Perspective
Looking at Liblogs: The Great Middle
Two years ago, it was plausible (if extremely foolish) for a high-profile librarian to make fun of blogs in general, including blogs from libraries and by library people. A year ago, there were many such blogs, but relatively few with substantial readerships. Now, there are certainly more than a thousand blogs from libraries and by library people. At least three ALA divisions have blogs; that number will grow.
I’m guessing most readers already subscribe to, or know of, the big-name liblogs—those that have been around since the last century, those that come from high-profile people, those that have made names and reputations for themselves.
Last year’s most widely read Cites & Insights essay was almost certainly Investigating the Biblioblogosphere (C&I 5:10, September 2005, http://citesand insights.info/v5i10b.htm). It’s even the second most widely read essay this year, albeit far behind the favorite (Library 2.0 and “Library 2.0,” with almost 16,000 total downloads as of early August 2006).
That Perspective, inspired by Jon Garfunkel’s “Social Media Scorecard,” was an informal investigation of 60 blogs by library people, blogs I perceived as having wide “reach.” I identified 238 initial candidates, measured the “reach” of those blogs, and came up with a set of 60. I ran various quantifiable tests (metrics) on those 60 blogs, reported standout blogs for each metric, and added one or two brief paragraphs discussing each 60 blog. I listed the blogs in descending order by reach—as I measured reach. Most, if not all, of those blogs are among the “big-name liblogs”—ones you’re likely to know about.
Along with a gratifying number of positive responses to the piece, I heard criticism on a variety of grounds—especially regarding the significance of “reach” and the hazards in ranking blogs. It didn’t help matters that some people linking to or discussing the article referred to it as “Walt Crawford’s Top 50 Blogs” or something of the sort—even though I tried to make it clear that this was a Top 50, not the Top 50. That turns out to be a distinction requiring more explanation than it’s worth.
By the time the dust settled, I knew I wanted to do something similar this year—but I wanted to do it differently. In the past few months, thinking about blogs has become more complex, especially as feeds and aggregators have become so easy and popular.
For example:
• Feeds eliminate the need to blog all the time in order to be visible. With aggregators, “blogging to be blogging” can be a danger: Your posts seem forced or repetitive and may encourage people to unsubscribe.
• For those who aren’t out to be A-listers or politicians, size of audience has diminished in importance. The hope now is to find the right audience, which might be anywhere from half a dozen friends to a few thousand strangers.
• More than one commentator has suggested that the most interesting blogs are in the great middle—blogs with more than a handful of readers but not so popular as to carry the burden of popularity.
I’m not fond of “biblioblogosphere”—and even if the term’s OK, I don’t think it fits this group of blogs. For one thing, there are loads of “biblio” blogs about books quite apart from the realm of blogs written by library people. For another, I continue to exclude official blogs, those explicitly identified with a library or organization. I’m using liblogs, not because it’s catchy but because it’s short. If you want to think of this essay as “Biblioblogosphere 2: Avoiding the A List,” be my guest.
I used Walt at Random as a support mechanism for this year’s look. When I decided to do it, I invited direct feedback as follows (excerpted):
“Want to opt out? If you just don’t want your blog involved at all, here’s what you need to do: Send email to citesandinsights@gmail.com or waltcrawford@gmail. com with the subject heading Liblog optout, and give the name of your blog and an email address I can use to verify that it’s you and not someone else. You don’t need to provide a reason…If you opt out, your blog just won’t appear. Period. Email should reach me by July 15, 2006.
“Usage numbers? I’d like to try to correlate Bloglines subscription counts with direct/indirect readership. You can help, if you have access to stats for your weblog… Here’s what you can do to help:
“Find two figures for May 2006: The average sessions per day (or total sessions: I can divide by 31), which is almost always easy to find, and the unique visitors during the month–or “unique IP addresses” if that’s what you have…Email should reach me by July 31, 2006.
“That’s it. I hope not to get any of the first category of email, but will honor whatever I do get (and can verify). I hope to get at least 10-15 of the second category…
“Thanks. Oh, by the way, if you have a liblog–not an official library blog–that you think I’ll overlook because it’s not listed in any of the typical places, you could also send me appropriate email.”
I received four opt-outs. I’m confident none of them were hoaxes. Given the decisions I’d already made about this year’s project, the opt-outs didn’t affect the final list of blogs. I received 15 responses on usage numbers, some offering only one of the two numbers. I discuss those results near the end of this Perspective, under “Direct Reporting: Null Results.” I also received one or two names of blogs that I would have missed otherwise and a couple of suggestions that were already on my Bloglines list.
Last year, I was looking for liblogs with the broadest reach—and with several other criteria. The blogs had to be by one to four self-identified library people (not “official library” blogs and not large-group blogs), have at least one posting in 2005, have at least one RSS/ATOM feed—and, although not explicitly stated in the Perspective, had to be in English.
I fine-tuned criteria this year. There’s no limit on group size, but I eliminated official blogs of all sorts. There had to be at least one posting during March through May 2006. I require at least one feed that Bloglines can recognize—but I dropped the English-only criterion. I’ve been loose about the “official” criterion (is BlogJunction an official blog?). Dropping the English-language criterion was easier because I also decided not to comment on the voice and primary focus of individual blogs. You can run metrics on a blog without being able to read it.
The biggest change has to do with reach and readership. To the extent that an observer can gauge reach and readership, I wanted to avoid the “A list” in favor of a broader group of liblogs in the Great Middle. What’s the Great Middle? It’s the middle of the power-law curve: Blogs with more than a handful of readers, which garner some attention but aren’t among the most popular in the field. There’s no clear definition of that middle, just as there’s no clear definition of reach or readership. In this case, it’s a little less than half of the liblogs that meet other criteria (and that I could find), omitting roughly the most widely read sixth and least widely read third. “Roughly” is the right word in all cases.
If you’ve been following Walt at Random, you can skip most of this section and go on to “Results and Metrics.” For that matter, if you don’t care how I arrived at a sample that I do not claim to be statistically meaningful, complete, or anything other than “a big chunk of the Great Middle,” you can skip this section (although I throw some commentary in along the way).
I started with my existing Bloglines library-related set, which had grown to 240 subscriptions. My guess was that this set included most of the most widely read English-language blogs and a decent sampling of slightly more obscure ones. Bloglines has made it much easier to determine the sum of all feeds: When you click on the “Sub with Bloglines” button on the Firefox bookmarks toolbar, it shows the subscription count for each feed. I recorded the sum of all feeds (except comment-only feeds) for each blog, prepared a first-cut spreadsheet, and removed roughly the top 10% and bottom 10%, leaving 200 blogs with 16 to 689 Bloglines subscriptions.
I then checked blogs from three sources, only one of them the same as last year’s. I didn’t use LISFeeds because the new user interface has no obvious way to print out a list. I didn’t use the Libdex Library Weblogs list because it seems to be stagnant. I kept the Dmoz/Open Directory subdirectory of LIS Weblogs, although it’s somewhat stagnant as well. The most important new source is the LISWiki Weblogs page, but I also downloaded the PubSub libraries list.
I began with LISWiki blogs not already in my Bloglines list, then went through Open Directory blogs that didn’t show up elsewhere, and finally picked up new items from PubSub. I added blogs with 16 to 689 total Bloglines subscriptions. While my intent was to avoid anything without postings during the March-May 2006 period, the subscription process made it easy to pick up extras.
If there’s a broad claim I’m willing to make based on this process, it’s that Bloglines users (among library types) tend to prefer Atom feeds: the Atom count was usually (not always) higher than alternative feeds.
Here’s what I found:
• LISWiki Weblogs page, blogs new to me in the Individual and non-English sections: 112 had fewer than 16 subscriptions (a bunch more, including a slew of Persian blogs, had no subscriptions). Seven had more than 689 subscriptions. Sixty-three showed no post later than February 28, or had no feed, or weren’t really blogs. I added 149 new blogs to the candidate pool.
• DMOZ/Open Directory, those not looked at in the first two steps: Seven had too few subscriptions. None had too many. Twenty-three were missing in action, had no feed, or were otherwise ineligible. I added four blogs to the pool—but I’d already considered most of these last year.
• PubSub library list members that hadn’t already been looked at, plus blogs whose creators sent me information about them: 18 had too few subscribers, none had too many, eight didn’t have feeds or lacked contemporary posts. I added another 15 blogs to the pool.
That left me with 368 candidates—far too many even for this expanded essay. I checked something like 650 liblogs in all, of which 554 are still active, aren’t official or corporate, have an RSS feed, and have at least one subscription.
Five hundred fifty four—as compared to 231 last year. Even with non-English blogs included that represents a doubling in liblogs—or at least a doubling in visible liblogs. LISWiki makes an enormous difference (and I hope people keep adding liblogs to LISWiki!). I’m not sure how many of those 554 started within the past year. Of the 213 in the final study, 59 (28%) began after June 2005 (the cutoff for last year’’s study).
I had to cut more. There are many ways to cut, and I didn’t find “natural breaks.” Using “half taken from the upper middle” as my target, I eliminated the most widely subscribed 90 and least widely subscribed 183 from the original 554, leaving 281 blogs with 19 to 196 Bloglines subscriptions. Note that only 25 of last year’s candidates had more than 196 Bloglines subscriptions. Unquestionably, liblogs across a broad range have become more popular.
I wanted to cut that list a little more, but I needed more than Bloglines. I did the same set of “reach” measures as in 2005, with one minor tweak and one significant addition. Bloglines OPML output translates directly into a spreadsheet that made it easy to search for links: Highlight the URL cell, copy, paste into the “link:” search, and go. As with last year, I checked link: counts in Google and MSN Search—but this time I used Yahoo! instead of AllTheWeb. I then added one figure that I believe is more meaningful than any of these three: the visible result from Yahoo!
What’s the visible result? The number of sites Yahoo! shows you with its “very similar” algorithm active. Anyone who’s spent time looking at web search engines knows that any result count greater than 1,000 represents a claim, because the search engines won’t show you more than 1,000 results. In practice, deduped results usually aren’t anywhere near the 1,000-result limit. Yahoo! will show 100 results per page and give an accurate count of results displayed on the last page it shows; it also offers larger link: results than the other two engines. That made it an obvious choice. The deduped number is nice because it reduces the echo-chamber effect of blogrolls, where the presence of a blog on another blog’s blogroll may result in hundreds of apparent links, only one of which is significant.
Consider the three raw link: results, noting that I had already removed 90 blogs likely to have very high link: results (and nearly 200 likely to have relatively low link: results):
• Google: The highest number was 5,370 (compared to 9,430 last year); several had no link: results at all.
• MSN: The highest number was 34,669, compared to 76,675 last year; again, several had no link: results.
• Yahoo!: Every candidate had at least five Yahoo! links; the high was 179,000 (compared to 449,000 last year).
These numbers don’t mean much of anything, particularly given the skew of blogrolls. What can you do with ratios of 2,600:1 (Yahoo!) even after you’ve eliminated extremes? I’d concluded that last year’s Reach numbers weren’t very good. Using that same formula yielded a smaller range this year—from a high of 13,497 to a low of 84, a ratio of 161:1, considerably smaller than last year’s 7,778:1 but still too broad given that this year’s 161:1 omits the liblogs likely to have the highest figures. A slightly modified version of last year’s formula, using adjusted deflators, yielded a range of 10,590 to 82, a ratio of 128:1.
The “visible Yahoo!” number had a good feel to it (and an upper limit of 1,000). I calculated a new Reach factor, adding the visible Yahoo! count to twice the Bloglines subscriber total. That yielded a high of 1,387 and a low of 51—a ratio of 27:1.
This time, there were obvious outliers. By dropping nine blogs with new Reach factors above 700 and 21 below 70, I had a ratio of only 10:1 for a candidate pool of 251 blogs.
There’s some indication that Bloglines subscriptions account for about half of all aggregation. If that’s true, the final candidate pool includes blogs with roughly 40 to 400 readers through feeds—and maybe an equal number of direct readers (only the bloggers would know!). That’s a good “medium-sized” region for library blogs—enough readers to be interesting, but not a mass readership even within librarianship.
The next step was metrics and individual examination. Last year, I did detailed work on 60 blogs; this year, I dealt with more than four times as many. Somehow, it all worked.
