To round out this blog, I’ve added a number of active and dormant special collections blogs (with some archives-specific ones thrown in for good measure) to the blogroll column on the left. One of the things that struck me while curating the list is that blogs give a unique opportunity for small regional or public special collections to stand on equal footing with much larger institutions. Moreover, they present an opportunity for collections that have been fragmented to conceptually be re-linked together for researcher.

It’s exciting to see so many special collections experimenting with blogs, and to also observe some of the creative ways the format is being used. If I haven’t listed your blog, please feel welcome to email me with the name and address or leave a comment.

Question I.

Are there other opportunities or challenges that the use of blogs poses for Special Collections staff you’d like to address? What trends or issues would you like to see discussed?

Question H.

If you’ve been blogging for a significant amount of time, has there been an evolution in your experience as a blogger– were there things you thought you would do that you haven’t, or things you’ve tried that you didn’t anticipate?  Thoughts on the future of special collections blogging are also welcome.

Question G.

Have other people ever reposted / recycled / repurposed the materials you post on your blog? Are you concerned about how the materials you post get used elsewhere on the web? What might be the value of having your posts recycled in different formats and forums?

Question F.

If you’re blogging already, can you reflect about your institutional context– were your colleagues and your institution initially vocal and supportive of your blogging endeavors– or was there resistance, trepidation or some other prevalent attitude? How has your institutional context impacted your blogging efforts? If there were institutional concerns, what were they? How have you addressed them?

If you’re not currently blogging, does your institutional context play a role in that choice?

Question E.

What is the place of public feedback and discussion on your blog? Do you invite and post readers’ comments? If not, why not? If so, what challenges and opportunities are created?

Anecdotes are welcome!

Question D.

How do collection-promoting blogs impact our users’ expectations with regard to special collections and Web 2.0 technologies? Is your blog tied to other Web 2.0, social networking, social bookmarking, or file sharing tools such as Flickr, Face Book, MySpace, wikis? How knowledgeable do you have to be about all these technologies to create a blog?

Question C.

Do highly visible blogs open our collections to audiences beyond our libraries’ primary academic audiences and, if so, what implications might this have for our libraries and collections? How do we / can we support the use of our collections by non-academic communities (public school classes, regional historical societies, community groups, genealogists, etc) that find our collections through our blogs?

Question B.

How do you promote your blog? Can you determine if you’re reaching the readers you intend to reach?

Question A.

If you’re a special collections staff member who uses a blog for professional purposes (define that as you’d like), what kind of work flow issues do you typically encounter creating and promoting your blogs? Do you personally write every post? How often do you post? Is the research and writing for your blog ever burdensome, i.e., in creating a blog are you creating a more work for yourself? Do you have tips for new bloggers about content creation?