Today I am planning to talk about the blog of the special library. When clicking on http://wastatelib.wordpress.com/, I was directed to the Washington State Library’s old blog. This blog was created on August 18, 2006, and the first post was “What is Documents in the News?” An announce said this blog moved to a new home on the Washington Secretary of State’s website: http://blogs.secstate.wa.gov/wslpublic/ on October 8th, 2008. But before making this announcement, their last post was on July 18th, 2008. During almost three months, nothing was posted. I think librarians should have given an early moving notice to patrons.
The good news is that their new blog page looks like very good. This new blog is easily accessible from the Library’s Homepage. By clicking “Washington State Library Blogs” on the Library Homepage, a user will be led to the Division and Program Blogs, which is divided into five sub-subjects: Latest News and Features for the Public ; Institutional Library Services; Washington Rural Heritage; Adventures in Digitization; Adventures in Digitization.
These five subject categories help users browse relevant information. I am interested in Latest News and Features for the Public, and click it, then I can see some interesting topics on this page, such as “Unemployment and Economic Hardship Resources” which says “the staff of the Washington State Library has compiled a list of helpful online resources for those currently affected by the recent downturn of the economy. For links to unemployment information, job and retraining resources, and federal economic stimulus programs.” If I were layoff, what useful news could I get from here? I think this topic is very helpful and appealing. On the left side of the blog page, “Ask A Librarian” at the top corner helps patrons figure out questions. There are also many sidebars which can link to home page or other subjects such as “Library Catalog”, “Digital Archives”, and so on. Digital Library Maps is so charming and fascinating. A search widget enables patrons to search blog content or access additional subjects. This blog is equipped with a subscribe feed, which helps users stay connected with this blog.
On the right side of this blog, I can enjoy State Library Photos, Featured books and articles. When clicking Serving Washington Libraries, I can know all services which are provided by this library, a very detailed service list displays on the right side of the this blog page. Blog posts are archived by date and category. I also can go to any blog division or social service tools such as “Our Flickr”.
All in all, the new Washington Secretary of State Blogs are a good example of how blogs can serve clients in special library. It provides users with the most up-to-date information. As a user, I feel it easy for patrons to locate tools or services from the library’s homepage. I choose some tools, and their overall usability is easy for novice library users because tags facilitate browsing by subject. Users can quickly and easily find what they are looking for. If a user does not know exactly what she or he is seeking for, this person can search in library blogs or retrieve some topics according to the date from the blogs’ archive. Users also can link to other libraries’ websites or their blogs by “Cool library related cites” and blogroll on the page of Institutional library Service.
In addition, some blogs have an aim to attract a target audience, which are clearly placed in the “About” page of blogs. A clear purpose helps blog contributors ensure their ideas in the right places. For example, the blog of Adventures in Digitization states “highlights historically significant and amusing items from our collections and attempts to demystify the digitization process for libraries through occasional discussions about project planning, material selection, and digital imaging resources”. The purpose of Serving Washington Libraries blog “is to improve communication among Library Development staff with the Washington library community in order to increase awareness of and perceived value in the projects and services provided by the Washington State Library.”
The only suggestion I have for this blog is that some divisions’ blogs have no objectives, and I can’t find “About” tag on the main blog page. It would be perfect if this direction could be added in the above areas.