In the process of running metrics, I removed 38 blogs for various reasons. Some turned out to be dead (I’d missed them in the first round), with no posts after February 2006. Some were official blogs and a couple had no real relationship to libraries or librarians. A few began in June 2006, making them too new for this study—and a couple had posts before March 2006 and posts after May 2006, but none during that quarter. Two distinctly worthwhile blogs—MaisonBisson.com and rawbrick.net—are set up in such a way that I found it impossible to take any metrics. I reluctantly deleted these two from the pool, but people looking for new blogs in this essay should definitely consider those two as well.
The final pool represented in this article is 213 blogs—almost as many as in Pew’s latest study of bloggers. The modified Reach numbers narrowed during the metrics pass. Although the Bloglines range stayed 19 to 196, the modified Reach ranged from a low of 72 to a high of 688, for a range of 9.56:1. As to the metrics used:
• I dropped a couple of last year’s metrics. I’m so discouraged about popularity contests and echo-chamber effects that I didn’t even look at BlogPulse or Technorati or similar sites. I also didn’t worry about the number of link-based postings or the size of the blogroll.
• I recorded the highest number of comments for any single post (and adjusted one blog’s results for a serious spamment problem) I also recorded the post title for that post (if the blog had comments) and for the “first March post,” where “first” depends on how archives are arranged.
• In a second pass, I looked at the number of direct and indirect blogrolls (“indirect blogrolls” being links to other pages or to Bloglines), whether the typeface for blog entries was sans serif or serif and whether text was justified, what program was used for the blog, whether the blog has a Creative Commons license, and unusual color combinations. Those results are summarized below.
I don’t use Reach at all in these metrics, whether last year’s Reach or the new, more plausible, Reach factor. I also don’t use the Bloglines subscriber count. If you wish to explore those metrics for the 213 blogs in the final group, the spreadsheet is available at http://waltcrawford.name/logs6reach.xls. That’s the last time Reach will be mentioned in this article. Individual blogs are discussed in alphabetic order.
What we have here are 213 liblogs from a population of around 550 active liblogs represented in the directories and wikis I looked at. I believe the set is broadly representative of Great Middle liblogs. This is a big bunch of liblogs, almost as many as the total possible candidates a year ago.
It’s also a good bunch of liblogs. Sturgeon’s Law simply does not apply to liblogs in the Great Middle. Sure, a few liblogs are badly written—but not that many. Sure, a few are primarily personal—but “personal” blogs can and do become professional blogs overnight, and I found few that are only personal. (Not that there’s anything wrong with personality or personal blogs; I agree with Steven Cohen that it’s good to see the personality and, as they find appropriate, personal life of a blogger represented alongside other concerns.) A handful of blogs here seem primarily concerned with right-wing political slants on issues—and are a handful color everything with left-wing politics. There’s writing some people might consider offensive, and in at least one case I found that writing revealing, thoughtful, and concerned.
I was deeply offended personally by one (and only one) post within this group of blogs during this March-May period, as the blogger dismissed 27 years of my life and the creative work of several dozen colleagues with a flip sentence or two. That blogger appears to be young; with luck, he’ll grow up. (Of course it was a he.) I found many bloggers with whom I’d disagree on some issues. Not incidentally, I’ll be slow to remove those bloggers from my Bloglines list, because they make me think.
If these liblogs are any indication—how can they not be?—library people who blog are mostly thoughtful, intelligent and caring. Not always, not equally, but on the whole it’s a safe bet. I started out with too many liblogs in Bloglines. I now have almost two hundred more—and, other than the ones I can’t read, it will be difficult to reduce that list. It may be easier to off some of the big names…or not.
Here’s the new set as reflected in the final 213:
• Starting date (from internal evidence): None of this year’s candidates started before 2001, and only two began in 2001. Fourteen began in 2002; 41 in 2003; 51 in 2004; 47 in the first half of 2005; 35 in the second half of 2005; and 23 in the first half of 2006. The median is December 2004—as of the end of June 2006, half the blogs are at least 18 months old, half younger.
• Frequency of posts, March-May 2006: The most prolific blog had 371 posts during the three-month period. Several had only one post. The average was 45 posts, but the median was 27.
• Number of comments, March-May 2006: 41 of the blogs either don’t allow comments or had none during this period. The highest comment count (excluding spam) is 798. This year’s average is 35 comments, but the median is only 10.
• Comments per post: I saw no reason to exclude zero-comment cases. The high this year is 9.63 comments per post. The average is 0.93 comments per post; the median, 0.42.
• Total length of posts, March-May 2006: I was unable to determine the total length on 15 of the blogs because of the way they’re archived or stored. Among the 198 where this metric and the next were feasible, the average is 11,412 words. The median is 5,843 words. Consider the standouts: Two blogs nearly tied at 144,809 and 144,504 words each!
• Average length of posts: The average post this year (the average of all averages) is 268 words long; the mean, 225. This year’s most essay-oriented blog averages 1,463 words per post. At the other extreme, three bloggers averaged fewer than 51 words per post.
• Blogrolls: 111 have blogrolls of some sort (not always with that name) on the home page (52%); another 18 (8%) have indirect blogrolls (usually a link to a Bloglines subscription). 40% do not have blogrolls.
• Typeface and alignment: 136 (64%) use sans serif type set left-aligned. Fifty-four (25%) use serif type, left aligned. Twenty-two (10%) use sans serif but with justified type. One blog uses serif text, justified.
• Color usage: Most blogs—65%—use black text on white or near-white backgrounds. Forty-seven use colored backgrounds that are light enough not to impair readability very much (although some people may find polka-dot backgrounds unsettling). Fourteen (6.6%) use dark colored backgrounds (six of them black), usually with white type, which may be trendy but encourages the reader to stick strictly with feeds.
• Creative Commons: 49 blogs (23%) have CC logos on the home page yielding some copyright. I didn’t check the actual license in each case, but I believe BY-NC and BY-NC-SA to be most common.
• Software: 106 (50%) of the blogs use Blogger, almost all of them freely hosted on Blogspot. WordPress comes in a strong second, with 52 blogs (24%). Six Apart products come in third and fourth: 19 Movable Type (9%) and 12 TypePad (6%). In 26 cases, the software was either a lesser-known product or not identified on the home page.
These comparisons may not make much sense. After all, last year’s investigation looked toward blogs with the broadest readership; this year’s looks at a different slice (with some overlap).
• Three of last year’s blogs are older than any of this year’s. Almost half of last year’s blogs began in 2003; this year’s group skews younger.
• Last year’s blogs typically had a lot more posts than this year’s. I believe that represents changing trends in blog authorship as much as it does the different slice of liblogs.
• A higher percentage of this year’s blogs allows comments—and five of this year’s blogs have more comments than the highest of last year’s. On the other hand, the average and median number of comments are both lower this year.
• The most conversational blogs this year are much more conversational than last year’s peak—and the average comments per post is a little higher.
• The average total length of posts during one quarter is a little lower this year. On the other hand, four of this year’s blogs are longer in total than last year’s longest; two are more than twice as long.
• On average, posts are a little longer this year than last and the median is significantly higher.
To keep these tables to reasonable lengths, I’ve defined “standout” more strictly than in 2005. None of these measures means anything about a blog’s quality or significance, but they do represent significant deviations from the norm.
These blogs were at least three years old when the study began.
2001: March, Random Access Mazar; October, The Rabid Librarian’s Ravings in the Wind.
2002: January, EngLib; March, Wigblog; April, Biblog - Bibliotek og IT, diglet; May, Helenes hengekøye; July, Lady Crumpet’s Armoire; August, The Aardvark Speaks, etc., Internetsøgning; October, blogdriverswaltz.com, Confessions of a Science Librarian, indie rock librarian; November, Retrofitted Librarian; December, DrWeb’s Domain.
2003: January, At Home He’s a Tourist, Book Kitten, Sites and Soundbytes, That Rabbit Girl; February, Archivalia, Chronicles of Bean, internetbrus.com, Max Power Blogs, The Misadventures of Super_Librarian, Pattern Recognition; March, STLQ, TangognaT; April, Bibliotekarens bibliotek, Creative Librarian, infosophy: The Playful Antiquarian, Socio-technological Rendering of Information, UK Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Blog; May, Library Monk, Mermaid, Ref Grunt; June: DIY Librarian, Librarian, Library Autonomous Zone, Mentat, nichole’s auxiliary storage, The Ten Thousand Year Blog.
These blogs have more than twice as many posts as the average for all 213 blogs (and more than three times as many as the median).
|
A Fuse #8 Production |
371 |
|
Slaw |
323 |
|
medinfo weblog |
240 |
|
The Rabid Librarian’s Ravings in the Wind |
236 |
|
Travelin’ Librarian |
235 |
|
Out of the Jungle |
225 |
|
Mermaid |
195 |
|
Archivalia |
178 |
|
Kids Lit |
170 |
|
DrWeb’s Domain |
163 |
|
Sites and Soundbytes |
161 |
|
Library Mistress’s Place |
147 |
|
Text & Blog |
145 |
|
affordance.info |
122 |
|
Library Boy |
121 |
|
Digitization 101 |
117 |
|
UK Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Blog |
113 |
|
Information Overlord |
112 |
|
The Gypsy Librarian |
107 |
|
Baby Boomer Librarian |
102 |
|
A Wandering Eyre |
98 |
|
OUseful Info |
96 |
|
Professional-Lurker: Comments by an academic in cyberspace |
95 |
|
ricklibrarian |
94 |
|
Wouter over het Web! |
94 |
|
Game On: Games in Libraries |
92 |
|
OPL Plus (not just for OPLs anymore) |
92 |
|
e-klumme |
91 |
These blogs have at least twice as many comments as average (noting that the average includes blogs with no comments), or seven times the median.
|
A Fuse #8 Production |
798 |
|
The Zenformation Professional |
597 |
|
Mermaid |
422 |
|
Slaw |
410 |
|
Ruminations |
257 |
|
...the thoughts are broken... |
200 |
|
TangognaT |
183 |
|
The Misadventures of Super_Librarian |
166 |
|
The Aardvark Speaks |
146 |
|
Chez Shoes |
131 |
|
A Wandering Eyre |
128 |
|
Tinfoil + Raccoon |
125 |
|
The Vampire Librarian |
124 |
|
Text & Blog |
119 |
|
Tales from the “Liberry” |
117 |
|
indie rock librarian |
108 |
|
Larocque and Roll |
107 |
|
Wouter over het Web! |
103 |
|
See Also |
99 |
|
affordance.info |
98 |
|
Travelin’ Librarian |
97 |
|
The Illustrated Librarian |
88 |
|
Library TechBytes |
78 |
|
Lady Crumpet’s Armoire |
75 |
|
ISHUSH |
72 |
|
Libraries in the NHS |
72 |
|
T. Scott |
70 |
These blogs have the most comments per post, at least twice the overall average (and almost five times the overall median).
|
The Zenformation Professional |
9.63 |
|
The Gay Librarian |
8.50 |
|
The Vampire Librarian |
7.29 |
|
InfoTangle |
6.33 |
|
Library Bitch |
6.00 |
|
The Green Kangaroo |
5.20 |
|
digitize everything |
5.00 |
|
Quædam cuiusdam |
3.83 |
|
The Misadventures of Super_Librarian |
3.46 |
|
Ruminations |
3.38 |
|
indie rock librarian |
3.38 |
|
The Illustrated Librarian |
3.26 |
|
The Aardvark Speaks |
3.04 |
|
Larocque and Roll |
2.97 |
|
Tinfoil + Raccoon |
2.72 |
|
etc. |
2.55 |
|
Librarian 1.5 |
2.55 |
|
Random Access Mazar |
2.55 |
|
Assemble Me |
2.50 |
|
bitter librarian |
2.50 |
|
REAL PUBLIC LIBRARIAN |
2.50 |
|
Chez Shoes |
2.47 |
|
...the thoughts are broken... |
2.41 |
|
See Also |
2.36 |
|
TangognaT |
2.26 |
|
T. Scott |
2.26 |
|
Mermaid |
2.16 |
|
A Fuse #8 Production |
2.15 |
|
Tales from the “Liberry” |
2.09 |
|
Lady Crumpet’s Armoire |
2.03 |
|
aleah marie |
2.00 |
|
At Home He’s a Tourist |
2.00 |
|
bloggrik |
2.00 |
|
tinylittlelibrarian.blog-city.com |
2.00 |
The average for this new measure was 5; the median, 4. These blogs had a post with at least twice as many comments as the most-commented post on the “average blog.”
