1. A centre of expertise in digital information management www.ukoln.ac.uk www.bath.ac.uk 1 UKOLN is supported by: Addressing the Barriers Marieke Guy, UKOLN Using Blogs Effectively Within Your Library – ILI Workshop 15 th October 2008

2. A centre of expertise in digital information management www.ukoln.ac.uk www.bath.ac.uk 2 Barriers to Blogging… Barriers to… –Making the decision to blog –Getting started –Gaining momentum –Keeping your momentum! –Stopping Addressing these takes a little planning…

3. A centre of expertise in digital information management www.ukoln.ac.uk www.bath.ac.uk 3 Before you Start.. Be rigorous asking the questions: –“Why do we want a blog?” –Would it be better done some other way? –Are we doing this just because we can? –...Or because someone told us to...? Think about developing a pilot: –A project-based blog with limited lifetime –Using the blog for an event, working-party etc. –No / low commitment –Be clear about ownership –Work at the right “radar level”...

4. A centre of expertise in digital information management www.ukoln.ac.uk www.bath.ac.uk 4 Institutional Issues Your institution may feel that: –It’s a fad –It’s not our job –We’re too busy –It will bring the library into disrepute –It’s threatening. What about defamatory comments? Copyright? etc. They may need reassurance –Show examples of best practice library blogs –Participate on other blogs –Demonstrate the value –Identify and address training requirements –Seek out blog champions

5. A centre of expertise in digital information management www.ukoln.ac.uk www.bath.ac.uk 5 Policies Develop a policy (if this fits with your organisation) covering scope, target audience etc. Think about moderation: the BBC model is good Have a workflow/editorial process/QA (preferably minimal): –Write, check and publish –Write, send to colleague, check and publish –Write, circulate, sign-off, publish –Write, circulate, send to committee, wait three months, get sign-off from everyone apart from the Director …. This takes a long time!! Think about processes for handling problems

6. A centre of expertise in digital information management www.ukoln.ac.uk www.bath.ac.uk 6 Technical Issues Choose your platform You’ll need to establish the technologies to be used: –In-house blog software or externally-hosted? –Dedicated blog software or functionality provided by CMS, … –Selection of the software Get IT services on side (?) Buy a domain name if you want...or extend your existing one (blog. or /blog)

7. A centre of expertise in digital information management www.ukoln.ac.uk www.bath.ac.uk 7 Getting Started Do what you can to publicise: – Link from your main website – Link to other blogs – Send a newsletter – Tell your friends and colleagues Think about the future – migration?

8. A centre of expertise in digital information management www.ukoln.ac.uk www.bath.ac.uk 8 Gaining Momentum Participate: embed yourself in the community, social networks e.g. Ning, Facebook (need to be aware of privacy issues, ownership of data, dangers of data lock-in) Identify and follow other blogs Get a great feed reader like Google Reader Link, a lot, especially to other blogs Comment, and use your URL when you do Be fairly shameless in self-promoting: “I like what you’re saying but over on our library blog we’ve taken a different approach..” Spread the URL around

9. A centre of expertise in digital information management www.ukoln.ac.uk www.bath.ac.uk 9 Keeping Momentum Use Technorati, Google Blog search, etc Start to embed these in people’s lives by reporting Make sure you post regularly, and with high quality: –Don’t post because you haven’t done one in a while... –Do post because you’ve got something to say If you’re losing momentum, maybe there’s a reason? Do some evaluation of your blog: ask readers Look for co-authors. Guest posts. You may be surprised! if it’s getting stale, try some alternative approaches: – Interviews, podcasts, surveys or polls – Video or other media embedding, live blogging...be creative, and copy other people

10. A centre of expertise in digital information management www.ukoln.ac.uk www.bath.ac.uk 10 Right People for the Role “Whilst I enjoy reflecting, analysing, and writing, not everyone does. Expecting people to do can place unwelcome demands on their time although I could argue a case for appointing people in some support roles who have demonstrated their willingness and ability to reflect and communicate online using tools such as blogs and wikis, etc.” Derek Morrison, Auricle http://www.auricle.org/

11. A centre of expertise in digital information management www.ukoln.ac.uk www.bath.ac.uk 11 Stuck for Ideas? Brian Kelly Video Clips –How Do I Find Ideas: http://www.seesmic.com/#/video/jeDakhq02H/watch http://www.seesmic.com/#/video/jeDakhq02H/watch –How do I find the time to blog: http://www.seesmic.com/#/video/bSnGiuDldk/watch http://www.seesmic.com/#/video/bSnGiuDldk/watch

12. A centre of expertise in digital information management www.ukoln.ac.uk www.bath.ac.uk 12 Measuring Impact Use your stats to support what you do Think about how you: –Measure the impact of your blog service? –Use metrics to identify what works and what doesn’t? –Justify ROI? –Report to funders?

13. A centre of expertise in digital information management www.ukoln.ac.uk www.bath.ac.uk 13 Stopping Develop an exit strategy Be very clear with your readership: if they are loyal and you have a community, then think about the impact: Communicate how and why Talk about the successes Be positive! Make sure (see getting started) that you can extract all your content (if you want it!)

14. A centre of expertise in digital information management www.ukoln.ac.uk www.bath.ac.uk 14 Migrating your Blog How might you migrate the contents of a blog This question was raised by Casey Leaver, shortly before leaving Warwick University She migrated her blog from blogs at Warwick Univ to Wordpress Note, though, that not all data was transferred (e.g. title, but not contents) so there’s a need to check transfer mechanisms See also Derek Morrison, Auricle http://caseyleaver.wordpress.com/2 008/02/20/the-spirit-of-web-20/

15. A centre of expertise in digital information management www.ukoln.ac.uk www.bath.ac.uk 15 Conclusion Blogs are starting to be used within libraries There’s a need to clarify the purpose and establish best practises There may be barriers to overcome But the benefits can outweigh the downsides…just needs a bit of thought

16. A centre of expertise in digital information management www.ukoln.ac.uk www.bath.ac.uk 16 Any Questions?