Come Blog with Me

NC library encourages staff to play in 2.0 sandbox

By Kathy Ishizuka -- School Library Journal, 9/1/2006

What do BiblioChick, Read Me, and First Time for Everything have in common? They’re all blogs created by staff of the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC), NC, who have launched their own Web pages as part of a unique program that encourages all comers to brave the new world of 2.0.

The educational series, dubbed Learning 2.0 (plcmclearning.blogspot.com), is an eight and a half-week staff development effort that kicked off this summer in conjunction with a Technology Summit hosted by PLCMC. At the August event, PLCMC employees and others got an introduction to new technologies, such as blogs and wikis, and how these socially oriented tools are taking us to a new level online known as Web 2.0.

“The idea was to have staff jump in and try these technologies themselves and do it in a fun way,” says Helene Blowers, PLCMC’s public services technology director, who devised the staff training series. In various “discovery” exercises, participants will explore a different technology each week, from blogging, RSS feeds, and wikis to podcasting and video and image-hosting sites. The beauty of the blog-based program is that it’s completely online, making it easy for staff to log on and participate. Blowers also welcomes other libraries—school, public, or academic—to follow along. Thus far, 187 staffers have jumped in to play in the online “sandbox,” in addition to personnel from libraries as far-flung as Wisconsin and Australia.

For many participants, the trepidation that comes with doing anything for the first time is evident in their blog posts, but so is the triumph of conquering one’s own fear. “This is my first blogging experience so please bear with me!” Marlo wrote on her newly created Blah Blah Blog. “No, I don’t really know what I’m doing. But I intend to find out.” Meanwhile, another first-time blogger, Beth, wrote, “I can’t believe I’ve gotten this far! I encountered challenges in trying to create this blog—after four tries and asking a coworker for assistance, I did it.”

“It’s exciting to see the growth through the participants’ blogs,” says a proud Blowers. “But it’s even more exciting to know that this is also helping us develop skills that we may be able to use to reach out to [library] users in new ways.”

Take one 2.0 student, senior library assistant Megan Taylor, for example. Taylor, who works at the Steele Creek Library, a PLCMC branch, is already using her new skills to generate ideas that she can take to work. “Our YA specialist has already started a MySpace account for our branch that the teens can go to and find out information about what’s happening and upcoming at our branch,” says Taylor. “Since I’m in the children’s department, we could have something similar with the blogs. Each children’s librarian could have their own blog with their profile, listing their experience and what programs they do with which age groups, their favorite books, etc. It would also come in handy if we wanted to post pictures from different events or programs, or blurbs from puppet shows that have audio and video.”

What could you do with 2.0 tools? Helene Blowers discusses how schools can benefit from her staff development program in a podcast, available at www.slj.com/podcasts.