|
See Also |
35 |
|
The Zenformation Professional |
31 |
|
Thoughts from a Library Administrator |
25 |
|
Ruminations |
22 |
|
Tinfoil + Raccoon |
22 |
|
A Fuse #8 Production |
21 |
|
Family Man Librarian |
19 |
|
The Vampire Librarian |
19 |
|
Library TechBytes |
17 |
|
Mermaid |
17 |
|
ISHUSH |
16 |
|
T. Scott |
16 |
|
Larocque and Roll |
15 |
|
Random Access Mazar |
15 |
|
...the thoughts are broken... |
15 |
|
A Wandering Eyre |
15 |
|
Lady Crumpet’s Armoire |
14 |
|
Pattern Recognition |
14 |
|
Slaw |
14 |
|
TangognaT |
14 |
|
Joyce Valenza’s NeverEnding Search |
13 |
|
The Misadventures of Super_Librarian |
13 |
|
tinylittlelibrarian.blog-city.com |
13 |
|
The Illustrated Librarian |
12 |
|
Libraries in the NHS |
12 |
|
Tales from the “Liberry” |
12 |
|
Feltänkt? |
11 |
|
The Green Kangaroo |
11 |
|
Library Bitch |
11 |
|
The Aardvark Speaks |
10 |
|
digitize everything |
10 |
|
The Gay Librarian |
10 |
So many blogs have a lot of content that this table is restricted to those with at least 150% of the average total length (not much less than three times the median—and roughly the length of this issue of Cites & Insights).
|
A Fuse #8 Production |
144,809 |
|
Out of the Jungle |
144,504 |
|
Slaw |
82,968 |
|
The Gypsy Librarian |
62,188 |
|
...the thoughts are broken... |
58,510 |
|
Mermaid |
53,786 |
|
OUseful Info |
43,288 |
|
Baby Boomer Librarian |
40,343 |
|
The Rabid Librarian’s Ravings in the Wind |
39,431 |
|
The Zenformation Professional |
39,331 |
|
Professional-Lurker: Comments by an academic in cyberspace |
34,998 |
|
Archivalia |
34,954 |
|
Tales from the “Liberry” |
34,383 |
|
Ruminations |
34,200 |
|
Digitization 101 |
32,138 |
|
UK Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Blog |
32,081 |
|
Travelin’ Librarian |
31,498 |
|
ricklibrarian |
27,502 |
|
Library Boy |
25,741 |
|
Wouter over het Web! |
24,662 |
|
ISHUSH |
24,493 |
|
Pegasus Librarian |
24,063 |
|
Information Overlord |
23,631 |
|
affordance.info |
21,636 |
|
A Library Writer’s Blog |
20,994 |
|
Kids Lit |
20,578 |
|
Library TechBytes |
19,660 |
|
e-klumme |
19,251 |
|
mapz: a gis librarian |
19,007 |
|
Family Man Librarian |
18,209 |
|
T. Scott |
18,009 |
|
See Also |
17,888 |
|
medinfo weblog |
17,756 |
|
Game On: Games in Libraries |
17,325 |
Last year, I called all those whose posts average longer than the average for all blogs in the study “essayss,” and the cutoff was 255 words per post. This year, the average is higher at 268.5 words—and 86 blogs exceed that average. These blogs averaged at least 1.5 times the average of all average lengths.
|
InfoTangle |
1,463 |
|
The Gay Librarian |
847 |
|
...the thoughts are broken... |
705 |
|
Biblioblather |
681 |
|
Vagabondages |
657 |
|
Out of the Jungle |
642 |
|
The Green Kangaroo |
636 |
|
The Zenformation Professional |
634 |
|
lbr weblog |
615 |
|
Tales from the “Liberry” |
614 |
|
Young Librarian |
593 |
|
The Gypsy Librarian |
581 |
|
T. Scott |
581 |
|
Library Geek Woes |
565 |
|
Quædam cuiusdam |
549 |
|
Loriene’s Blog |
539 |
|
Electric Forest |
535 |
|
Theoretical Librarian |
529 |
|
Culture Shock and the blondelibrarian |
519 |
|
ulo.tricho.us |
519 |
|
The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics |
515 |
|
REAL PUBLIC LIBRARIAN |
469 |
|
shimenawa |
460 |
|
School Librarian in Action |
457 |
|
OUseful Info |
451 |
|
Ruminations |
450 |
|
Connecting Librarian |
446 |
|
Foxylibrarian.com |
438 |
|
The Life of Books |
427 |
|
See Also |
426 |
|
TheLibraryDiva.com |
420 |
|
Library Bitch |
408 |
Finally, there are the terse bloggers: Those with average post length less than one-quarter of the overall average:
|
Libraries in the NHS |
25 |
|
Crime in the Library |
29 |
|
Bibliotekarens bibliotek |
44 |
|
Stephen Gallant Review |
55 |
|
Fiddling Librarian 3.0 |
56 |
|
:: CultureLibre.ca :: |
59 |
|
Bibliotekarie |
61 |
|
Sites and Soundbytes |
64 |
Blogs appear in alphabetic order—which I called “silly” last year (when I listed them in “Reach order”). The more I look at “reach” figures, the more I feel that no such calculation has all that much meaning, particularly within the Great Middle. Note that the ratio between the highest and lowest “Reach” in this group is less than 10:1—whereas the ratio between the top and bottom of the top 20 in last year’s study was 23:1. As noted earlier, you can do your own “reach” analyses using the spreadsheet at http://waltcrawford.name/ logs6reach.xls.
Blog titles have been normalized for English-language initial articles and for leading punctuation that would influence sorting. For those comparing these comments to last year’s Investigating the Biblioblogosphere, note that I’ve omitted measures of reach, Technorati, or Blogpulse ranking and comments about “voice.” When categories are mentioned, I only include the top two. (If there’s a category or tag list doesn’t include counts, or a tag cloud, I don’t mention categories.) On the other hand, I’ve added the title of the post with the most comments during the March-May 2006 period (if the blog supports comments) and the first blog title in the blog’s March 2006 archive. Start dates are for the current version of a blog as indicated by its archives.
This year’s study was not limited to English-language blogs. I’d like to thank volunteers for translating the tagline, post titles, and in some cases the name of non-English blogs: Marlène Delhaye, Peter Hanning, Dorothea Salo, Ronald van Dieen, Angel, Esben Fjord, Guenter Waibel, Thomas Brevik, Luke Rosenberger, and Oliver, the proprietor of medinfo. Translations appear in [square brackets] following the original.
Babelfish and Intertran web translation software yielded results that were somewhere between poor and useless. I believe there are three reasons:
• Blogs tend to be informal, and informal language is harder to translate.
• Blogs tend to be idiomatic, and I suspect idiomatic usages are much harder to translate.
• Liblogs tend to be full of library and internet jargon, which doesn’t help matters.
Those suggestions aren’t condemnations. My writing is about as idiomatic and informal as you can get.
Note the difference between mean (“average”) and median. The mean represents the sum of all figures for a population divided by the size of that population, and it can be skewed by outlying cases. The median is the point at which half of the population is higher and half is lower. For most of these metrics, the median is a more meaningful center point than the mean. A blog with 28 posts has higher posting frequency than most of the blogs in the study, although it has fewer posts than “average” (the mean).
I’m noting metrics at four levels (with two additional levels for terse blogs):
• Frequent posts, Comments, Conversational, Long overall, Long posts: Blogs that fall between the median and the mean.
• More posts, More comments, More conversational, Longer overall, Longer posts: Blogs that fall within the lower half of the distance between the mean and the top 25 blogs for a metric—for example, a blog with “more posts” has between 45 and 69 posts.
• Many posts, Many comments, Very conversational, Very long overall, Essays (very long posts): Blogs that fall within the upper half of the numeric range just stated. A blog with “many posts” has between 70 and 93 posts during March-May 2006. Generally, fewer blogs are in the “Many” category than the “More” category.
• For the top 25 in any given metric (including ties), “Highest” or “Most” or “Longest,” I give the actual rank.
• I use “Terse” for posts averaging 76 to 100 words, “Terser” for fewer than 76 words.
“Partial metrics” indicates blogs where I couldn’t readily calculate total length of posts.
An Excel workbook including all 213 blogs (with URL as of early July 2006), start date (in an artificial “ymm” notation, where April 2006 is “604”), post count, comments, and comments per post, with a second spreadsheet including the 198 blogs that have length measures—showing count, length, and length per post—is available at http://waltcrawford.name/ liblogs2006.xls.
Surprisingly, only 11% of the blogs lack out-of-the-ordinary metrics. If there was such a thing as a median blog on all metrics, it would still be a healthy blog. Take one real example: eleven posts, an average of 114 words each, no comments—a blogger who has something to say roughly once a week, says it briefly, and moves on. Sounds good to me.
Tagline: “Essence, effervescence, obscurity.” Author: Horst Prillinger. Austrian, posting in English. Established August 2002. Extensive use of pictures. First March post: “Paradox.” Most comments (10): “Terminology.”
Metrics: More posts (48), 10th most comments (146), 14th most conversational (3.04 comments per post), long overall (7,785 words).
Tagline: “links, information, and some analysis about library tech stuff by abigail bordeaux.” Author: Abigail Bordeaux. Established April 2006. First April post: “Mobile Browsing and Text Messaging on the Rise.” Most comments (1): “Library Content in Blackboard.”
French. Tagline: “Ce weblog traite de sujets ayant trait aux sciences de l’information” [This blog deals with information science issues] Author: Olivier Ertzscheid. Established October 2005. First March post: “GoogleZon : scénario du possible” [GoogleZon: what’s likely to happen. “GoogleZon” is like “Amazoogle.”] Most comments (5): “La guerre du stockage en ligne” [Online storage war].
Metrics: 15th most posts (122), 21st most comments (98), conversational (0.8), 25th longest overall (21,636 words).
Tagline: “Tales of an aspiring librarian.” Author: Aleah Marie. Established August 2005. First March post topic: “The Shifted Librarian in print.” Most comments (5): “Brainstorm needed.” Top categories: library 2.0, blogs.
Metrics: Comments (14), very conversational (2.0), long posts (229 words per post).
Tagline: “The Annoyed Librarian goes for a walk on the library wild side and takes you along with her.” Established February 2006. First March post topic: “No Porn in the Library! How Dare They!” Most comments (4): “The Iniquitous Librarian.”
Metrics: Frequent posts (33), comments (34), more conversational (1.03), longer overall (12,335), essays (374 words).
German. No tagline. Group blog. Established February 2003. First March post topic (English post): “ArchivGrid: Making money with searching archival items.” Most comments (8): “Digitale Urkundenbilder” [Digital images of documents/deeds].
Metrics: 9th most posts (178), more comments (40), 13th longest overall (34,954 words).
Tagline: “A weblog of Information Science & Technology education and mentoring for LIS graduates.” Author: Anita Coleman. Established March 2006. Untitled posts, no comments March-May.
Tagline: “A Blog About Constructing Information; Some Assembly Required.” Author: Julius Schorzman. Established May 2004. Heavy use of charts. First April post topic (no March posts): “New World Birth Rate Metrics” Most comments (8): “New York City charts.”
Metrics: 20th most conversational (2.5 comments per post), terse posts (93 words per post)—but in a light posting period.
Tagline: “He fills his head with culture/He gives himself an ulcer.” Author: Carlos. Established January 2003. First May post (no March or April) and most comments (2): “Consumed in April,” mini-reviews of movies seen.
Metrics: Only one post, so the longer post length (303 words per post) may not be meaningful.
Tagline: “Random thoughts and ideas of a babyboomer librarian in the early years of the 21st century.” Author: Bill Drew. Established January 2005. First March topic: “Students can ‘check out’ new librarian on the Facebook.” Most comments (5): “Who are you?” Categories: libraries, blogging.
