What ALA Can Learn From Educause
March 5th, 2005Educause has a Community Blog Service, where they invite members to participate in blogs:
“Do you have a keen interest in emerging technologies and a spirit of adventure? Then play an active part in the EDUCAUSE Community Blog Service, a pilot project to give association members a hands-on opportunity to explore the use of blogs and to create a new, vibrant medium for professional information sharing.”
While we’re continuing to work with weblogs on the national library association level (I know of one other division of ALA besides PLA that will be blogging at ALA Annual), I wonder what would happen if ALA opened up a similar service. Notwithstanding the comments from the ALA President elect, I have seen a shift in the organization from one with little to no knowledge of the medium to one of acceptance. During the midwinter meeting, there was a lot of buzz about the PLA Blog (It’s Baaaaaack) and librarians are starting to understand how weblogs can beneficially work for them.
So, what are the next steps at the national level? More bloggers at conferences would be nice. I’m shooting for 50 bloggers for the PLA Blog at ALA Annual and 100 at the PLA conference in Boston next year, all the while generating an audience throughout the process. For those who have asked, a colleague and I are in active talks with PLA to continue posting to the PLA Blog during the next 12 months. Expect more information in the upcoming weeks.