featherloom

Weblogs have quickly become a phenomenon, nearly ubiquitous among regular web users, and many organizations have taken advantage of the technology to foster an unprecedented connection with their consumers. However, blogs can easily be made too confusing or too obtuse for users to follow, even when there is a specific goal in mind on the author’s part. It’s vital that any organization, but perhaps especially a library, should ensure that its blog is both maintained and understandable – librarians are wells of information, and the blog is a fantastic way of both sharing useful information clearly and succinctly while also receiving information from patrons.

For a library’s weblog to succeed, it should first be proofed often for errors and broken links so the site can maintain its usefulness. A link to a valuable resource for job seekers is useless to patrons if it is out of date, and a multitude of grammar and spelling errors does the author (and the library) no favors in terms of public esteem. Additionally, entries should be focused and use clear, common language to ensure that users can understand and respond to content. A blog is a communications tool, not a jargon-filled encyclopedia.

However, basic repairs and maintenance like those listed above are not enough to keep a blog interesting and useful. The general consensus among most experienced bloggers is that a blog becomes more engaging when it is focused on a particular topic, instead of meandering listlessly from without a thematic connection. As we’ll see later, this design is also more intuitive. Jakob Nielsen declares, “Specialized sites rule the web” (1). Of course, there are many different aspects and “departments” of any kind of library, and the departments only multiply as the library becomes larger. Many libraries have reached a sort of compromise by creating a blog for each department: the Ann Arbor District Library, for example, has separate blogs for Services, Events, and Research. Additionally, each entry added to one of these blogs is also added to a central blog on the institution’s main page, allowing a user to quickly view the newest entries without having to visit each blog separately (2).

St. Joseph County Public Library also makes use of this strategy, and the sheer number of blog categories and sub-categories is staggering, including separate blogs for children, academics, African Americans, and a multitude of other user groups, suggesting how blogs, if used correctly, could allow librarians to reach every user effectively (3). Again, all of the blog entries from all of these separate categories are added to a main blog. However, the many blogs and sub-blogs can create a cluttered look and a confusing experience for patrons who don’t know where they “fit,” or where to look for information.

Actually, the subject-driven organization of Ann Arbor seems more intuitive than the division based on user groups – these “groups” are often artificial in nature, and patrons come to a library wanting information relating to a specific need, not information about who they are. If I want a review of a book, for example, a “Reviews” or “Events” blog would be more useful than having to trawl through a dozen demographically-defined blogs to try to find where the entry for the book or event might be cached. Ohio University Libraries’ Business Blog is a perfect example of how a subject-oriented blog can be an indispensable tool: it is directed towards Business students who are seeking materials and news on their particular subject (4). The author provides a mine of information for any student seeking help on his or her particular subject, and switching between videos, news articles and other kinds of entries creates a greater sense of engagement and fun, which always attracts more users to a blog.

Additionally, if a library is going to have many “sub-blogs,” there should be a search mechanism in place to save the user’s time. The archives system is flawed when it comes to blogs because it depends upon the user to remember the date of an entry’s publication, a task that is none too easy for the average patron. A search mechanism should be available to patrons who want to find a specific entry quickly. Virginia Commonwealth University’s Library Suggestion Blog, in which students can write comments, suggestions or questions to librarians and have them publicly answered, is searchable, allowing users to see conversations about a particular topic and greatly increasing the site’s usefulness (5).

Lastly, Jakob Nielsen insists that an audience should know who they’re talking to, and what the purpose of the blog is (6). This gives users a contact person in the event of questions or complaints, and also gives a greater sense of trust and encourages the users to respond with comments or links. OUL’s Business Blog is to be commended for its author’s biography and visibility (He often appears in videos). There should also be a visible “About” section in which the purpose of the blog and its goals are laid out (7). Nielsen also suggests writers establish “permalinks” to initial entries which provide an introduction to the content might be indispensable (8). This could certainly benefit SJCPL’s “Save Point” blog, which almost reads like a foreign language and assumes an intimate knowledge of the tournaments it describes; the authors provide little to no further information about themselves or their blog’s purpose (9). This is strange, since a library’s purpose is to bridge information gaps and aid users in keeping up with new resources the library might provide for them. The ultimate guiding light for any librarian blogger is to keep that mission in mind.

1. Nielsen, Jakob, “Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes.” Section 8.
2. Ann Arbor District Library Main Page
3. St. Joseph County Public Library Blog
4. Boeninger, Chad F., Ohio University Libraries Business Blog
5. Virginia Commonwealth University Library Suggestion Blog
6. Nielsen, Jakob, “Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes.” Section 1.
7. Ibid. Section 1.
8. Ibid. Section 5.
9. “P” and “Maire,” SavePoint GameBlog, St. Joseph County Public Library