Should your academic library have a blog—or more blogs than it already has? I can’t answer that question. I can say there’s a good chance your library could benefit from one or more blogs.
If anyone tells you that your library must have a blog, they’re wrong. Very few solutions apply to every library, no matter how large or small.
On the other hand, dozens of academic libraries already use blogs to good effect. I believe most academic libraries could serve their communities well by initiating blogs or adding new blogs—although some of those blogs might not look like blogs.
If you’ve already read Public Library Blogs: 252 Examples, much of the wording in the first few chapters here may seem familiar. That’s not surprising. I used the same methodology for academic library blogs as for public library blogs—the same time period, the same rules for inclusion, the same metrics. The only real difference is that I didn’t attempt to determine the size of user communities for academic library blogs.
Since I wrote the public library book first, I’m reusing the first few chapters—but, of course, all the facts are different…
This book won’t tell you how to start and maintain a blog. You can find plenty of advice within the library literature and elsewhere, including sources as diverse as Michael P. Sauer’s Blogging and RSS: a librarian’s guide (Information Today, 2006) and the first week’s content in the Five Weeks to a Social Library course (www.sociallibraries.com/course/week1). For that matter, you can go to blogger (blogger.com) or wordpress (wordpress.com) and try one out, just to get started: It doesn’t take long and it’s absolutely free.
If you’re reading this, you’re probably thinking about a blog for your library or adding more to what you already have. Or you’re at one of the 165 academic institutions or libraries included here and want to see how your blogs compare to others.
You could check out every academic library blog listed in the two major sources (the “Weblogs – Academic Libraries” page of LISWiki at liswiki.org/wiki/Weblogs_-_Academic_Libraries and the “Academic libraries” page of Blogging Libraries Wiki at www.blogwithoutalibrary.net/links/index.php?title=Academic_libraries). But that’s more than 525 links (in late December 2007)—a lot of blogs to go through.
The purpose of this book is to guide you to blogs that you might find useful when thinking about your own library’s case—blogs from nearby libraries, blogs from institutions you consider peers or blogs that specialize in topics or work in ways that you’ll find interesting.
Most of this book is examples: 231 blogs from 156 institutions (165 libraries) arranged geographically. It’s not a comprehensive survey (I did exclude non-English blogs for reasons of practicality), but I did attempt complete coverage given a few basic criteria.
[Next section omitted as entirely redundant]
My intent was to include a broadly representative sample of successful and active English-language academic library blogs. Here’s how I went about it.
I activated every English-language public library blog link in the two wiki lists noted above—the LISWiki academic library blog list and the Blogging Libraries academic library blog list. I added selective blogs from the “Library director” page of Blogging libraries if the blogs showed links to academic libraries.
If the blog couldn’t be reached or it was obvious that it had ceased by February 2007 or began in 2007, I crossed it off the printed checklists I’d made of each blog list. Otherwise, I subscribed to its feed in a special Bloglines section for this purpose.
Baseline criteria: The blog must have at least one post before calendar 2007 and must have at least one post in two of the three months used for evaluation: March, April and May 2007. If a blog began in 2007, it’s a little early to call it “successful”—while official library blogs seem less prone to enthusiastic starts and quick fadeouts than individual blogs, it still happens all too often. If a blog didn’t include posts in at least two of the three spring months, it seemed fair to call it inactive. I can think of reasons why an academic library blog might be silent for most or all of the summer; it’s hard to imagine why an active blog would go silent for all of March and April, all of April and May, or all of March and all of May.
More than 160 blogs that were in the candidate lists didn’t make it into this study. Fifty-four had ceased by February 2007. Twenty-three were new in 2007. Twenty-three aren’t in English. Twenty-two were still around but inactive by my minimal standards: That is, they only had posts in one of the three months listed. Seventeen were problematic—they had no archives, undated posts, or other technical issues that made it impossible to determine whether they qualified. Finally, 23 were “wrong” for one reason or another: The URL didn’t work, the blog wasn’t from an academic library, what I reached wasn’t a blog at all. If you’re trying to add these figures up to the overall total, the remainder are duplicates: Blogs that appear in both wikis.
Some libraries have more than one blog; some have many. I took up to five blogs for a given library (or group of libraries within the same zip code). In a few cases, I discovered additional blogs for a library while doing metrics—and added those, again with a five-blog limit.
I went through each blog, measuring the number of posts during March-May 2007, total length of posts, number of comments received on those posts and the number of illustrations (photos, book jackets and others) in those posts. I stored the name of the library and its Zip code (or Canadian postal code). I also looked at the relationship of the blog to the library website and noted blog template choices. Finally, I looked at two crude measures of blog visibility, although those measures are even less interesting and meaningful for library blogs than they are for personal liblogs.
The final list, represented in the last twelve chapters of this book, is 231 blogs from 165 libraries or groups of libraries within 156 academic institutions or campuses.
If that’s too much detail for you, here are the criteria in brief: Each blog had to be English-language, beginning no later than December 2006, with at least one post in two of the three months March, April and May 2007—and with enough internal evidence to demonstrate those criteria.
What “type” is a blog? In some cases it’s clear from the name of the blog. In others, I assigned a type based on content of the posts within the study period or the nature of the library. I omitted general-purpose and library news blogs.