Metrics: 21st most posts (21st), comments (26), 9th longest overall (40,343 words), essays (390 words per post). Most posts are items from other sources, repeated in their entirety.
No motto. Author: lislemck. Established March 2005. First March topic: “bibliomemetica, cont’d” (a meme). Most comments (3): “Gubmint cheeeeeeese?”
Metrics: More conversational (1.29), 5th longest essays (681 words per post).
Norwegian; blog name translates to “The librarians’ library.” Translated tagline: [Thoughts and musings about most things, but especially about Library2.0.] Author: Thomas. Established April 2003. First March topic: “Bånn er lenger unna enn jeg trodde” [The bottom is further away than I thought]. Comments not allowed.
Metrics: Light posting period (3 posts). 3rd tersest posts (44 words per post).
[Librarian] Swedish. Tagline: “Bibliotekarie fokuserar på det man pysslar med på bibliotek, om det nu är informationssöknig, kommunikation eller omvärldsbevakning. För folk på bibliotek och andra. Biblioteket är där du är!” [From About statement: Blog focuses on what librarians do; information gathering, communication and environmental scanning. Last post on 5/5/06 and there are no plans to continue the blog.] Author: Elisabet Fornell. Established March 2004. Only post during period (1 spam comment): “Dags att lägga av.”
Metrics: Only one post, so the terseness (7th, 61 words) may not be relevant.
[Library purchases] Swedish. Tagline: “Den här bloggen var ursprungligen till för att beskriva och diskutera hur man kan arbeta med inköp på ett mindre folkbibliotek. Nu har innehållet breddats och bloggen handlar om allt som har anknytning till bibliotek.” [This blog originally discussed purchasing for a smaller library. The content area has grown and now includes anything related to a library.] Author: Karin Berndtsson. Established May 2005. First March title: “Mattias Bolkéus Blom samlar på bibliotek” Most comments (5): Föreläsare - jag?” (“Lecturer – [me?]”)
Metrics: Frequent posts (35), comments (18), conversational (0.51), terse posts (98 words per post).
[Library related] Swedish. Tagline: “en blogg där Malin och Åsa lagrar artiklar, notiser och företeelser om bibliotek i vid bemärkelse.” [A blog where Malin and Åsa comment on articles, notices and things about libraries.] Authors: Malin Cantwell and Åsa Jenslin. Established October 2003. First March title: “Vi har hört det förut och vi säger det igen.” Most comments (7): “Update: Nunnor vs. bibliotekarier.” (“Update: Nuns vs. librarians.”)
Metrics: Frequent posts (32), comments (24), conversational (0.75), terse posts (90).
Danish. Authors: Susanne Kierkegaard, Tora Trier Hansen, Erik Hoy. Established April 2002. First March title: “En pris til Biblog..” [A prize for Biblog…] Most comments (7): “I disse kanontider....” [In this time of canons…]
Metrics: Many posts (85), more comments (48 comments), conversational (0.56), terse posts (89).
Tagline: “The true tales of a public librarian. Advocating for victimized librarians everywhere. Names have been changed to protect the confidentiality of guilty parties.” Established October 2005. First April post (none in March): “My Favorite Day of the Whole Year.” Most comments (4): “Why I Advocate for Homeschooling.”
Metrics: 21st most conversational (2.5), longer posts (306 words per post) in light posting period.
Tagline: “This is the website of Fiona Bradley, a librarian from Sydney. This site contains articles, essays, and information about projects that I’m working on.” Author: Fiona Bradley. Established December 2004. First March post: “Sustainable Travel.” Most comments (4): “Following Parliamentary news.” Categories: General, Conferences.
Metrics: Comments (24), more conversational (1.26 comments per post), long posts (245).
Group blog. Established April 2006. First April post: “Competition.” Most comments (3): “Mike and Ned are it.”
Metrics: Conversational (0.64).
Author: Darlene Fichter. Established January 2004. Substantial use of pictures and graphics. First March post: “Findability, Library Catalogues and Serendipitous Discovery.” Most comments (3): “Ordnance Survey data may become available for remixing – Guardian Unlimited.”
Metrics: More posts (46), longer overall (14,574) and longer posts (317 words per post).
Tagline: “librarian, webmaster, fan of all things shiny.” Author: maire. Established November 2005. First March post: “First impression of IE7 beta.” Most comments (5): “Sessions D301 & D302 – Wikis for Libraries.” Categories: patrons, wiki.
Metrics: Conversational (0.56 comments per post), terse posts (94 words per post).
Tagline: “Geoff Harder’s blog about libraries, information technologies and the people who use them.” Author: Geoff Harder. Established September 2002. First March post: “links for 2006-03-01.” Most comments (2): “CIL3.2 The Future of Catalogs: Roy Tennant and Andrew Pace.” Categories: Blogosphere, Libraries.
Metrics: More posts (60), very long overall (15,758 words), long posts (263).
[Blog rich] Swedish. Tagline: “Tips och trix om informationssökning, applikationer, social software, bloggar och andra roligheter.” [Tips and trips about information seeking, applications, social software, blogs and other fun stuff.] Author: Henrik Åkerfelt. Established May 2004. Only post during period (2 comments): “Google Calendar.”
Metrics: Very conversational (2.0), but may be meaningless for single post.
Tagline: “WebJunction’s niche in the blogosphere.” Group blog. Established April 2005. First March title: “Coming Soon: new communities at WebJunction.org.” Most comments (2): “Thinking through ILS systems for small libraries.” Categories: Online Collaboration, Library Services.
Partial metrics: More posts (53).
Tagline: “musings from a Library Goddess Extraordinaire.” Pseudonymous. Established January 2003. First March post: “Springsteen does Seeger.” Most commented post (2): “Fighting the Good Fight.”
Metrics: Comments (11), conversational (0.65 comments per post).
Pseudonymous. Established February 2005. First March post: “Thanks!” Most commented post (2): “Somebody’s Listening.”
Tagline: “I’m a cataloguer working for a library vendor, interested in pretty much all things library! I graduated December 2004 from UWO with my MLIS, so librarianship is still all new to me.” Author: Jen. Established January 2004. First March post: “What Do You Want to Hear?” on OLITA conference planning. Most commented (4): “Free Comic Book Day – May 6th.”
Metrics: Long overall (6,463 words).
Tagline: “Tracking innovation, development and experimentation in information studies and library science.” Group blog. Established January 2005. Extensive use of pictures and graphics. First March post: “Google hiring TV product manager.” Most comments (1): “The Changing Nature of the Catalog and its Integration with Other Discovery Tools.”
Metrics: More posts (56), long overall (7,048).
Tagline: “life, library school, and fantastic footwear.” Pseudonymous. Established October 2005. Extensive use of pictures. First March post: “Seattle shoes.” Most comments (7): “But wait, there’s news.”
Metrics: More posts (53), 11th most comments (131) and 23rd most conversational (2.47), long (10,191 words).
Tagline: “This blog comprises completely uneditorialized, random thoughts that cross my mind or my inbox, pet peeves (such as the misuse of “comprise”) and sometimes photos of my beautiful child or of whatever else my camera happened to capture. People still generally manage to take me seriously.” Author: Cindi. Established February 2003. First March post: “OpenURL blog is missing…!” Most comments (1): “Tonight’s news.” Categories: Library stuff, U2 stuff.
Metrics: Long posts (234 words per post).
Tagline: “This blog has absolutely nothing to do with Clam Chowder. I still have no idea why I chose that title.” Author: Chris DeWeese. Established October 2005. First March post: “Sad News.” Most comments (and best possible excuse for light posting in May and beyond, with 7 comments): “Hello World—Meet Tess” (picture of his newborn daughter).
Metrics: More conversational (1.00)
Tagline: “Find out about popular news stories about Cognitive Science and the intersection of CogSci, Communication Science, & Library Science.” Pseudonymous. Established April 2004. First March post: “It was Romany I chose” on the language of the gypsies. Most comments (2): “where reference & music geekiness meet” (a dictionary for the iPod).
Metrics: More posts (53), comments (14 comments), long overall (9,093 words).
Tagline: “This weblog (by John Dupuis) features links and pointers to information of interest to academic science librarians. Since science librarians do many of the same things as other academic librarians, most postings will probably apply to any librarian in an academic setting. Oh yeah, I’m also a science fiction fan, so some of that stuff will appear here, too.” Author: John Dupuis. Established October 2002. First March title: “Supporting exploratory search.” Most comments (4): “A personal/professional note.”
Metrics: More posts (58), comments (18), longer overall (13,762 words), long posts (237).
Tagline: “Thoughts and discoveries of an Australian librarian working in a public library. Journey with me as I mull over how I can be connecting new ideas and technologies with better service to our patrons.” Author: Michelle McLean. Established July 2005. First March title: “Public Library Surveys.” Most comments (4): “Australian blogs.”
Metrics: More conversational (1.17 comments per post), essays (446 words per post).
Tagline: “Blog by Canadian law librarian / info diva.” Author: Connie Crosby. Established March 2004. Significant use of photos in conference reports. First March title: “Information Highways – Now with e-Content!” Most comments (7): “Now You Are Two: Happy Birthday Little Blog!”
Metrics: More posts (49), comments (13), long overall (10,364 words).
Tagline: “Thoughts on libraries and freedom.” Author: Jack Stephens. Established February 2004. First March title: “My Kind of Library Tech Gear: A Librarian’s Beer Stein!” Comments not allowed.
Metrics: More posts (49), long overall (7,261).
Tagline: “con·viv·i·al (kon-vĭv’ē-al) adj. Fond of feasting, drinking, and good company; sociable. See synonyms at social. Merry; festive: a convivial atmosphere at the reunion.” Author: michelle. Established March 2004. First March title (and most comments, 2): “Tea, Anyone?”
Metrics: More conversational (1.0).
Tagline: “Exploring what it means to be a ‘cool librarian.’” Author: Jessica. Established July 2005. First March title: “Teen Book Review Program.” Most comments (6): “Frustrated…”
Metrics: More conversational (1), longer posts (323 words per post).
Tagline: “The Creative Librarian is a hub for matters important to librarians/information scientists of today.” Author: Laura Blalock. First March title: “manybooks.net.” Comments not supported. Categories: Library Links, Copyright.
Metrics: More posts (53), terse (85).
Tagline: “News about crimes affecting libraries.” Author: Anbolyn. Established April 2004. First March title: “Trouble at a Brooklyn Library.” Most comments (1): “Exposure in OH Library.”
Metrics: Frequent posts (28), 2nd tersest posts (29 words per post).
Author: Renée. Established January 2004. First March title: “1974 – What a Year!” Comments not supported. Categories: that’s life!, americana.
Metrics: Tied for 20th longest essays (519 words per post).
French-Canadian. Tagline: “Carnet à propos du droit d’auteur, d’Internet etdes bibliothèques par Olivier Charbonneau” [Blog about copyright, internet and libraries by Olivier Charbonneau]. Author: Olivier Charbonneau. Established April 2005. First March title: “Droit d’auteur et déficiences visuelles” [Copyright and visual disabilities]. Most comments (1): “Bandes dessinées à propos du droit d’auteur” [Comics about copyright]. Categories: [copyright], Canada.
Metrics: Frequent posts (30), 6th tersest (59 words per post).
Tagline: “life has no subject headings.” Author: Amanda Robertson. Established October 2004. First March title: “using blogs for competitive intelligence / business research.” Most comments (3): “what makes a library?”.
Metrics: Comments (20 comments), conversational (0.77).
Tagline: “A blog of random stuff generally, but not always, related to libraries, librarianship and technology.” Author: David Free. Established September 2004. First March title: “Sending The Library To Distance Learners.” Most comments (2): “And Then There Were Three.”
Metrics: Long overall (6,499 wprds) with longer posts (271 words).
Tagline: “A carnival of news and information about culture, law, music, technology and research, from a computer librarian, Palminatrix, and choral singer.” Author: Grace Lee. Established February 2005. Significant use of photos. First March title: “FEC approves new Internet rules (UPI).” Most comments (2): “Citibank under fraud attack, customers locked out of accounts (BoingBoing).”
Metrics: More posts, (56), comments (13 comments), longer overall (12,472 words).
