School Library Blogs: Examples

One of the things that really drew me to this field is the fact that so many librarians are finding innovative ways of using new forms of technology to access and distribute information and as tools to aid the learning process. I think blogs illustrate this nicely. Sara and I were discussing the specific functions of blogs in the school library or media center, so I searched out some existing school library blogs to see how they’re currently being used. While many blogs serve more than one purpose, here is a list of some blog functions as I see it:

• Library Instruction/ Techniques
  The Mabry Media Center blog includes a series of techniques and instructional posts on topics such as research planning, accessing library resources from home, and internet searching tips just to name a few.
• Book Reviews: School Librarian Picks
  Olson Middle School – Media Specialist Mrs. Kochel provides a series of book reviews for students.
• School Library Web Site
  Ms. Voelker of Huntingtown High School Library Media Center uses her blog as the main web site, which links to electronic resources, guides to print resources, summer reading suggestions, an about the library page, new-book reviews, and a page for each teacher in the school.
• Student Contributions
  Hawley Library Media Center has an impressive array of contributors and book reviews allowing students to use their writing skills to share what they’ve learned and read with others.
• Creating a Community
  Similarly, the Northfield Mount Hermon school library has a blog with a “Bookmark of the Month” concept. These posts include contributions from teachers and students at the school - building a sense of community by involving the adults in the blog. Also the “Lounge Lizard Archives” highlights photos of students in the library along with quotes from those students. Whether they’re doing homework or just hanging out, you get the feeling the library is an often-visited and well-used place.
• Announcements/Latest Happenings
  The Neil Armstrong Elementary Library blog is a good example of a blog that posts announcements primarily about happenings in the library and school.
• Establishing an Online “Personality” or “Presence” for the Librarian
  The Uni High Library has a blog that’s fun and informative for even non-students to read and often covers topics broadly related to libraries, information technology, and books without focusing solely on the Uni High Library. The primary contributor is Frances Jacobson Harris, the librarian at Uni High.

This raises some questions for me:
Are some purposes better suited to a blog than others? For example, if the school library already has a website, is it easier just to update the school library website with announcements than to try to maintain a separate blog for that purpose? If the library website already has a listing or toolbar of resources available for use by students, does using a blog to write posts that highlight some of those resources add any value? Or are students less likely to read these posts preferring instead to read posts about book reviews or some other subject matter.

tags: school library blog