Antarctic Studies.............................................................. New Zealand
Architecture Studies....................................................................... 89154
Arts and Humanities News from Sterne Library.................. 35205
PNCA Library.................................................................................. 97209
National Art School Library................................................. Australia
Institute for Astronomy Library Weblog.................................. 96822
BANR................................................................................................. 80523
BioBlog............................................................................................... 61801
Bioblog................................................................................ New Zealand
Department of Biological Sciences............................................ 70803
Books and Libraries....................................................................... 30303
Business Blog................................................................................... 45701
Business Blog................................................................................... 80523
Business Library News................................................................. 52242
Business News and Resources at the Sterne Library........... 35205
BU Libraries Business Blog.......................................................... 13902
Kresge Library News..................................................................... 48109
Children's Literature at the Education & Social Science Library. 61801
Blegen Library News.................................................................... Greece
K-State Libraries: Conference Reports...................................... 66506
Design Library News..................................................................... 27695
Digital Library Services................................................................. 52242
Digitization Projects at UNLV Libraries.................................. 89154
UConn Information Community at the L.M.Stowe Library
* E-Resource News and Problems.............................................
06034
@ the library...................................................................................... 81001
The Director's Blog......................................................................... 32789
McMaster University Library.................................................. L8S 4L6
Moving forward: think, reflect, play.......................................... 91106
Twilight Librarian--Jim Rettig's ruminations on libraries,
librarianship, the infosphere, and more.................................. 23173
Distance Learning Library Services.......................................... 47306
Wired Distant-Pierce Library News & Views......................... 97850
Economics Library Blog................................................. New Zealand
CIMC "news" Page.......................................................................... 53706
Coutts Canadian-Flavoured Education News.................. T6G 2E1
Education News.............................................................................. 30303
Gargoyles Loose in the Library................................................... 61801
Instructional Resource Center, Ashland University Library
..............................................................................................................
44805
Cog 'n Blog - Engineering Library news................... New Zealand
Engineering Library................................................................. S7N 5A9
Englibrary......................................................................................... 19104
Wendt Library Blog, UW College of Engineering.................. 53706
School of the Coast and Environment...................................... 70803
Wired Funny-Life in Pierce Library's ERC.............................. 97850
Gaming Research Weblog...................................................... T6G 2C5
GeoSciences Library Blog.............................................. New Zealand
UBC Academic Search - Google Scholar Blog................... V6T 1Z4
Blog: Kennedy School of Government Library 02138
California Policy Inbox................................................................. 94720
GovBlog: UC Berkeley.................................................................... 94720
Government and Legal Information......................................... 35205
Government Publications Library -- University of Colorado
..............................................................................................................
80309
Swem Government Information................................................ 23187
WMU Libraries - Government Information............................ 49008
iPortal News............................................................................... S7N 5A4
Journalism @ the BSU Libraries................................................. 47306
BoleyBlogs!....................................................................................... 97219
Carolina Blawg................................................................................ 27599
Law Dawg Blawg........................................................................... 62901
Law In The News............................................................................ 97219
Law Library Blog....................................................................... V6T 1Z4
University of Baltimore Law Library Weblog`....................... 21201
WisBlawg - From the UW Law Library.................................... 53706
ZiefBrief............................................................................................. 94117
Learning Commons Blog............................................................. 30303
Linguistics and Language Resources.................................. V6T 1Z4
The WML Spotlight........................................................................ 37203
Geospatial Resources & Map Collection................................. 47306
Alpha Channel: The Studio @ Hodges Library 37996
CWML Blog..................................................................................... 06520l
Hardin News................................................................................. 52242e
Health Sciences Information at UNLV Libraries.................. 89154
IU Medical Library News............................................................ 46202l
Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences News.................. 35205l
Mulford Library Blog.................................................................... 43614l
UMN: Bio-Med Library - Public Health.................................. 55455l
RCM Library midwifery information.................................. England
Flow : information for Okavango Delta planning......... Botswana
UBC Physio Info-blog............................................................... V6T 1Z4
Lewis & Clark Law School Podcast.......................................... 97219
Poetry at Beinecke Library............................................................ 06520
News from the PRI Library and Data Archive....................... 16802
Alkek Library's Reference Blog.................................................. 78666
KSL Reference & Instruction........................................................ 44106
Bond's Research Repository................................................. Australia
Research behind the News.......................................................... 80204
Connections...................................................................................... 49001
Information Resources.................................................................. 60465
K-State Libraries: E-Resources.................................................... 66506
Levy Library..................................................................................... 10029
Todd Library: Featured Resources............................................. 60554
University of Calgary Library Collections News............ T2N 1N4
Bookends........................................................................................... 80903
BookMarks: Beyond the Page...................................................... 28235
Vairo Blog.......................................................................................... 19063
Scholarly Communication........................................................... 61801
Transforming Scholarly Communication............................... 77004
BU Science Library Blog................................................................ 13902
Physical & Engineering Sciences News................................... 27695
Science @ UCD Library............................................................... Ireland
Science News................................................................................... 30303
Science-Health Science Library Blog......................................... 47306
SciTech News @ the UT Libraries.............................................. 37996
Hyde Collection Catablog............................................................ 02138
North Carolina Miscellany.......................................................... 27514
Special Collections ...................................................................... 52242
Special Collections LSU............................................................... 70803l
K-State Libraries: Annex............................................................... 66506
K-State Libraries: Staff Bulletin................................................... 66506
Ask Sassy Systems......................................................................... 71103
Emerging from the Blog................................................................ 94928
Wayne Graham's Blog.................................................................. 23187
Burlington Textiles Library.......................................................... 27695
K-State Libraries: Kudos............................................................... 66506
R.B. House Undergraduate Library........................................... 27514
Undergraduate Library................................................................. 61801
What makes a library blog a success? That depends on the library. Each of the 231 blogs profiled in the book may qualify as a success for the people who produce it and the patrons who read it…
What I can do as an outside observer is describe the blogs. A few metrics help flesh out that description. Here, I’d like to explain the metrics used and list the outliers—the blogs in the top quintile (top 20%) of a given metric.
I noted and calculated the following metrics, in all cases based on tracking blog posts from March 1 through May 31, 2007.
