of them) as well as for entries in them.
Blogwise: http://www.blogwise.com/
Bloogz: http://www.bloogz.com/
Daypop: http://www.daypop.com; A current events/weblog/news search engine; updated each hour from over 59,000 of the best sites of the "living Web." Similar: Blogdex, Popdex, and Technorati.
Fagan Finder: Blogs and RSS Search Engines: http://www.faganfinder.com/blogs/; More a metasearch site than a search engine per se, this allows for searching for and in Blogs as well as for and in RSS Feeds. Some 50 different engines are listed, along with additional links off the site, but only one engine at a time is searchable.
Feedster: http://blogs.feedster.com/; Feedster indexes "over eight million syndicated feeds, including more than 75,000 professionally published sources," updated several times an hour.
Globe of Blogs: http://www.globeofblogs.com/
IceRocket Blogs Search: http://www.icerocket.com/?tab=blog&q=; A relatively new search engine that has one specific channel (of seven) for searching blogs.
Internet Public Library: Blogs: http://www.ipl.org/div/blogs/; A large and useful categorized directory of and about blogs. One unusual category is the "Best Blogs List" where there are seven lists of someone's definition of "the best" of the genre.
Popdex: http://www.popdex.com/; Billing itself as "the website popularity index," Popdex is better for tracking trends than for conducting specific searches. Similar: Blogdex, Daypop, and Technorati.
Rhetorica: Professors Who Blog: http://rhetorica.net/professors_who_blog.htm; Quite selective list of links, even more selectively annotated, but all are from academic faculty bloggers.
Technorati: http://www.technorati.com/; Indexing and monitoring over 11 million Weblogs, Technorati also "tracks the number of links, and the perceived relevance of blogs, as well as the real-time nature of blogging" and offers a URL or keyword search service. Similar: Blogdex, Daypop, and Popdex.

Lists of Library Blogs

blogwithoutalibrary: blogging libraries: http://www.blogwithoutalibrary.net/?page_id=94; A list started for a chapter in a book, some 250 library blogs are listed and categorized by Public Libraries, Academic Libraries, School Libraries, Special Libraries, Blogs for Internal Library Communication, and Academic Blogging Initiatives.
BlogBib: Select Librarian/Library Blogs: http://blog-bib-liblogs.blogspot.com/; Fairly lengthy list of English-language only library blogs; includes meaty annotations.
Blogging Libraries: http://www.blogwithoutalibrary.net/?page_id=94; Extensive compilation, listed by library type, from blogwithoutalibrary.net.
Google Directory: Reference > Libraries > Library and Information Science > Weblogs: http://directory.google.com/Top/Reference/Libraries/Library_and_Information_Science/Weblogs/; Google's lengthy summarized list (around 300 items) of library blogs.
Internet Public Library: Library, Librarians, and Library Science Blogs: http://www.ipl.org/div/blogs/#libraryblogs; While there are only a dozen or so blogs listed here, it is one section of an excellent selective directory about blogs in all categories.
Law Library Blogs and Blogs by Law Librarians or Law Library Associations: http://library.law.wisc.edu/wisblawg/blogslistpublic.htm; Compiled by a law librarian for a presentation and a journal article, this list at the moment includes 52 different "blawgs" or law blogs from or by law libraries, librarians, or legal associations. Includes name, URL, and affiliation when available.
Library Weblogs: http://www.libdex.com/weblogs.html; Compiled by Peter Scott, this directory lists worldwide blogs, categorized geographically.
RSS(sm): Rich Site Services: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/RSS.htm; From Gerry McKiernan, this is a categorized registry of library services that are delivered or provided through RSS/XML, Atom, or other types of web feeds.
UNESCO Libraries Portal: Reference: weblogs: http://www.unesco.org/webworld/portal_bib/Reference/Weblogs/; A list of, at present, 62 international library Weblogs, some with annotations.

Selective Library/Librarian Blogs

Ann Arbor District Library: http://www.aadl.org/; This library's Web site IS a blog and the "normal" library information flows around it. Check out particularly the blog section for teens where some threads, particularly those about games, get hundreds of comments!
blogwithoutalibrary.net: http://www.blogwithoutalibrary.net/; "A blog about what libraries are doing with blogs, RSS, & other little technologies."
Carnival of the Infosciences: http://blogcarnival.com/bc/cprof_68.html; By definition, carnivals are roving (as in hosted by different blogs each issue) summaries of particular fields/interests and this one is described in this directory listing as: "a weekly weblog post that endeavors to showcase the best posts in the blogosphere about topics related to the wide world of Library and Information Science." Well worth monitoring! Schedule and submission instructions maintained in the Open Stacks blog.
Case Western Reserve University Kelvin Smith Library RSS Feeds: http://library.case.edu/ksl/rss/; An extensive list of RSS feeds by subject, format, type of news, and more.
Hennepin County Library: http://www.hclib.org/pub/events/; This is a customizable library events feed which allows personalized subscriptions to events by local library, by age group, by type (book sales, storytime, multicultural) or any combination thereof.
MRRL (Missouri River Regional Library) Expansion News: http://www.mrrl.org/expansion/blog/; A blog set up specifically to monitor the progress of a building expansion project.
PLA Event Archive: ALA Midwinter 2005 - Boston: http://www.plablog.org/event_archive/2005midwinter.shtml; An example of how to do a conference blog the right way, this has meeting summaries, personal observations, photos, the whole enchilada!
The Shifted Librarian: http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/; An outstanding example of a profound librarian blog, by Jenny Levine. She is mainly examining "how the change from pursuing information to receiving information is and will be affecting libraries."
Tame the Web: http://www.tametheweb.com/ttwblog/; By Michael Stephens, a librarian, technology trainer, and writer, this blog "includes topics such as current and future technology uses in libraries, training tips, staff development and various other interests concerning library settings."
TechnoBiblio: http://www.technobiblio.com/; The product of four library- and tech-savvy individuals, this bills itself as: "Technology + Libraries = Here."
University of Alberta Libraries RSS Feeds: http://www.library.ualberta.ca/rss/; Not blogs, but library feeds--and extensive feeds, at that.