Tagline: “What Is the Sound of One E-Print Downloading?” Author: Charles W. Bailey, Jr. Established April 2005. First March title: “Flashback (Week of 3/27/06)” Most comments (5): “2006 Dr. Ilene F. Rockman Award.” Categories: Announcements, Flashback: Weekly News.
Metrics: Frequent posts (37), longer overall (12,080) with longer posts (326 words per post).
Tagline: “This blog is the creation of Hurst Associates, Ltd. (http://www.HurstAssociates.com) and is THE PLACE for staying up-to-date on issues, topics, and lessons learned surrounding the creation, management, marketing and preservation of digital assets. (A few other topics are covered when the mood hits!)” Author: Jill Hurst-Wahl. Established August 2004. First March title: “Larry Lessig at RIT: video online.” Most comments (6): “Instant messaging (IM).”
Metrics: 16th most posts (117), 15th longest overall (32,138 words), longer posts (275 words per post).
Tagline: “News on digitization in libraries and allied institutions.” Author: “Head of Library Systems at Simon Fraser University.” Established November 2004. First March title: “PREMIS ImplementationRegistry now available.” Most comments (1): “TEL-ME-MOR Final Policy Conference.” Categories (other than General): Tools, Preservation.
Metrics: Terse (80 words per post).
Tagline: “Helping dig the grave of all things analog.” Author: Michael Yunkin. Established February 2006. First March post: “Searching Zeitgeist.” Most comments (10): “Embedded descriptive metadata.”
Metrics: Comments (15), 7th most conversational (5), essays (380)—but in a light posting period.
Tagline: “A blog devoted to digital library issues from the UCSD Digital Library Planning Working Group (DLPWG).” Group blog. Established April 2002. First March title: “Current Cites March/2006.” Comments not allowed.
Metrics: Frequent posts (33).
Tagline: “We’re Disrupted, We’re Librarians, and We’re Not Going to Take It Anymore.” Author: Peter Murray. First March title: “Updated Disruption in Libraries Bibliography; New Location.” Most comments (6): “The Problem with MARC and AACR: the World Doesn’t Disco Anymore.” Categories: disruption in libraries, drc.
Metrics: Comments (19 comments), conversational (0.7 comments per post), long overall (8,724) with longer posts (323 words per post).
Author: Tara E. Murray. Established June 2003. First March title: “Open source software in libraries.” Most comments (1): “My PowerPoint confession.”
Tagline: “all things library, and life.” Established December 2002. First March title: “It’s not your father’s library center.” Most comments (1): “Encyclopedia Britannica: Response to ‘Nature’ Study on Accuracy.”
Partial metrics: 10th most posts (163).
Danish. Tagline: “Alt det nyeste om biblioteker og teknologi i Danmark og Internationalt” [All the newest about libraries and technology in Denmark and internationally]. Author: Esben Fjord Nielsen. Established November 2004. Substantial use of photos and graphics. First March title: “Er bibliotekarerne gode nok til at søge?” [Are librarians capable enough to search?] Most comments (3): “XML og Da Vinci” [XML and Da Vince]
Metrics: Many posts (91), comments (34), very long (19,251 words).
Tagline: “thoughts about books, digital libraries, and stuff related to expressing and keeping track of our thoughts...” Group blog. Established April 2005. First May title (none March-April 2006): “If libraries are so important, why are they so underfunded?” No comments.
Metrics: 17th longest essays (535 words per post), but in a light posting period.
Tagline: “For the Scitech Librarian.” Author: Catherine Lavallée-Welch. First March title: “ISTL Winter issue.” No comments. Tags: employment, conference.
Partial metrics: Many posts (81 posts).
Tagline: “retro optional.” Author: Amanda Etches-Johnson. Established August 2002. Substantial use of photos. First March title: “sprung” (about spring). Most comments (7): “oscar?” (about the Oscars). Categories: links, me.
Metrics: Many comments (51 comments), tied for 16th most conversational (2.55 comments per post).
Tagline: “if libraries, culture, law, politics are just content, exploded onto the internet.” Author: Morgan Wilson. Established October 2005. First March title and most comments (8): “rant: neurotic pedantic librarians.”
Metrics: Comments (19), very conversational (1.73), essays (360 words per post).
Tagline: “A personal blog about family, libraries, and technology.” Author: Steve Oberg. Established April 2004. First March title: “It’s about customer service, folks [Updated].” Most comments (19): “Thoughts on reports from conferences.”
Metrics: More posts (57), more comments (48), conversational (0.84), very long overall (18,209 words) with longer posts (319 words per post).
[Wrong thoughts? or Bad thinking?] Swedish. Tagline: “En webblogg om bibliotekspedagogik.” [A blog about library pedagogy.] Group blog. Established June 2005. First March title: “Gymnasieelevers användning av Internet.” Most comments (11): “Informationskompetens och infärgning.”
Metrics: Comments (18), more conversational (1.38 comments per post).
Tagline: “Librarian, violist, and dad discusses technology, music and life.” Author: Kevin Smith. Established March 2004. First March title: “Spending a little time in the Berkshires.” Most comments (2): “Here is a novel use for defaced library materials.” Categories: Libraries, Blogging.
Metrics: Frequent posts (30), comments (15), conversational (0.5), 5th tersest (56 words per post).
Tagline: “For those interested in knowing more about the Philippines, Filipiniana, Philippine libraries and Filipino librarians.” Author: Vonjobi. First March title: “PhD – Information Studies.”
Partial metrics: Many posts (84).
Established January 2004. Heavy use of pictures. First March title: “Ref Grunt.” Most comments (7): “Tennessee Jed.”
Metrics: Frequent posts (36), many comments (66 comments), very conversational (1.83 comments per post), very long overall (15,759), essays (438 words per post).
Tagline: “Work, expression, manifestation, item…blog.” Author: William Denton. Established May 2005. First March title: “Bryn Mawr.” Most comments (6): “2006 FRBR Challenge: FRBR vs. Middle Earth.”
Metrics: More posts (56), comments (20), long overall (10,694 words).
Tagline: “Questions answered by the Distance Education Librarian at Buley Library, Southern Connecticut State University. This is an experiment in distance education library communications.” Author: Rebecca Hedreen. Established August 2004. First March title: “HigherEdBlogCon.” No comments.
Metrics: Longer posts (299 words per post).
Tagline: “as a communicator from the library to the college’s science community.” Author: Dongmei Cao. Established January 2006. First March post: “Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry is included in PubMed Central.” Most comments (2): “hack Google Maps to find your library’s (or any location’s) latitude and longitude.”
Metrics: Long overall (6,415 words) with long posts (257).
Tagline: “Children’s literature is not for the weak. It is a ruthless cutthroat business with lots of gnashes of the teeth. Children’s librarianship, in contrast, is a sweet sweet ride. I post anything and everything children’s literature related while also including a review of a children’s book each day.” Established February 2006. First March title: “Metaphorical thighs” (re link love). Most comments (21): “The Top 21 Children’s Books Made Into Films.”
Metrics: Most posts (371), most comments (798), very conversational (2.15 comments per post), longest overall (144,809 words), essays (390 words per post).
Tagline: “Welcome to Game On: Games in Libraries! Game On strives to keep librarians up to date on gaming with convenient one-stop shopping for all your gaming news and information. Contributors welcome! This is a supplement to the Google LibGaming listserv, a forum for discussion of gaming in libraries.” Group blog. Established July 2005. First March title: “Video Game news, March 30, 2006.” Most comments (2): “Not Library 2.0.”
Metrics: Many posts (92), comments (17 comments), very long overall (17,325 words).
Tagline: “the anti-adventures of a gay male librarian.” Established March 2004. First March title and most comments (10): “A Librarian on the Gritty, Urban Streets of Baltimore.” Specific categories: Librarians, Moblogging.
Metrics: Comments (17), 2nd most conversational (8.5 comments per post; 2nd longest essays (847 words per post)—but only two posts during quarter.
Author: Mary Ghikas. Established April 2006. First April title and most non-spam comments (11): “Why a Green Kangaroo?” Categories: ala, 2.0.
Metrics: Comments (26), 6th most conversational (5.2), 7th longest essays (636 words per post).
Tagline: “My first blog. I am hoping to use this as a tool to reflect and learn more about being a librarian and educator. I will likely feature items about librarianship as well as things I read in my other areas of academic interest or of interest as a reader. However, the stuff usually “not talked about in polite company, namely politics and religion” and a few other items of a more miscellaneous nature go to my other blog. You want those, go visit The Itinerant Librarian.” Author: Angel. First March post: “Campus Events for Women’s Month: A Roundup.” Most comments (5): “They are geeky and they are nerdy…”
Metrics: 19th most posts (107), many comments (62), conversational (0.58), 4th longest overall (62,188 words), 13th longest essays (tied, 581 words per post).
Norwegian. Tagline: “Spredte tanker om bibliotek, litteratur, teknologi og annet som opptar meg” [Thoughts about libraries, literature, technology and other things that engage me]. Author: Helene T.. Established May 2002. First March title: “Nyttige sider om søkeverktøy” Most comments (4): “4 år.”
Tagline: “Periodic musings on politics, the War on Terror, and other topics, from a moderate conservative in a profession dominated by the left.” Author: David Durant. Established June 2004. First March title and most comments (7): “Grand Reopening: Coming Soon.”
Metrics: Frequent posts (40), comments (23), conversational (0.58), long overall (9,074) with long posts (227 words per post).
Author: Chad Haefele. Established December 2004. First March title and most comments (6): “A Digital Ownership Society.” Categories: Libraries/Info Sci, Tech.
Metrics: Comments (18), very conversational (1.64 comments per post), longer posts (330).
Tagline: “Another iteration.” Author: Patrick Delaney. Established December 2004. First March title: “Digital Paper – finally (!) scribbled on.” (Unable to determine number of comments.)
Tagline: “I am doing this to learn a new technology, explore trends in the field, communicate in a new and exciting way.” Author: Leah Larson. Established February 2006. First March title (and most comments, 1): “Wiki world.”
Metrics: Conversational (0.5), longer posts (341 words per post).
Tagline: “Tattoos and librarians DO mix!” Established November 2003. Substantial use of pictures (including tattoos). First March title and most comments (12): “Things might be looking up…”
Metrics: 22nd most comments (88), 12th most conversational (3.26 comments per post), long overall (9,768 words), essays (362 words per post).
Tagline: “Imagine a world where anyone can instantly access all of the world’s scholarly knowledge—as profound a change as the invention of the printing press. Technically, this is within reach. All that is needed is a little imagination, to reconsider the economics of scholarly communications from a poetic viewpoint.” Author: Heather Morrison. First March title: “The Dramatic Growth of Open Access: March 31, 2006 Update.” Most comments (3): “The financial folly of pay-per-view, for the funder.”
Metrics: Long overall (8,237), 21st longest essays (515 words per post).
Tagline: “To provide information about resources and news by and for Christian Librarians, primarily those in Christian academic institutions. Other areas of Christian librarianship will be addressed on occasion.” Author: Linda Jones. Established October 2003. First March title: “Substitutions permitted.” No comments.
Metrics: Frequent posts (28).
Tagline: “I was born with music swirling around my head.” Author: Mary Carmen Chimato. Established October 2002. Lots of pictures. First March title: “Felted SP package.” Most comments (9): “Monday Blues.”
Metrics: Frequent posts (32), 16th most comments (108), 10th most conversational (tied, 3.38 comments per post).
Tagline: “These are the adventures of a corporate librarian working in the aerospace industry.” Author: Dave Hook. Established May 2005. First March title: “Day3@CIL2006: The Future of Catalogs.” Most comments (8): “Day 1@CIL2006: Dead Technologies Forum.”
Metrics: Frequent posts (41), comments (34), conversational (0.83), long overall (9,786) with long posts (239 words per post).
Tagline: “In 1624, Sir Henry Wotton, citing the Roman architect Vitruvius, maintained that fine architecture exhibited ‘Commoditie, Firmenes, and Delight.’ Information professionals must heed Vitruvius; build solutions that are useful, lasting and elegant.” Author: Michael Sensiba. Established June 2004. First March title: “Oh the shame, and a new toy.” Comments not enabled.
Metrics: Terser (74 words), but only one post during period.