Number of posts: A simple count of blogging frequency. There were 91 days and 13 weeks in the quarter. You can calculate other frequencies based on that, although some blogs clump several posts on one day then go several days without posts. In one or two cases (noted in the profiles), I counted posts for one month and multiplied by three—because it was too cumbersome to count posts for all three months.
Number of comments and comments per post: Many blogs don’t support comments. Many more didn’t have any. In a couple of cases where there were quite a few comments on one post and none on others, I found that the comments were spam and discounted them. Blog profiles include comments per post when that ratio is at least 0.1 (that is, one comment for every 10 posts), the mean figure for all blogs.
Number of illustrations and illustrations per post: Quite a few blogs don’t use illustrations. Others have at least one illustration for every post. I include illustrations per post within the blog profile when that ratio is greater than 0.4, the mean figure for all blogs.
Total words and average post length: I included blog overhead within posts (e.g., “No comments” and “Posted on…”), but not around posts (sidebar contents)…
Longevity: The profile includes the month in which the first post appeared, based on internal evidence.
Visibility: This may be an entirely meaningless figure for libraries, since blog visibility within a library community may show up in ways that don’t influence this number. Profiles only include a visibility note when the visibility factor (described below) was at least 1.0.
The Visibility Factor is a SWAG—a statistical wild-ass guess as to a blog’s visibility within the broader community. It’s become more difficult to estimate visibility over time, as search engines have made it more difficult to count actual links to a blog. It’s also clear that visibility isn’t a linear issue: A blog with 1,200 Technorati links and 1,000 Bloglines subscriptions is not “ten times as visible” as one with 120 links and 100 subscriptions; it’s perhaps twice as visible.
The Visibility Factor used for this book is a logarithmic measure: Log10 (that is, logarithm to base 10) of the sum of Technorati links and Bloglines subscribers, as reported by the website popuri.us. Because quite a few blogs were added during the survey, I checked all blogs on December 29-30, 2007. Visibility factors less than 1.0 are not reported. I’m calling visibility factors between 1.0 and 1.9 “slightly visible” (the sum of links and subscribers is between 10 and 99). 2.0 to 2.9 “visible” (the sum is between 100 and 999). 3.0 to 3.9 “quite visible” (the sum is between 1,000 and 10,000). Any in the 4.0-4.9 range are labeled as “highly visible.” “A-list blogs” have visibility factors in the 5.0 to 6.9 range, which I call “extremely visible.”
For any set of metrics this large and varied, two “averages” both have meaning and tend to be different. What’s usually called the average is the mean: The total of all values divided by the number of values. A few high values can throw off the mean significantly. Another average worth paying attention to is the median—the value for which half of the values are higher and half are lower.
I counted 6,229 posts among 231 blogs for the three months of March, April and May 2007. That’s a mean of 27 posts—a bit more than two posts a week, not a bad average for blogs. But the median was 14.0 posts: Just over one post a week.
Working up from the least frequent, 15 of the blogs had two or three posts—no more than one a month on average. Another 29 had four to six posts, less than one every two weeks. Thus, just over 19% of the blogs had very infrequent posts. Fifty-four more blogs (another 23%) had seven to 12 posts—more than one every two weeks, less than one a week. Eighteen had 13 or 14 posts, bringing us up to the median.
Getting from median to mean, 53 blogs had 15 to 26 posts—more than one but no more than two per week. Another 18 had 27 to 34 posts—and that brings us up to the 20% of blogs with most frequent postings (shown in descending order):
Blog...................................................................... Posts........................ Zip
Law In The News................................................ 762................... 97219
Swem Government Information..................... 468................... 23187
Physical & Engineering Sciences News....... 240................... 27695
News from the PRI Library and Data Archive
...................................................................................
114................... 16802
WisBlawg - From the UW Law Library........... 90................... 53706
Economics Library Blog....................................... 89.... New Zealand
View from the library............................................ 83................... 30102
Library News.......................................................... 78.............. T6G 2E1
Government Publications Library -- University of Colorado
.....................................................................................
73................... 80309
iPortal News............................................................ 73.............. S7N 5A4
UW Libraries Blog................................................. 69................... 82071
Mulford Library Blog............................................ 68................... 43614
Ball State University Libraries' News.............. 67................... 47306
Instructional Resource Center, Ashland University Library
.....................................................................................
65................... 44805
Research behind the News................................. 65................... 80204
aRKive....................................................................... 62.............. Scotland
Wendt Library Blog, UW College of Engineering
.....................................................................................
61................... 53706
Homeland Security Digital Library Weblog
- On the HomeFront.............................................
59................... 93943
Law Dawg Blawg.................................................. 56................... 62901
MIT Libraries News.............................................. 56................... 02139
Flow : information for Okavango Delta planning
....................................................................................
55............ Botswana
Coutts Canadian-Flavoured Education News
.....................................................................................
54.............. T6G 2E1
spineless?................................................................. 53.............. Scotland
Education News..................................................... 52................... 30303
The Compass.......................................................... 52................... 23464
Cites & Bytes @ Bailey.......................................... 50................... 16057
K-State Libraries: Staff Bulletin.......................... 49................... 66506
News from the Mudd........................................... 49................... 54912
CSB/SJU Library Blog.......................................... 48................... 56374
UGA Libraries News & Events.......................... 47................... 30602
Cog 'n Blog - Engineering Library news......... 46.... New Zealand
UConn Stamford Library Blog........................... 46................... 06901
Temple University Library News..................... 43................... 19122
..STCC Library 'blog.............................................. 42................... 01102
Gargoyles Loose in the Library.......................... 42................... 61801
Lewis & Clark Law School Podcast................. 42................... 97219
Library News & Events........................................ 41............... L8S 4L6
CIMC "news" Page................................................. 40................... 53706
Carmichael Library's Blog.................................. 39................... 35115
From Clement C. Maxwell Library................... 38................... 02325
SciTech News @ the UT Libraries..................... 38................... 37996
GovBlog: UC Berkeley........................................... 35................... 94720
UBC Physio Info-blog........................................... 35.............. V6T 1Z4
ZiefBrief.................................................................... 35................... 94117
Blogs may be a great way to increase community involvement—but don’t be too surprised if your library blog doesn’t get many comments. In all, there were 575 comments on the posts—an average (mean) of 2.5 per blog—but 145 blogs (almost 63%) had no comments at all, frequently because they weren’t allowed (at least 62 blogs don’t allow comments). Another 21 blogs had one comment each and 18 more had only two.