Ethical & Legal Issues

Army's Rules for Blogging from the Battlezone: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/paul-rieckhoff/armys-rules-for-blogging_2655.html; Though not relevant to too many libraries per se, this is an interesting commentary on the consequences of ignoring what is and is not allowed per an official Army policy memo.
Blogging, Journalism, and Credibility: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/webcred/; The blog from the title conference (nicknamed "WebCred") which contains transcripts and audiocasts examining the ethics of blogging. Interesting commentaries from librarian participant Karen Schneider in American Libraries (v36, no.3, March 2005, p.15; available online for ALA members) and in her own blog, Free Range Librarian.
EFF: Legal Guide for Bloggers: http://www.eff.org/bloggers/lg/; From a recent EFF blog posting, "EFF's Legal Guide for Bloggers is a collection of frequently asked questions (FAQs) designed to educate bloggers about their legal rights in a number of areas, including libel law, copyright law, and political advocacy."
The Ethical Blogger: http://libraryjournal.com/article/CA515805.html; From Library Journal's netConnect column by Karen Schneider on April 15, 2005, this article discusses the fact that when talking about library and librarian blogs, "the stakes are ... [high]... because we're creating highly visible, globally available content." She cites five concepts that, if followed, will produce ethical "contributions to the biblioblogosphere ... of which we can all be proud."
The Library Blogger's Personal Protocols: http://www.tametheweb.com/ttwblog/archives/000568.html; From Michael Stephens's Tame the Web blog, this suggests and spells out a code of ethics similar to that followed by journalists.
Ten Things a Blogging Librarian Must Do (an exercise in common sense): http://www.tametheweb.com/ttwblog/archives/000255.html; An earlier article than the above, also from Michael Stephens's Tame the Web blog, this laid the groundwork for the code mentioned above and is an excellent set of guidelines to be followed by bloggers.

Uses for Blogs

Beyond the Blog: http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/brian/archives/018702.html; Links to an excellent screencast about the use of blogs in education. Has a companion wiki.
CFLC's Blog Demos: http://cflc.net/Bookmarks/blogdemos.htm; For use in the CFLC workshop on Blogs, this demonstrates the ubiquity of blogs, some dramatic blog effects, books that began as blogs, and more.
Educational Blogging: http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm04/erm0450.asp; An article by Stephen Downes from EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 39, no. 5 (September/October 2004): 14–26.
Learn the Uses and Roles of Blogs: http://weblogs.about.com/od/usesandrolesofblogs/; Several articles from About.com on the various uses of blogs.
Pew Internet & American Life Project Commentary: http://www.pewinternet.org/pipcomments.asp; Not just related to blogs, this is the blog announcing Pew Internet & American Life Project results and studies. The Project looks at who is using and how they're using the Internet in general.
Ways to Use Blogs: http://blog.lib.umn.edu/ways.html; From the UThink blog at the University of Minnesota Libraries, this gives suggestions for ways faculty and students can use blogs and links to some interesting examples at the University.

RSS

RSS / Atom and Content Syndication: http://weblogs.about.com/od/rssandcontentsyndication/; Several articles from About.com on RSS and syndication.
RSS4Lib: http://blogs.fletcher.tufts.edu/rss4lib/; "Innovative ways libraries use RSS."
Three ways RSS can make your Web life better: http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10165_7-5502685-1.html; The ability to be up-to-the-minute, to maintain contact information, and the ubiquity of RSS are three reasons cited that RSS lives up to the title of this piece.
Libraryelf.com: http://www.libraryelf.com/; For libraries on the Dynix system, patrons can use this service to send themselves automatic reminders of materials due or ready for pick-up. At present, the only CFLC member library in the system is Seminole County Public Library.
RSS Search Engines and more:
Blogdigger: http://www.blogdigger.com/
Feedster: http://www.feedster.com/
NewsGator Online Services: http://www.newsgator.com/home.aspx; This service will deliver the feed directly into Microsoft Outlook.
PubSub: http://www.pubsub.com/index.php; An alerting and notification service that will send to your aggregator anything that matches your stored queries.
Waypath: http://waypath.com/

Created 6/1/2005; last revised 10/1/2006

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