Tagline: “iNG is a blog for ‘new’ thoughts about information science - including librarianship, knowledge management, information architecture, content management, collection management - with an emphasis on electronic resources. Also about professional issues, often with a slant towards (perhaps that should be ‘tilt at’) CILIP and the profession.” Author: Chris Armstrong. Established February 2005. First March title: “New for Information Literacy.” Most comments (2): “Are search engines time-agnostic?”
Metrics: Frequent posts (40 posts), very long overall (15,403 words), essays (385 words per post).
Tagline: “Like a mail boat from the days of yore, the InfoCommuner comes into harbor with questions and ideas about libraries, community information, and the related stuff that impacts us all.” Author: Tim Rogers. Established November 2004. First March title and most comments (1): “What I love about where I work…or Our Strategic Plan.”
Metrics: Longer posts (273 words per post).
[Infomanagers] Spanish (Chile). Tagline: “Bibliotecología y gestión de información” [Library science and information management]. Author: Jaime Ramírez. Established March 2005. First March title and most comments (2): “phpCollab: gestión de proyectos online” [phpCollab: online project management]. Categories: Tecnología, Internet.
Metrics: Conversational (0.67).
Tagline: “Andrew Dillon’s Blog on the Architecture of Information.” Established January 2006. First March title and most comments (1): “New ALA survey on library use.” Categories: Education of Info Professionals, Research.
Tagline: “We bring you news and reports about information literacy around the world.” Authors: Sheila Webber, Stuart Boon. Established September 2005. Lots of pictures. First March post: “IL talks online.” Most comments (2): “New IL website launched at LILAC.”
Metrics: Many posts (87), longer overall (13,502 words).
Tagline: “Information Management and Librarian Blog with a communications media and technology law slant from Scott Vine.” Author: Scott Vine. Established January 2004. First March title: “Lawyer Sings.” Most comments (3): “FOI documents confirm Ofcom lack of action on CH4 advertising breaches.”
Metrics: 18th most posts (112), 23rd longest overall (23,631 words
Group blog. Established January 2004. First March title and most comments (5): “Losey Library.”
Metrics: Terse (82 words per post)
Tagline: “Information structures and information technologies do not develop in isolation. Similarly, the social structures in our society do not develop free from technological influence. The information technology and the social structures in our human society inform and shape each other.” Author: Mentor Cana. Established April 2003. Only post during period: “What if they gagged Gutenberg? Big telecom is trying to throttle free access to democratic Internet.” No comments. Categories: Open Content and Open Communication, Information & Knowledge.
Metrics: Longer posts (314), but only one post.
Tagline: “Writings and ruminations about emerging technologies, Web 2.0, information architecture and libraries.” Author: Ellyssa Kroski. Established December 2005. First April title and most comments (9): “Community 2.0.”
Metrics: Comments (19), 4th most conversational (6.33 comments per post), longest essays (1,463 words per post, essentially formal articles in blog form).
Tagline: “Thoughts on librarianship, technology, and how they affect each other in the 21st Century.” Author: Jenn Riley. Established February 2005. First March title: “What exactly is the ‘catalog’?” Most comments (4): “An RDF Revelation.”
Metrics: Comments (19), very conversational (1.58), essays (392 words per post).
[Internet noise] Swedish. Tagline: “Svensk blogg om söktjänster och sökning på Internet.” [A Swedish blog about search services and searching on the Internet.] Authors: Lars Våge and Lars Iselid. Established February 2001. First March title: “Gary Price intervjuad i Library Journal och Ask.com prisad av Mossberg.” Most comments (3): “Bläddra på Nätet i kulturtidskrifter med tidningar.info.” Categories: Internetsöktjänster, Bloggar och bloggsökning.
Partial metrics: Frequent posts (40), comments (28), conversational (0.7 comments per post).
Danish. Tagline: “Tips og nyheder for folk som bruger internettet meget til at finde information. Fx bibliotekarer, journalister, undervisere og studerende” [Tips and news for information seekers. Ex. librarians, journalists, educators and students]. Author: Erik Hoy. Established August 2002. First March title: “1-2 ugers pause” [1-2 weeks break]. Most comments (4): “Computerspil – også en del af internettet (del 4: Deltagerne og konklusion” [Computer games—also part of the Internet (part 4: the gamers and conclusion)].
Metrics: More posts (50), longer overall (13,591 words), longer posts (272 words per post).
Tagline: “The Open Notebook of an Excitable Librarian.” Author: Woody Evans. Established March 2006. Quite a few graphics and pictures. First March title: “cell phones in the library 1.” Most comments (16): “comics 4.”
Metrics: Many posts (83), 25th most comments (tied, 72), conversational (0.87), 21st longest overall (24,493 words), longer posts (295 words per post).
Tagline: “a discussion of information fluency, searching, teaching, and learning in the 21st century.” Author: Joyce Valenza. Established August 2005. First March title: “A new avatar.” Most comments (13): “Pimp Mom’s Ride?” Categories: Teaching Strategies, About libraries.
Metrics: Frequent posts (28), more comments (42), very conversational (1.5 comments per post), long overall (8,738) with longer posts (312).
Tagline: “Random Thoughts on the web and politics.” Established December 2005. First April title (no March posts) and most comments (1): “It’s The End of the World As We Know It.”
Tagline: “Books and More for Children and Teens.” Author: Tasha Saecker. Established August 2003. Lots of pictures (mostly book jackets). First March title: “Silly Suzy Goose.” Most comments (2): “Children’s Music that Rocks.”
Metrics: 9th most posts (170), comments (13), very long overall (20,578 words).
Tagline: “Musings and Minutiae—A Digital Commonplace Book.” Pseudonymous. Established July 2002. First March title: “Coinage.” Most comments (14): “Something Isn’t Quite Right.”
Metrics: Frequent posts (37), many comments (75 comments), very conversational (2.03 comments per post), long overall (5,860 words).
Tagline: “I self-medicate with raspberries and Bailey’s.” Author: Rebecca. Established August 2004. First March title: “It’s a girl!” Most comments (15): “iPope.”
Metrics: Frequent posts (36), 17th most comments (107), 14th most conversational (2.97), longer overall (12,344) with longer posts (343 words per post).
Tagline: “a blog about virtual reference for librarians by request.” Author: Luke Rosenberger. Established June 2004. First March title: “Could HR 4437 Criminalize Certain Reference Transactions?” Most comments (7): “Backwards Compatibility.”
Metrics: Comments (19), very conversational (1.73), long overall (6,763 words), 9th longest essays (615 words per post).
Tagline: “Just another hysterical librarian for blogging.” Author: Laura “Rikhei” Harris. Established November 2004. First March title: “How cool is this?” Most comments (2): “Jeopardy!” Categories: blogging, virtual reference.
Metrics: Conversational (0.8).
Tagline: “for libraries by libraries.” Authors: Casey Bisson, Ryan Eby. Established June 2005. Largely “wasted away” in favor of individual blogs. First March title: “A small update.” No comments.
Metrics: Terser (69), but only two posts during quarter.
[NOT librarian.net!] Tagline: “Libraries as the Future of Culture and History.” Author: Kathleen de la Peña McCook. Established June 2003. First March title: “Prison denial of Newspapers and Magazines reaches SCOTUS…” No comments (usually disabled). Categories: authors, KdlPMcC.
Metrics: More posts (65), longer overall (14,926 words), long posts (230 words per post).
Tagline: “Library 2.0 from a Scandinavian perspective.” Author: Thomas Brevik. Established January 2006. First March title: “RFID, books and Library 2.0—The missing link?” Most comments (6): “Library 2.0 = MyLibrary?” Categories: Library 2.0, Hype or Hope?
Metrics: Comments (28), 16th most conversational (tied, 2.55), longer posts (347).
Tagline: “News about libraries, librarians, reading and information.” Author: Kathleen de la Peña McCook. Established December 2004. First March title: “Elisée Reclus-Conference.” Comments not allowed.
Metrics: Frequent posts (30).
Tagline: “‘A Librarian at the Kitchen Table’ continues the earlier blog ‘A Librarian at Every Table.’ Librarians build community by working as advocates for social justice and human rights.” Author: Kathleen de la Peña McCook. Established November 2004. First March title: “Cesar Chavez Day-March 31-’Sí se puede.’” Comments not allowed.
Metrics: Frequent posts (33), long overall (6,647 words).
Tagline: “Resources and News for Middle School Librarians.” Author: Robert Eiffert. Established November 2004. First March title: “MySpace—Peril or Safe?” Most comments (2): “Published!”
Metrics: More posts (59), long overall (10,658 words).
Tagline: “Ruminations on librarianship (public), music (focus on the Grateful Dead), pet peeves (curmudgeonly commentary), and religion (Unitarian Universalist).” Author: David Dodd. Established July 2005. First March title: “Just read / Now Reading.” No comments.
Tagline: “A place to ponder about Web-based technology and librarianship.” Author: Heather Ebey. Established December 2003. Only post during quarter: “Culminating Experience Letter.” Comments disabled. Categories: technology, librarianship.
Tagline: “Political and social justice issues affecting libraries and librarians.” Group blog. Established November 2003. First March title: “Bibliotecas populares in Cordoba.” Most comments (1): “Here we are…” Categories: copyright, conference.
Tagline: “Planning the Revolution…” Author: Louise Alcorn. Established August 2003. First March title: “Librarian: ‘Da Vinci’ Lawsuit Lacks Merit.” Most comments (2): “Lost Bags? Really?”
Metrics: Conversational (0.59).
Tagline: “For librarians who facilitate training.” Authors: Brenda Hough & Rebecca Richardson & Jeanne Roy. Established September 2005. First April title (no March posts): “Curiosity.” No comments.
Book-related blog. Authors: Chrystie R. Hill and Steven M. Cohen. Established January 2006. First March title: “Suave like James Bond.” Most comments (4): “Processing.”
Metrics: Comments (15), conversational (0.88).
Tagline: “Ben Toth’s notebook on libraries, informatics and electronic patient records 2.0.” Established March 2006. First Marchtitle: “Reaching nurses with RSS.” Most comments (12): “The National Library for health is honoured to be part of live.com.”
Metrics: Many posts (84), 25th most comments (tied, 72), conversational (0.86), tersest blog (25 words per post).
Tagline: “ideas,issues, and insights on the high seas.” Author: J.R. Jacobs. First March title: “Better late than never ;-)” No comments.
Tagline: “A NexGen Librarian Point Of View.” Author: “G” Established February 2005. Quite a few pictures. First March title: “Where Is G?” Most comments (11): “Note To Self: Don’t Drink The Snapple!”
Metrics: Many comments (54), 5th most conversational (6.0), essays (408 words per post).
Tagline: “Law library world odds and ends from the Supreme Court of Canada.” Author: Michel-Adrien Sheppard. Established February 2005. First March title: “New Law Librarianship Articles.” Most comments (2): “RSS News Feeds from Lexis Nexis Canada.”
Metrics: 15th most posts (121), 19th longest overall (25,741 words).
Tagline: “Talking about life as an academic librarian, living in Boston, with tastes of tech, trek, and the little things that life throws at you.” Author: Michael Bradford. Established September 2003. First March title: “Another 30th Birthday.” Most comments (2): “Ash Wednesday and the Lenten Season.”
Metrics: More posts (45 posts), long overall (9,471 words).
Tagline: “Documenting the death throes of the American public library.” Author: Laura Solomon. Established July 2005. First March title and most comments (3): “‘maybe you should just CALM DOWN…’”
Metrics: More conversational (1.2 comments per post), 14th longest essays (565 words per post).
German (with some English). Tagline: “I plan to post stuff about books, libraries, librarians, reference books & databases, reading & writing - especially Science Fiction, Fantasy & Utopias - that I come across in work hours & leisure time (mostly in German & English, sometimes also in other languages).” Author: Monika Bargmann. Established July 2003. First March title: “Für das eher derbe wienerische ‘schleich di’…” [For the rather harsh Viennese saying ‘get lost’…] No comments.
Metrics: 12th most posts (147), longer overall (14,762 words), terse (100 words per post).
Tagline: “The blog of Dan Greene.” Author: Dan Greene. Established May 2003. First March title: “Well…” Most comments (4): “People dialing the wrong number that won’t give up.” Categories: Thoughts on Life, Information Technology.