The median number of comments is zero, since more than half the blogs had no comments. Fact is, it can be tough to get comments on an official blog—particularly if it doesn’t involve trash-talking teenagers.
Blogs with more than three comments over the three-month period make up 18% of the blogs. Here they are, in order by descending number of comments:
Blog........................................................... Comments........................ Zip
UW Libraries Blog................................................. 66................... 82071
Gargoyles Loose in the Library.......................... 61................... 61801
Cites & Bytes @ Bailey.......................................... 37................... 16057
McMaster University Library............................. 31............... L8S 4L6
spineless?................................................................. 20.............. Scotland
Temple University Library News..................... 18................... 19122
Library Log.............................................................. 17................... 19104
CSB/SJU Library Blog.......................................... 15................... 56374
Ask Sassy Systems................................................ 13................... 71103
What's New Weblog............................................. 12................... 59812
Wayne Graham's Blog......................................... 11................... 23187
WisBlawg - From the UW Law Library........... 11................... 53706
K-State Libraries: Staff Bulletin.......................... 10................... 66506
The Director's Blog................................................ 10................... 32789
UBC Academic Search - Google Scholar Blog
.....................................................................................
10.............. V6T 1Z4
UBC Physio Info-blog........................................... 10.............. V6T 1Z4
Twilight Librarian--Jim Rettig's ruminations on libraries,
librarianship, the infosphere, and more........... 9................... 23173
Western Kentucky University Libraries Blog... 9................... 42101
Cog 'n Blog - Engineering Library news............ 8.... New Zealand
reading girl speaks.................................................. 8................... 44074
Welcome to the MSVU Library............................. 8............... B3M 2J6
..STCC Library 'blog................................................. 7................... 01102
Economics Library Blog......................................... 7.... New Zealand
K-State Libraries: Conference Reports................ 7................... 66506
Leddy News............................................................... 7.............. N9B 3P4
The Compass............................................................. 7................... 23464
Geospatial Resources & Map Collection........... 6................... 47306
National Art School Library................................. 6............. Australia
ZiefBrief....................................................................... 6................... 94117
Hardin News............................................................. 5................... 52242
Wendt Library Blog, UW College of Engineering
.......................................................................................
5................... 53706
Wired Funny-Life in Pierce Library's ERC....... 5................... 97850
@ the library............................................................... 4................... 81001
Architecture Studies................................................ 4................... 89154
ASU Libraries News................................................ 4................... 85287
BookWise! The blog of the Merner Pfeiffer Library
.......................................................................................
4................... 37371
Buswell Library News & Research..................... 4................... 60187
DACC Library BlogSpot......................................... 4................... 61832
The WML Spotlight................................................. 4................... 37203
Tutt Library News.................................................... 4................... 80903
University of Baltimore Law Library Weblog.. 4................... 21201
Wired Distant-Pierce Library News & Views.. 4................... 97850
If the median number of comments is zero, the median comments per post must also be zero. The mean number of comments per post—the average—is a tiny 0.1, and only 51 blogs (22%) manage to beat that average. here are the 37 blogs (16%) with at least 0.3 comments per post during the three months:
Blog.......................................... Comments per Post........................ Zip
Wayne Graham's Blog........................................ 2.2................... 23187
McMaster University Library............................ 1.6............... L8S 4L6
What's New Weblog............................................ 1.5................... 59812
Gargoyles Loose in the Library......................... 1.5................... 61801
UBC Academic Search - Google Scholar Blog
....................................................................................
1.3.............. V6T 1Z4
UW Libraries Blog................................................ 1.0................... 82071
Twilight Librarian--Jim Rettig's ruminations on libraries,
librarianship, the infosphere…........................ 0.8...................
23173
Cites & Bytes @ Bailey......................................... 0.7................... 16057
reading girl speaks............................................... 0.7................... 44074
Wired Distant-Pierce Library News & Views
....................................................................................
0.7................... 97850
The Director's Blog............................................... 0.6................... 32789
Ask Sassy Systems............................................... 0.5................... 71103
Hardin News......................................................... 0.5................... 52242
Library Log............................................................. 0.5................... 19104
National Art School Library.............................. 0.5............. Australia
Rio Hondo College Library Weblog................ 0.5................... 90601
Welcome to the MSVU Library......................... 0.5............... B3M 2J6
Wired Funny-Life in Pierce Library's ERC.... 0.5................... 97850
ASU Libraries News............................................ 0.4................... 85287
Leddy News........................................................... 0.4.............. N9B 3P4
spineless?................................................................ 0.4.............. Scotland
Temple University Library News.................... 0.4................... 19122
Architecture Studies............................................. 0.3................... 89154
Bond's Research Repository.............................. 0.3............. Australia
BookWise! The blog of the Merner Pfeiffer Library
....................................................................................
