Blogs for Libraries

Greg Schwartz has written a dynamite article on blogs and libraries. A quote:

"Quite simply, weblogs are an excellent way to stay current. News travels down the blogging pipelines long before it appears in print and, in many cases, online magazines and journals (keeping in mind that authority is still important and reading with a critical, objective mind essential). By visiting the blogs of other librarians, you gain the perspective of others working in your field, confronting similar issues and exploring solutions. You also experience the wonderful diversity of opinions, perspectives and personalities that make up our field. Librarians are great filters of information and relying on a select group to provide your daily information can be a great time-saver. That said, remember that blogs are only one tool in the well-informed librarian's tool chest."

Greg goes on to list 6 reasons why librarians should have a weblog (or at least contribute to a weblog community). I agree with his notion that blogs are only one tool to use for currency. There's aggregators, reading trade journals, attending conferences, and posting to and reading listservs (although that has bored me stiff lately) to name a few. Great job Greg.