Partial metrics: Comments (13), conversational (0.93 comments per post).
Tagline: “‘Byte-size’ chunks of news about libraries & new technologies (& a few other observations in between).” Author: Helene Blowers. Established August 2004. Some pictures and images. First March title: “Create your own Search Engine.” Most comments (17): “MySpace Library Profiles – UPDATED.”
Metrics: Many posts (81), 23rd most comments (78), more conversational (0.96), very long overall (19,660 words), long posts (243 words per post).
Tagline: “Librarians Keeping Up with Technology in the Lone Star State.” Author: Christine Peterson. Established December 2004. First March title: “Office 2007 Video.” Most comments (2): “Store ‘n’ Go Pocket Hard Drives.”
Metrics: More posts (50), terse (96).
Tagline: “Online Musings of A Librarian, Father, Aspiring Musician, & Amateur Techie.” Author: Chad F. Boeninger. First March title: “Newsweek on Web 2.0.” Most comments (2): “Vendors are people too.” Categories: Blogs, Technology.
Metrics: Long overall (6,177), longer posts (281).
Tagline: “Have writer’s block? Hopefully this resource will help librarians identify publishing and presentation opportunities in library & information science, as well as other related fields…” Author: Corey Seeman. Established February 2004. First March title: “CFP: Children’s Literature Sessions at Midwest Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Fall 2006 Meeting.” No comments.
Metrics: Many posts (74 posts), 25th longest overall (20,994 words), longer posts (284).
Tagline: “A blog for and by librarians interested in academic library service assessment, evaluation, and improvement.” Group blog. Established May 2006. First May title: “Redesigned ‘Making Library Assessment Work’ Website.” Most comments (1): “OCLC Perceptions Report – College Students subset.”
Tagline: “Blog, books, and more…” Author: Kelly. Established January 2004. First March title: “This Week in Reading: March 24 to March 31.” Most comments (7): “I Learn Something New Every Day.”
Metrics: Frequent posts (30), more comments (39), more conversational (1.30), longer overall (12,591), essays (420 words per post).
Tagline: “Travels into Several Remote Digital Realms of the World. PART I: A Voyage to Libraryland.” Author: Richard Urban. Established September 2005. First March title: “IMLS Status of Technology and Digitization Report.” Most comments (1): “Master Master.”
Metrics: Longer posts (323).
Tagline: “The Sounds of Library Science.” Author: Chris Zammarelli. Established January 2006. First March title: “Disintermediation Is a Word That Is Long.” Most comments (2): “What Library 2.0 Means to Me.”
Metrics: Many posts (81), very long overall (15,969).
Tagline: “This blog is dedicated to exploring the idea that ‘books are dead.’ I believe that they are alive and well....” Author: Richard Leiter. Established December 2004. First April title (no March posts) and most comments (1): “What’s the trouble with eBooks?”
Metrics: Essays (427 words), but only one post during quarter.
Tagline: “Laura Crossett on the LIS domain.” Author: Laura Crossett. Established May 2005. First March title: “wordpress weirdness.” Most comments (8): “wyoming librarianship: a sample.”
Metrics: Frequent posts (28), comments (33), more conversational (1.18), long overall (8,602), longer posts (307 words per post).
Tagline: “Discussions related to information and technology in academic libraries, universities and life in general.” Author: Mark Leggott. Established February 2004. First March title: “Integrating Licensed Library Resources with Sakai.” No comments. Categories: Miscellany & a Shake of Ephemera, Intellectual Property & Copyright.
Metrics: Frequent posts (41).
Tagline: “Pin-ding-u-daud-ewin. ‘To enter into one another’s lodges.’” Author: Loriene Roy. Established November 2005. First March title: “Response to NMRT Question: Fostering Collegiality.” Comments not enabled.
Metrics: Long overall (11,315 words), 16th longest essays (539 words per post).
Tagline: “Stranger than fiction...we couldn’t possibly make these things up.” Author: Marian The. Established March 2005. First March title: “Resourceful.” Most comments (5): “The List.”
Metrics: Comments (18), conversational (0.78), terse (78 words per post).
Tagline: “My thoughts and reminders as GIS Librarian at the University of Texas at Arlington.”. Established June 2005. First March title: “Script & Workshop: Export ArcMap Features to Google Maps (HTML).” Most comments: “From Sample Points to Attractive ArcGlobe Image: Not So Easy.”
Metrics: More posts (50), comments (21), very long overall (19,007), essays (380 words per post).
French. Tagline: “Bibliothèques et technologies, voire plus si affinities” [Libraries and technologies, and more for your reading pleasure.] Author: Marlène Delhaye. Established February 2005. First March title: “En avril, ne te découvre pas d’un blog” [Never cast a blog ‘til May is out]. Most comments (6): “Sur mon 31*” [Dressed to the nines].
Partial metrics: More posts (48 posts), comments (31), conversational (0.65 comments per post).
Tagline: “Tales of an oft-traveling Librarian/Instructor.” Author: Max Power. Established February 2003. First March title: “Beantown, here I come!” Most comments (4): “‘Many Bags Look Alike.’” Categories: Life in Atlanta, Travel.
Metrics: Comments (24), more conversational (1.14).
German with some English material. Tagline: “Informationen aus Medizin, Bibliothek und Fachpresse” [Information from medicine, library, and specialist publications]. Author: Oliver. Established March 2004. First March title: “OA Journal: Evidence Based Library and Information Practice 1/2006.” Most comments (8): “Berufsprestige von Ärzten und Bibliothekaren” [The way librarians and libraries see themselves]. Categories: Bibliotheken, Publikationswesen [Libraries, publishing].
Metrics: 3rd most posts (240), comments (42), very long overall (17,756), terser posts (74).
Tagline: “Taking the pulse of medical librarianship.” Authors: Mary Carmen Chimato, Darrien Chase. Established May 2006. First May title: ““BiPolar Youth Misread Faces.” Most comments (1): “Kickin’ It off with the Mother Ship.” Categories: Librarianship, informatics.
Tagline: “sorting through the onslaught of information and misinformation to find what is important and real.” Author: Lori Bowen Ayre. Established June 2003. First March title: “Is there hope for democrats – I see a light!” No comments.
Metrics: Longer posts (289 words per post).
Tagline: “Thinking Out Loud.” Author: Jenica P. Rogers. Established May 2003. Lots of pictures. First March title: “Cryptic no more.” Most comments (17): “someone call the girl police.”
Metrics: 7th most posts (195), 3rd most comments (422), very conversational (2.16), 6th longest overall (53,786 words), longer posts (276 words per post).
Tagline: “Mild-mannered librarian and romance novel junkie by day. Kick-ass superhero babe by night.” Author: Wendy. Established February 2003. First March title: “Toga, Toga, Toga!” Most comments (13): “Record Time.”
Metrics: More posts (48), 8th most comments (166), 9th most conversational (3.46), very long overall (16,138 words), longer posts (336 words per post).
Tagline: “Opinionated dame, Minnesota librarian.” Author: Mary Beth Sancomb-Moran. Established December 2005. First March title: “Ahhh…” Most comments (4): “Fines?”
Metrics: More posts (59), comments (29), conversational (0.49), long overall (10,697 words).
Tagline: “50% librariana, 100% superfluous.” Established June 2003. Quite a few pictures. First March title: “Last of it?” Most comments (3): “Eat that rabbit.”
Metrics: Comments (15), conversational (0.88), terse (87 words per post).
Tagline: “dchud shelf-readin’, taking notes and naming names.” Author: Daniel Chudnov. Established December 2005. First March title: “code4lib 2006 talk: Connecting Everything with unAPI and OPA.” Most comments (5): “Because this is the business we’ve chosen.”
Metrics: Frequent posts, (36), comments (31 comments), conversational (0.86), long overall (10,314 words), longer posts (287).
Tagline: “(not just for OPLs anymore.” Author: Judith A. Siess. Established December 2005. First March title: “Do you use IM? Most don’t—but you should!” Most comments (6): “Who’s out there?”
Metrics: Many posts (92), comments (15), very long overall (16,948).
Tagline: “In Search of OU 2.0... Exploring the potential of Web 2.0 techniques and applications in higher and distance education, informal and lifelong learning.” Author: Tony Hirst. Established March 2005. Lots of graphics, mostly web pages. First March title: “Gabbly Chatting To Myself About The OUseful Blog…” Most comments (5): “Web-based Presentations.”
Metrics: 22nd most posts (96), comments (17), 7th longest overall (43,288 words), 25th longest essays (451 words per post).
Tagline: “Thoughts on the present and future of legal information, legal research, and legal education.” Group blog. Established August 2005. Quite a few pictures. First March title:”More on the Attack of the Deans.” Most comments (8): “How Librarians Get Along, or Ye Mores of Dragon Societie.”
Metrics: 6th most posts (225), comments (16), 2nd longest overall (144,504 words), 6th longest essays (642 words per post).
Tagline: “how do you like your blueyed boy Mr. Death.” Author: Jason Griffey. First March title: “Going away.” Most comments (14): “Religious? Litigious?” Categories: Digital Culture, Personal.
Partial metrics: More posts (51), many comments (57), more conversational (1.12).
Tagline: “Comments on libraries, learning, teaching, technology, and information..” Author: Iris. Established March 2006. First March title: “The Croquet Project… Very Cool.” Most comments (4): “More on the Future of the Catalog.”
Metrics: Many posts (85), more comments (38), conversational (0.45), 22nd longest overall (24,063 words), longer posts (283 words per post).
Tagline: “A social and richly annotated experiment in keeping track of my professional development as a librarian (in the form of a weblog)...or Resume 2.0.” Author: Tim Hickey. Established May 2006. First May title: “The blogging learning curve.” Most comments (4): “Escape from the walled garden (Library 2.0-style).”
Metrics: Long overall (7,588 words), longer posts (345 words per post)
Tagline: ““She is too fond of books and it has turned her brain.” --Louisa May Alcott.” Established April 2003. First April title (none in March): “Spectral Literacy: The Child in the Margin, Apr. 28 (AAS).” No comments.
Author: Jeffrey Pomerantz. Established November 2004. First March title and most comments (3): “Three More Years.” Categories: Librarianship, Technology.
Partial metrics: Conversational (0.53)
Tagline: “comments by an academic in cyberspace.” Author: Lois Ann Scheidt. Established December 2003. First March title: “A Need to Know: The Clandestine History of a CIA Family.” Most comments (4): “Reference Management Software…a new tool.”
Metrics: 23rd most posts (95), comments (25), 11th longest overall (34,998 words), essays (368 words per post).
Tagline: “Mild opinions, tentatively offered, on library tech.” Author: Peter Binkley. Established March 2005. First March title: “Google It.” Most comments (9): “Managing large XSLT projects with Ant.” Categories: Linking Technologies, Libraries.
Metrics: Comments (23), 8th most conversational (3.83 comments per post), 15th longest essays (549 words per post).
Tagline: “Content = Happy (adj), substance (n), satisfy (v) Saloon = bar (n), and what’s not good about that? plus I can’t resist the goofy proximity to salon. Finally, why name a blog about libraries and the Web after a character from Moby-Dick? Well, lots of reasons….” Author: Erica Reynolds. Established November 2004. First March title: “PLA…a blur…onto Triconference.” Most comments (7): “And speaking of David King…”
Metrics: Comments (29), more conversational (1.21), long overall (7,178 words), longer posts (299 words per post).
Tagline: “v., intr.: to discourse in a trifling way; to trifle, waste time (with)..” Author: Heidi Delamore. Established March 2005. Fair number of pictures. First March title: “Academic librarian, telephone interview (engineering).” Most comments (8): “Hired!”
Metrics: Comments (31), more conversational (1.15 comments per post), long overall (5,825 words).
Author: Eilir Rowan. Established October 2001. Fair number of pictures. First March title: “Today was a nice, quiet day.” Most comments (4): “Guh.”
Metrics: 4th most posts (236), comments (24), 9th longest overall (39,431 words).
Tagline: “diary of an Academic Librarian.” Author: Rochelle Mazar. Established March 2001. Quite a few photographs. First March title: “Yet Another Librarian’s Desk.” Most comments (15): “Welcome home, Jim Loney.” Specific categories: instructional technology, library issues.