0.3................... 37371
Buswell Library News & Research.................. 0.3................... 60187
Children's Literature at the Education & Social Science Library 0.3 61801
CSB/SJU Library Blog......................................... 0.3................... 56374
DACC Library BlogSpot...................................... 0.3................... 61832
Gaming Research Weblog.................................. 0.3.............. T6G 2C5
Geospatial Resources & Map Collection....... 0.3................... 47306
In Blume: News from the Blume Library....... 0.3................... 78228
K-State Libraries: Conference Reports............ 0.3................... 66506
See What We Can Do For You - GTCC Library
....................................................................................
0.3................... 27282
Tutt Library News................................................ 0.3................... 80903
UBC Physio Info-blog.......................................... 0.3.............. V6T 1Z4
Western Kentucky University Libraries Blog
....................................................................................
0.3................... 42101
Some book and book review blogs use book covers to illustrate almost every post. Some blogs include a fair number of photographs. Some use icons. And, of course, some blogs don’t use illustrations at all: 96 of the 231 blogs (more than 41%) had not a single illustration during the three-month study period. In all, there were 3,662 illustrations attached to the 6,229 posts—but that’s a misleading figure, since one blog accounts for 1,975 of those 3,662 illustrations.
The average number of illustrations is 15.9; excluding that one heavily-illustrated case, the average is 7.3 illustrations. The median is one. Roughly the top quintile begins at 12 illustrations over three months—about two-thirds more than the adjusted average.
Blog......................................................... Illustrations........................ Zip
Physical & Engineering Sciences News.... 1,975................... 27695
MIT Libraries News............................................ 138................... 02139
spineless?............................................................... 100.............. Scotland
UW Libraries Blog................................................. 60................... 82071
Cites & Bytes @ Bailey.......................................... 50................... 16057
Law Dawg Blawg.................................................. 50................... 62901
Burlington Textiles Library................................. 49................... 27695
Instructional Resource Center, Ashland University Library
.....................................................................................
49................... 44805
Gargoyles Loose in the Library.......................... 43................... 61801
From Clement C. Maxwell Library................... 41................... 02325
Library News.......................................................... 36................... 52242
UBC Physio Info-blog........................................... 35.............. V6T 1Z4
YOUR Alexandria Campus Library................ 33................... 22203
Library News.......................................................... 32................... 60465
UT Library News................................................... 31................... 37996
Ball State University Libraries' News.............. 30................... 47306
Western Kentucky University Libraries Blog
.....................................................................................
30................... 42101
Flow : information for Okavango Delta planning
.....................................................................................
27............ Botswana
Library Log.............................................................. 27................... 19104
WisBlawg - From the UW Law Library........... 26................... 53706
@thelibrary............................................................... 25................... 83725
Buswell Library News & Research................... 25................... 60187
Science @ UCD Library........................................ 25................. Ireland
Pensacola Junior College Library Blog............ 22................... 32504
Geospatial Resources & Map Collection........ 20................... 47306
Haselwood Library............................................... 20................... 98337
Bookends.................................................................. 19................... 80903
Langsdale Library News..................................... 19................... 21201
NYIT Library Blog................................................. 19................... 11568
Welcome to the MSVU Library.......................... 16............... B3M 2J6
Library Newsletter................................................. 15................... 12866
reading girl speaks................................................ 15................... 44074
The L Files................................................................ 15............. Australia
NCSU Libraries...................................................... 14................... 27695
North Carolina Miscellany................................. 14................... 27514
UGA Libraries News & Events.......................... 14................... 30602
mclnews................................................................... 13................... 27710
Blog: Kennedy School of Government Library
.....................................................................................
12................... 02138
BookWise! The blog of the Merner Pfeiffer Library
.....................................................................................
12................... 37371
Design Library News............................................ 12................... 27695
Library News & Events........................................ 12............... L8S 4L6
SBU Library............................................................. 12................... 14778
Special Collections ............................................. 12................... 52242
With so many blogs having no illustrations at all, the median illustrations per post is naturally quite low: 0.1. The mean is 0.4 illustrations per post.
The top group in this case is 42 blogs with at least 0.9 illustrations per post—17% of the blogs.
Blog........................................ Illustrations per Post........................ Zip
Physical & Engineering Sciences News......... 8.2................... 27695
Special Collections ............................................ 3.0................... 52242
MIT Libraries News............................................. 2.5................... 02139
SBU Library............................................................ 2.4................... 14778
Buswell Library News & Research.................. 1.9................... 60187
spineless?................................................................ 1.9.............. Scotland
Library News......................................................... 1.7................... 60465
BRAIN_blog........................................................... 1.6.............. L8N 3T2
Distance Learning Library Services................ 1.6................... 47306
Langsdale Library News.................................... 1.5................... 21201
Burlington Textiles Library................................ 1.4................... 27695
Digital Library Services....................................... 1.3................... 52242
Learning Resources Library.............................. 1.3................... 27695
More News & Events........................................... 1.3................... 40475
reading girl speaks............................................... 1.3................... 44074
UT Library News.................................................. 1.2................... 37996
Wired Distant-Pierce Library News & Views
....................................................................................
1.2................... 97850
From Clement C. Maxwell Library.................. 1.1................... 02325
Geospatial Resources & Map Collection....... 1.1................... 47306
Library News......................................................... 1.1................... 52242
YOUR Alexandria Campus Library............... 1.1................... 22203
ASU Libraries News............................................ 1.0................... 85287
Bookends................................................................. 1.0................... 80903
BookMarks: Beyond the Page............................ 1.0................... 28235
Cites & Bytes @ Bailey......................................... 1.0................... 16057
Gargoyles Loose in the Library......................... 1.0................... 61801
Hyde Collection Catablog.................................. 1.0................... 02138
In Blume: News from the Blume Library....... 1.0................... 78228
Northeastern State University Libraries --
What's New at the Library.................................
