Libraries and weblogs: The Role of new phenomenon Blogs in library services, research and learning. Tahereh Karami Tehran university of Medical Sciences, Iran Tahereh Oloumi Tehran University, Iran

Overview What are blogs? Blog/ Weblog is  A web page containing brief entries arranged chronologically  An online community, ‘ What ’ s New ’ page or links to other web sites,  That are built using specially designed software

From the viewpoint of the user or visitor A blog is a Web site with:  Content arranged as entries of text and hyperlinks, posted in reverse chronological order,  A timestamp for each entry so the reader knows when it was posted,  And an archive of previously posted content that can be easily accessed by visitors

Library weblogs: professional literature Blogs with an emphasis on library and information science  Crawford, 2001  Fichter,2001  Clyde, 2002a, 2002b and 2003  Cohen, 2003

Library weblogs: professional literature The potential of weblogs in libraries  Block (2001)  Embrey (2002)  Balas (2003)  Carver (2003)  Doug Goans and Teri Vogel (2003)  Bar-llan (2004)  Blair and Cranston (2006)

Library weblogs: professional literature weblogs in knowledge management  Fichter (2003)  Roell (2003)  Alcock (2003)  Ojala (2005)

Library weblogs: professional literature RSS and its use in libraries  Wusteman (2004)  Winsh (2004)  Miller (2004)  Jacobs (2004)  Celikbas (2004)

Weblogs in libraries  Blogs are a natural for librarians Paula J. Hane (2001)  A weblog could be used as a tool for communication with library users Blinda weaver (2003)  A weblog could be used as a tool for communication with library users

How libraries can utilize weblogs for their profession? blogs applications in libraries  as a current awareness service;  to highlight news or resources of interest;  to post book reviews from students, faculty, and staff members;  to list new acquisitions;  to announce library news and events  for selective dissemination of information

Blog is easy for librarians A Blog is:  Web-based forms  Easy to create  Easy to publish  Does not need to know HTML

How libraries are using Blogs? Blogs as a  library newsletter  Reference Desk  New Acquisitions  libraries consortia  marketing tools in libraries

and library BlogResearch  Communicating information about resources  Starting conversations about books and literacy  Use Weblogs as digital portfolios (by Students)  Use blogs as classroom portals (by Teachers)  Identify, organize, and make information accessible (In school libraries)  Encourage students to access the Internet for useful information (by Educators)

The relevance of blogging to libraries  weblogs are an excellent way to stay current  Librarians are great filters of information  Weblogs are ideal for disseminating all types of information  Weblogs are ideal for commenting, expressing opinions and  Weblogs are ideal for discussing implications  And to provide local information

Library Blogs purposes Libraries can use Blog to:  Provide up-to-date information on local events,  Provide library news,  Provide announcements of new library acquisitions,  promoting the services Contact with users  Information provision  Marketing of services  knowledge management

Number of library Blogs Table1: Number of library weblogs between Karami & Oloumi, 2005 Clyde,2004Clyde,2003Type of library Public library Academic library (university or college) 55175Special / research library 1962Multi-type library network/consortium 431National/state library 2071School library TOTAL

Syndicate your content: RSS What is RSS? RSS is a simple XML syntax for describing a channel or feed of recent additions to a webpage such as weblogs, and usually showby these icons:

Two ways to manage RSS  use a feedreader : fine to only one or two blogs; IE6 will enable RSS feeds on the desk top  use an aggregator : to manage feeds such as: RSSFeeds.com ( Syndic8 ( NewsIsFree ( Lisfeeds.com (

RSS in Libraries Here are some RSS utilizations in libraries that have been introduced by Celikbas:  Activities, Event Announcements,...  Book Lists  Current Awareness Service

Conclusion Blogging could be an efficient and effective alternative for information and knowledge transfer, resulting in a more productive workforcein libraries.

Thank you! Tahereh Karami Faculty of the School of Public Health and Institute of Public Health Researches Library, Tehran university of Medical Sciences, Iran Dr. Tahereh Oloumi Associate Professor, Department of Library Science, School of Psychology and Education, Tehran University, Iran