The newspaper editor as a blogger: A lesson for top librarians
When the Greensboro News & Record ran “Bus Driver Bob’s” obit on the front page of the final edition, it accidentally omitted the continuation on an inside page. In the past there would have been just a rerun of the story and a formulaic apology. You’d never have seen a personal note from Editor John Robinson (photo) appearing the same day in a blog.
OK, now here’s the library angle. Does anyone know of top librarians of big-city libraries doing their own blogs? Perhaps explaining new services or problems with the old? Or sharing the enthusiasm for certain authors? Must everything be library-impersonal? Among librarians, the troops have long been blogging, and then there’s Tasha Saecker’s gem of a blog for the small-town system that she runs in Wisconsin; but how about the top people in big-city libraries? For that matter, James Billington, Librarian of Congress, while not always the most clueful guy about ebooks and the Net, could do one heck of a blog–covering not just library matters but also those within his field of Russian studies.
Both stodgy, both in need of Contact
Newspapers and libraries tend to have much in common, as oft-stody institutitions that almost pride themselves on not keeping up with the times. So it’s good to see Robinson’s blog and the N&R’s other activities in the same spirit. Must be something in the water in Greensboro, North Carolina (population 223,891). Jeff Thigpen, Greensboro’s register of deeds, also has a blog going. If other ‘crats can do it, why can’t top library administrators? Perhaps something for Sandy Neerman, Greensboro’s well-regarded library director, to consider? Her system already has a lively and well-organized Web site, incuding, I might add, a netLibrary-related link promoted on the home page. So, at least from afar, it looks as if a Neerman blog would be in character.
But back to The Big Picture. Given the funding woes of so many American library systems, blogging could be A Very Good Thing. Administrators would not just be writing about library services, but also getting feedback along the way from other bloggers from outside librarydom. Too many library ‘crats move within narrow social circles, a problem not unknown to journalists or others such as cops (yes, blogging could be a great form of outreach for police departments–especially as audio and video blogs take off and the medium spreads farther beyond the elite).
Hiring criterion
With blogging so promising as a bridge between bureaucracies and the public, including the press, maybe the relevant skills should be among the criteria for hiring top liberarians and other government administrators. No, I’m not expecting most library ‘crats to blog as often or as eloquently as trained journalists like Robinson. But heartfelt blogs could go a long way toward winning friends for local libraries.
Related: Citizen Journalism: A Newspaper That Gets It, in Dan Gillmor’s blog.
Housekeeping note: I’m on the road this weekend, after a nice stay with inlaws in Statesville, North Carolina, and will be packing up everything electronic except for my Sony PDA (no danger of running out of reading material–not with scores of e-books on it). Back late Sunday or Monday. Happy New Year, everyone! If you haven’t already, check out Six biggest news stories in e-bookdom in 2004.
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