1.0................... 74464
NYIT Library Blog................................................ 1.0................... 11568
Pensacola Junior College Library Blog........... 1.0................... 32504
Science @ UCD Library....................................... 1.0................. Ireland
UBC Physio Info-blog.......................................... 1.0.............. V6T 1Z4
Welcome to the MSVU Library......................... 1.0............... B3M 2J6
@thelibrary.............................................................. 0.9................... 83725
Law Dawg Blawg................................................. 0.9................... 62901
Library Newsletter................................................ 0.9................... 12866
Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences News
....................................................................................
0.9................... 35205
UBC Academic Search - Google Scholar Blog
....................................................................................
0.9.............. V6T 1Z4
UW Libraries Blog................................................ 0.9................... 82071
Western Kentucky University Libraries Blog
....................................................................................
0.9................... 42101
WVU Libraries News........................................... 0.9................... 26506
Here’s a metric that doesn’t appear directly within blog profiles: Total words in all posts for March through May 2007. “Words” includes internal post overhead such as “Permalink” or “x Comments” or “Posted on…” but not sidebar material.
The complete set of posts totaled 852,930 words—roughly eight full-length novels. The average blog had 3,692 words in all its posts, while the median was 2,244 words. Fifty-six blogs had fewer than 1,000 words each.
In this case, the set of “long blogs” is just under 20% of all blogs, using 6,000 words as a cutoff:
Blog........................................................ Total Words........................ Zip
Swem Government Information............... 39,000................... 23187
Ball State University Libraries' News...... 28,351................... 47306
Physical & Engineering Sciences News.. 23,915................... 27695
Government Publications Library -- University of Colorado
.............................................................................
23,643................... 80309
K-State Libraries: Conference Reports
.............................................................................
14,066................... 66506
MIT Libraries News...................................... 12,589................... 02139
WisBlawg - From the UW Law Library... 11,817................... 53706
Temple University Library News............. 11,481................... 19122
K-State Libraries: Staff Bulletin.................. 11,431................... 66506
Wendt Library Blog, UW College of Engineering
.............................................................................
11,170................... 53706
Design Library News.................................... 11,021................... 27695
spineless?......................................................... 10,202.............. Scotland
Cites & Bytes @ Bailey.................................. 10,150................... 16057
Mulford Library Blog...................................... 9,948................... 43614
Law Dawg Blawg............................................. 9,775................... 62901
Research behind the News............................ 9,711................... 80204
DACC Library BlogSpot................................. 9,139................... 61832
News from the PRI Library and Data Archive
...............................................................................
9,006................... 16802
Homeland Security Digital Library Weblog
- On the HomeFront........................................
8,956................... 93943
Scholarly Communication............................ 8,775................... 61801
View from the library...................................... 8,745................... 30102
aRKive................................................................. 8,641.............. Scotland
Law In The News............................................. 8,637................... 97219
UW Libraries Blog............................................ 8,178................... 82071
From Clement C. Maxwell Library............. 8,009................... 02325
CIMC "news" Page........................................... 7,919................... 53706
YOUR Alexandria Campus Library........... 7,850................... 22203
Library News..................................................... 7,577................... 52242
Haselwood Library.......................................... 7,481................... 98337
UT Library News.............................................. 7,391................... 37996
SciTech News @ the UT Libraries............... 7,329................... 37996
ZiefBrief............................................................... 7,259................... 94117
Flow : information for Okavango Delta planning
...............................................................................
7,126............ Botswana
Burlington Textiles Library........................... 7,070................... 27695
Coutts Canadian-Flavoured Education News
...............................................................................
6,863.............. T6G 2E1
UGA Libraries News & Events.................... 6,691................... 30602
Moving forward: think, reflect, play........... 6,594................... 91106
Instructional Resource Center, Ashland University Library
...............................................................................
6,519................... 44805
The Compass..................................................... 6,512................... 23464
Gargoyles Loose in the Library.................... 6,508................... 61801
Library News..................................................... 6,407.............. T6G 2E1
California Policy Inbox................................... 6,190................... 94720
Transforming Scholarly Communication
...............................................................................
6,161................... 77004
BRAIN_blog....................................................... 6,102.............. L8N 3T2
The “average average” post length—that is, the average of all words-per-post figures for the blogs—was 177.7 words, roughly two typical paragraphs. The median was 143.5 words, roughly one long paragraph.
Uniquely for this metric, it makes sense to point out two outlying groups: The blogs with considerably longer-than-average posts (“essays,” but many of these aren’t long enough for that term) and the blogs with considerably shorter-than-average posts (“terse blogs,” in some cases just lists of authors, titles and maybe call numbers). I’m using the same criteria for long and terse posts as in Public Library Blogs: 252 Examples—more than 250 words and fewer than 90 words, respectively.
Blog........................................ Average Post Length........................ Zip
Children's Literature at the Education &
Social Science Library........................................ 897...................
61801
BRAIN_blog.......................................................... 872.............. L8N 3T2
Design Library News......................................... 689................... 27695
DACC Library BlogSpot.................................... 653................... 61832
Science-Health Science Library Blog............. 624................... 47306
Law Library Blog................................................. 621.............. V6T 1Z4
Digital Library Services..................................... 526................... 52242
K-State Libraries: Conference Reports........... 502................... 66506
Arts and Humanities News from Sterne Library
...................................................................................
453................... 35205
WVU Libraries News......................................... 430................... 26506
Wired Funny-Life in Pierce Library's ERC
...................................................................................
424................... 97850
Ball State University Libraries' News............ 423................... 47306
Digitization Projects at UNLV Libraries....... 372................... 89154
Lidcombe College Library................................. 372............. Australia
Learning Resources Library............................. 354................... 27695
Special Collections ........................................... 345................... 52242
Buswell Library News & Research................ 342................... 60187
Wayne Graham's Blog....................................... 339................... 23187
Twilight Librarian--Jim Rettig's ruminations on libraries,
librarianship, the infosphere…....................... 335...................
23173
Distance Learning Library Services............... 329................... 47306
Scholarly Communication............................... 325................... 61801
Government Publications Library --
University of Colorado.......................................
324................... 80309
Business Library News...................................... 324................... 52242
In the Spotlight..................................................... 323................... 60208
Hardin News........................................................ 320................... 52242
Moving forward: think, reflect, play.............. 314................... 91106
K-State Libraries: E-Resources......................... 285................... 66506
UT Library News................................................. 284................... 37996
Special Collections LSU..................................... 279................... 70803
National Art School Library............................. 274............. Australia
RCM Library midwifery information............ 269.............. England
California Policy Inbox...................................... 269................... 94720
Haselwood Library............................................. 267................... 98337
Temple University Library News................... 267................... 19122
BookMarks: Beyond the Page........................... 265................... 28235
YOUR Alexandria Campus Library.............. 262................... 22203
NCSU Libraries.................................................... 256................... 27695
What's New Weblog........................................... 256................... 59812
Alkek Library's Reference Blog....................... 251................... 78666
Blog........................................ Average Post Length........................ Zip
Law In The News................................................... 11................... 97219
Library News.......................................................... 33.... New Zealand
tclibrary Blog........................................................... 35................... 55404
Latest entries from dundalkinstitute.library-blogs.net
.....................................................................................
39................. Ireland
What's New @ UWM Libraries.......................... 40................... 53211
Health Sciences Information at UNLV Libraries
.....................................................................................
48................... 89154
PNCA Library......................................................... 49................... 97209
University of Baltimore Law Library Weblog 49................... 21201
WMU Libraries - Government Information... 51................... 49008
Engineering Library.............................................. 51.............. S7N 5A9
Pensacola Junior College Library Blog............ 57................... 32504
Economics Library Blog....................................... 62.... New Zealand
Antarctic Studies.................................................... 65.... New Zealand
The Orbit................................................................... 67................... 75080
iPortal News............................................................ 67.............. S7N 5A4
BU Library News & Exhibits.............................. 68................... 13902
Undergraduate Library........................................ 71................... 61801
At the Library.......................................................... 74................... 94928
Alpha Channel: The Studio @ Hodges Library
.....................................................................................
74................... 37996
What's New at the Purchase College Library?
.....................................................................................
76................... 10577
Bioblog...................................................................... 79.... New Zealand
News from the PRI Library and Data Archive
.....................................................................................
79................... 16802
GeoSciences Library Blog.................................... 80.... New Zealand
Princeton University Library News................. 81................... 08544
Library News.......................................................... 82.............. T6G 2E1
Swem Government Information....................... 83................... 23187
Rio Hondo College Library Weblog................. 84................... 90601
Ryerson Library News......................................... 85............. M5B 2K3
College Libraries News........................................ 85................... 13676
What's New at the Auburn Libraries............... 85................... 36849
Gaming Research Weblog................................... 86.............. T6G 2C5
Get It At Gutman.................................................... 86................... 19144
K-State Libraries: Annex...................................... 86................... 66506
Blogos........................................................................ 87................... 19422
What's New!............................................................ 87................... 23173
K-State Libraries: Kudos...................................... 88................... 66506
Blegen Library News............................................ 88.................. Greece
KSL Reference & Instruction............................... 89................... 44106
All of these blogs have been around since at least December 2006—that’s one of the rules for inclusion. Some have been around a while longer.
Just under 100 of these blogs began in 2006. Another 34 began in the last half of 2005. That leaves the blogs that had been around for at least two years by the start of the study.
mclnews........................................................................ ................... 27710
WVU Libraries News..................................................................... 26506
Library News - Georgia State University Library.................. 30303
GPC Decatur Campus Library.................................................... 30034
..STCC Library 'blog....................................................................... 01102
Hardin News................................................................................... 52242
In the Spotlight................................................................................ 60208
iPortal News............................................................................... S7N 5A4
Library Newsletter.......................................................................... 12866
MIT Libraries News....................................................................... 02139
Science News................................................................................... 30303
Bookends........................................................................................... 80903
BRAIN_blog................................................................................ L8N 3T2
CIMC "news" Page.......................................................................... 53706
Connections...................................................................................... 49001
Education News.............................................................................. 30303
Ginn Weblog.................................................................................... 02155
Institute for Astronomy Library Weblog.................................. 96822
IU Medical Library News............................................................. 46202
Learning Resources Library........................................................ 27695
Library News.............................................................................. T6G 2E1
NCSU Libraries............................................................................... 27695
Ohio University Libraries News................................................ 45701
PNCA Library.................................................................................. 97209
RCM Library midwifery information.................................. England
Rio Hondo College Library Weblog.......................................... 90601
UConn Information Community at the L.M.Stowe Library
* E-Resource News and
Problems............................................ 06034
University of Baltimore Law Library Weblog........................ 21201
VT Library News............................................................................. 24062
Alpha Channel: The Studio @ Hodges Library 37996
Business Blog................................................................................... 45701
Data Library News Blog.......................................................... S7N 5A4
Homeland Security Digital Library Weblog
- On the
HomeFront......................................................................
93943
Information Resources.................................................................. 60465
Library News................................................................................... 52242
Library News................................................................................... 60465
Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences News................... 35205
livelibrary.......................................................................................... 67042
McPherson Library News..................................................... V8W 3H5
SciTech News @ the UT Libraries.............................................. 37996
Todd Library: Featured Resources............................................. 60554
UMN: Bio-Med Library - Public Health................................... 55455
University of Calgary Library Collections News............ T2N 1N4
UWinnipeg Library................................................................... R3B 2E9
What's New!..................................................................................... 23173
What's New at the Auburn Libraries........................................ 36849
What's New @ UWM Libraries................................................... 53211
WisBlawg - From the UW Law Library.................................... 53706
AIDallas Library............................................................................. 75231
Auraria Hot Topics........................................................................ 80204
Burlington Textiles Library.......................................................... 27695
Cites & Bytes @ Bailey................................................................... 16057
College of DuPage Library Weblog............................................ 60137
CSB/SJU Library Blog................................................................... 56374
Gaming Research Weblog...................................................... T6G 2C5
Gargoyles Loose in the Library................................................... 61801
Hunter Library News.................................................................... 28723
LaGuardia Community College Library
Media Resources Center
Blog...................................................... 11101
Latest entries from dundalkinstitute.library-blogs.net
............................................................................................................
Ireland
Law Dawg Blawg........................................................................... 62901
Law Library Blog....................................................................... V6T 1Z4
Library News................................................................................... 43081
Library News & Events............................................................. L8S 4L6
Schurz Library News..................................................................... 46634
Tutt Library News.......................................................................... 80903
UConn Stamford Library Blog.................................................... 06901
UT Library News............................................................................ 37996
Vairo Blog.......................................................................................... 19063
Wayne Graham's Blog.................................................................. 23187
BU Library News & Exhibits....................................................... 13902
BU Science Library Blog................................................................ 13902
Carolina Blawg................................................................................ 27599
KSL News Blog................................................................................ 44106
KSL Reference & Instruction........................................................ 44106
Leddy News................................................................................ N9B 3P4
LRC Blog........................................................................................... Wales
Muskingum College Library Update........................................ 43762
NYIT Library Blog.......................................................................... 11568
R.B. House Undergraduate Library........................................... 27514
Temple University Library News.............................................. 19122
UE Library News............................................................................ 47722
UGA Libraries News & Events................................................... 30602
College Libraries News................................................................. 13676
CPCC Libraries Blog...................................................................... 28235
DACC Library BlogSpot................................................................ 61832
Design Library News..................................................................... 27695
Hyde Collection Catablog............................................................ 02138
Instructional Resource Center, Ashland University Library
..............................................................................................................
44805
Library News.................................................................... New Zealand
North Carolina Miscellany.......................................................... 27514
Scholarly Communication........................................................... 61801
Snoopings......................................................................................... 94928
Swem Government Information................................................ 23187
St. Petersburg College Library Blog........................................... 33781
UBC Academic Search - Google Scholar Blog................... V6T 1Z4
View from the library..................................................................... 30102
What's New -- library.austincc.edu........................................... 78701
This crude measure of blog visibility is, as noted earlier, even less useful for public library blogs than for liblogs and others. That said, there are a handful of academic library blogs with more general visibility than most:
Blog.............................................................. Visibility........................ Zip
MIT Libraries News............................................. 5.2................... 02139
California Policy Inbox....................................... 3.9................... 94720
News from the PRI Library and Data Archive
....................................................................................
3.2................... 16802
UBC Academic Search - Google Scholar Blog
....................................................................................
2.7.............. V6T 1Z4
McMaster University Library............................ 2.5............... L8S 4L6
Law Dawg Blawg................................................. 2.3................... 62901
WisBlawg - From the UW Law Library.......... 2.3................... 53706
UBC Physio Info-blog.......................................... 2.1.............. V6T 1Z4
Scholarly Communication................................. 2.1................... 61801
A few odd notes on this collection of academic library blogs:
Just over half of the blogs—128—have signed comments, although the signature may be “library” or the like.
Fifty-nine blogs are hosted on Blogspot and use Blogger software; another six blogs hosted elsewhere use Blogger.
Thirty-eight blogs use WordPress software; of those, 15 are hosted by WordPress.
Twelve blogs identified Movable Type as the software being used; three are at TypePad.
Since Public Library Blogs: 252 Examples used the same rules for inclusion, the same study period and the same metrics as this book, it’s possible to make some comparisons between the two types of library blogs.
Academic library blogs tend to have slightly more frequent posts than public library blogs.
Academic library blogs have even fewer comments than public library blogs—and on a comments-per-post basis, the difference is striking.
Eliminating the one academic library blogs with a huge number of illustrations, academic library blogs have about half as many illustrations as public library blogs.
While the average (mean) total length of posts is slightly higher for public library blogs, the median length is slightly higher for academic blogs—but only by about 10%.
Individual posts also tend to be slightly longer in public library blogs.
Pardon the repetition. It’s inherent in the fact that these chapters come from two related books.
If you’re interested in the individual blog profiles, which include all relevant metrics and more, these books are still available from Amazon (paperback) and Lulu (PDF ebook). For that matter, if you find some blog names ambiguous, the geographically-arranged book makes them easy to identify.
The books will go out of print (taken off sale) after three months with no sales. That means the books will be available at least through June 2009.
Cites & Insights: Crawford at Large, Volume 9, Number 6, Whole Issue 116, ISSN 1534-0937, a journal of libraries, policy, technology and media, is written and produced by Walt Crawford, Editorial Director of the Library Leadership Network.
Cites & Insights is sponsored by YBP Library Services, http://www.ybp.com.
Opinions herein may not represent those of Lyrasis or YBP Library Services.
Comments should be sent to waltcrawford@gmail.com. Cites & Insights: Crawford at Large is copyright © 2009 by Walt Crawford: Some rights reserved.
All original material in this work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/1.0 or send a letter to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
URL: citesandinsights.info/civ9i6.pdf