Metrics: Many comments (56), tied for 16th most conversational (2.55 comments per post), long overall (8,026 words), essays (365 words per post).
Tagline: “The random thoughts and reflections of a public librarian in a small coastal community in Australia.” Author: Deb. Established May 2005. First March title: “Coming up for air.” Most comments (4): “A satisfying day.”
Metrics: Comments (20), 21st most conversational (2.5), 22nd longest essays (469 words per post).
Tagline: “Some days I love working the reference desk, some days I hate it, and it’s often the same day.” Author: Peter Sprenkle. Established May 2003. First March title: “Crooks have no taste in manga.” Comments not supported.
Tagline: “Analysis by Stephen Leary - the matinee idol of the blogosphere.” Established March 2006. First March title: “The ALA Elections.” Most comments (2): “DC Library Leader to Make More Than Mayor.”
Metrics: More posts (62), very long overall (15,098 words), long posts (244 words per post).
Tagline: “News and Information for San Francisco Bay Area Library Workers.” Author: Susan Rosenblatt. Established November 2002. First March title: “Wall Street Journal’s Mossbert Likes Ask.com.” Comments not enabled.
Metrics: Terser posts (74 words per post).
Tagline: “Technological applications and privacy implications of Radio Frequency Identification Tags in libraries.” Group blog. First April title: “NISO Launches RFID Committee to work on Library issues.” No comments. Very light posting period.
Tagline: “a review of books, websites, movies, or anything worth reviewing with comments about libraries and librarianship.” Author: Rick Roche. Established February 2005. First March title: “Slaves in the Family by Edward Ball.” Most comments (8): “Morton’s Neuroma: A Librarian Looks at Consumer Health Reference Sources.”
Metrics: 24th most posts (tied, 94), many comments (56), conversational (0.6), 18th longest overall (27,502 words), longer posts (293 words per post).
Tagline: “Read, Write, Rock & Roll.” Author: Tyler Rousseau. Established September 2005. A fair number of pictures. First March title: “My Dream of Comeuppance.” Most comments (5): “Is listening to an audiobook the same as reading?”
Metrics: Frequent posts (44), comments (25), conversational (0.57), long overall (7,266 words).
Tagline: “... of a librarian in Perth, Western Australia.” Author: CW (although her full name does appear at one point). Established June 2005. First March title: “Things I learned this week…” Most comments (22): “Borders, Perth.”
Metrics: Many posts (76), 5th most comments (257), tied for 10th most conversational (3.38 comments per post), 14th longest overall (34,200 words), essayist (450 words per post).
Tagline: “‘I never knew a girl who was ruined by a book.’ -James Walker.” Authors: J. Semenza, Kris. Established January 2005. Some illustrations. First March title: “My first sock.” Most comments (4): “Naked heffalump.”
Metrics: More conversational (1.33).
Tagline: “Filipino School Librarian. Information Literacy. Children and Young Adult Library Services. Reading and Literacy Advocacy. Instructional Technology. IT – Integration.” Author: Zarah Grace C. Gagatiga. Established April 2005. First March title: “Our Malaysian Friend.” Most comments (6): “Blogs as Teaching Tools.”
Metrics: Frequent posts (28), comments (33), more conversational (1.18 comments per post), longer overall (12,801 words), 24th longest essays (457 words per post).
Tagline: “News and commentary about tools and articles for library and information professionals, mostly on Web 2.0 (RSS, blogs, etc.).” Author: Teri Vogel. (Note: “SD” in this case stands for University of California, San Diego—not South Dakota.) First March title: “EDP Sciences: RSS Feeds.” Most comments (2): “EBSCOhost: RSS Feeds (and why they could be much better).”
Metrics: More conversational (1.0), longer posts (321 words per post) but in light posting period.
Tagline: “Thinking outside the box…inside the box.” Group blog. Established April 2006. Lots of illustrations (all Second Life). First April title: “Introduction to SL for newbie librarians.” Most comments (5): “Introduction to Alliance Second Life Library 2.0.”
Metrics: Frequent posts (38), more comments (36), more conversational (0.95), long overall (10,706), longer posts (282 words per post).
Tagline: “a library weblog by Steve Lawson.” Author: Steve Lawson. Established August 2005. Some illustrations. First March title: “Is the Medium the Message for Library Blogs?” Most comments (35): “Name that book: a fiction subject headings quiz.”
Metrics: Frequent posts (42), 19th most comments (99), 24th most conversational (2.36 comments per post), very long overall (17,888 words), essays (426 words per post).
Tagline: “Dave Pattern’s weblog.” Author: Dave Pattern. Established May 2005. First March title: “Library 2.0, Schmibrary 2.0.” Most comments (7): “A Room With a View.” Categories: Horizon/HIP, Hitchcock DVD site.
Partial metrics: Comments (31), very conversational (1.82 comments per post).
Tagline: “peter brantley’s thoughts and speculations.” Established May 2005. First March title: “Flexibility of Text.” Comments not enabled.
Metrics: 23rd longest essays (460 words per post).
Tagline: “Libraries, Books, Technology and News.” Author: Tasha Saecker. Established January 2003. Lots of illustrations. First March title and most comments (1): “Zookoda.”
Metrics: 11th most posts (161), long (10,277 words), 8th tersest (64 words per post).
Tagline: “Slaw is a co-operative weblog about Canadian legal research and IT, etc.” Group blog. Established July 2005. First March title: “This Week’s Links: 060331.” Most comments (14): “Writely Purchased by Google.”
Metrics: 2nd most posts (323), 4th most comments (410), more conversational (1.27), 3rd longest overall (82,968 words), long posts (257 words per post).
Tagline: “A Survey of Reading for Librarians and Information Specialists.” Author: Stephen L. Gallant. Established April 2004. First March title: “What to Make of New DVD Formats.” Comments not enabled.
Metrics: Frequent posts (39), 4th tersest (55 words per post).
Tagline: “Occasional postings about issues and concerns of interest (but not limited to) engineering and scitech librarians.” Group blog. Established March 2003. First March title: “CAS Registry Adds Property Data, Spectra And Spectra References.” No comments.
Metrics: More posts (58), very long (16,106 words), longer posts (278 words per post).
Tagline: “‘Scepticism is the chastity of the intellect...’ Santayana, Scepticism and Animal Faith, 1923.” Author: Tom Scott. Established October 2005. First March title: “The Versioning Problem.” Most comments (16): “The Malleable World (Wikipedia and Knowledge, Part 2).”
Metrics: Frequent posts (31), many comments (70), tied for 25th most conversational (2.26 comments per post), very long overall (18,009 words), tied for 12th longest essays (581 words per post).
Tagline: “An employee of a small town “liberry” chronicles his eternal quest to remain sane while dealing with patrons who could double as extras in a David Lynch film.” Anonymous. Established November 2003. First March title: “Interlibrary Moans.” Most comments (12): “Kanji the Kid Won’t Leave Me Alone.”
Metrics: More posts (56), 15th most comments (117), very conversational (2.09), 13th longest overall (34,383), 10th longest essays (614 words per post).
Tagline: “Agent Of L.I.B.R.A.R.Y.” Established March 2003. First March title: “RefGrunt, the Book?!” Most comments (14): “Back from SLC, I visited my new condo.” Categories: library, comics.
Metrics: Many posts (81), 7th most comments (183), tied for 25th most conversational (2.26 comments per post), very long overall (15,670 words).
[Technicalities] Swedish. Tagline: “En blogg från några teknikbibliotekarier på Stockholms stadsbibliotek.” [A blog by a few technology librarians at the Stockholm city library. We talk about books, links and the world around us.] Authors: Elisabet Fornell and Patrik Schylström. Established October 2005. First March title: “Vind för våg - vilka är framtidens energikällor?” Most comments (1): “Jästbok (inte “gästbok”!).”
Tagline: “Archivist-historian David Mattison’s musings and Web tracks on digital culture preservation issues.” Author: David Mattison. Established June 2003. First March title: “Welcome back Akismet WordPress plugin comment spam blaster.” Most comments (4): “The Ten Thousand Year Blogger takes a sabattical.”
Metrics: Many posts (78), comments (15), longer overall (12,369 words).
Tagline: “On my work (programming, digital libraries, cataloging) and other stuff that perks my interest (family, cycling, etc).” Author: Terry Reese. Established June 2005. First March title: “More metasearch.” Most comments (3): “Google Chat.” Categories: MarcEdit, Digital Libraries.
Metrics: More posts (45), long overall (10,573 words), long posts (235 words per post).
Tagline: “A blog on the future of the academic library.” Author: Brian Surratt. Established August 2004. First March title: “A MODS application profile for ETDs.” Most comments (1): “Reflections on the OCLC/RLG merger.”
Metrics: Essays (390 words per post).
German. Tagline: “Das Weblog von Markus Trapp” [The weblog of Markus Trapp]. Author: Markus Trapp. Established November 2004. Lots of illustrations. First March title: “CSS Tutorial in 10 Schritten” [A CSS tutorial in 10 steps]. Most comments (7): “European Summer Hit Contest 2006.” Categories: “artikel, literatur” [article, literature].
Metrics: 13th most posts (145), 14th most comments (119), conversational (0.82), very long overall (16,430 words).
Tagline: “Curiouser and curiouser: tales of a Chicago librarian.” Author: Alice Maggio. Established January 2003. First March title: “Fools are Everywhere.” Most comments (6): “A Booklover’s Pledge.”
Metrics: Comments (13), conversational (0.68).
Tagline: “Theoretical Librarian, in general, will include announcements of past, present, and future personal publications and presentations as well as postings on current and emerging technologies and their actual and potential application for enhanced information and library services.” Author: Gerry McKiernan. Established February 2003. First May title: “TICER 2006: Digital Libraries à la Carte: New Choices for the Future.” Comments not enabled.
Metrics: 18th longest essay (529 words), but only one post.
Tagline: “Personal perspectives on information science, the evolving Internet, delivery of public services online, Web 2.0, Library 2.0, communities, folksonomies and more. With an emphasis upon convergence between some or all of the above, and a UK slant.” Author: Paul Miller. Established September 2005. First March title: “A blog-free afternoon.” Most comments (2): “Easy embedding of RSS feeds in blogs.”
Author: Mark Lindner. Established October 2005. (“Off the Mark” continues this blog.) First March title: “Indexablog.” Most comments (15): “IM, why?”
Metrics: Many posts (83), 6th most comments (200), 23rd most conversational (2.41), 5th longest overall (58,510), 3rd longest essays (705).
Tagline: “Random thoughts about librarianship, my role in the profession intermixed with occasional personal vignettes.” Author: Michael Golrick. Established July 2005. First March title: “Immigration Laws and the polarization of politics.” Most comments (25): “ALA Blogger Round Table.”
Metrics: More posts (45), more comments (42), conversational (0.93), longer overall (14,130), longer posts (314 words per post).
Tagline: “Looking for the new and shiny in libraryland and beyond.” Author: Rochelle Hartman. Established October 2004. First March title: “‘Things do not change; we change.’” Most comments (22): “Hello Wisconsin!”
Metrics: More posts (46), 12th most comments (125), 15th most conversational (2.72), very long overall (15,452), longer posts (336 words per post).
Tagline: “Musings of a too-short girl in the high-stacks game of librarianship…” Pseudonymous. Established July 2003. First March title and most comments (13): “Music Playlist Meme/Game Thingding.”
Partial metrics: Many comments (52), very conversational (2.0 comments per post).
Tagline: “Unstructured musings on libraries, information technology and trends, and a lot of what amuses me at the moment.” Author: Tom Keays. Established February 2006. First March title: “Ajax in Usability Testing.” Comments not enabled.
Metrics: Long overall (8,723 words), longer posts (336 words per post).
Tagline: “ ‘…an evergreen tree of diabolical knowledge…’ R.B. Sheridan The Rivals, 1775.” Author: Tom Roper. Established October 2005. First March title: “CILIP National Councillor election results.” Most comments (4): “Beach huts: I speak out.”
Metrics: Many posts (70), comments (19), long overall (6,654), terse posts (95 words per post).
Tagline: “Accept no substitutes.” Author: Michael P. Sauers. Established July 2003. Lots of pictures. First March title: “Web 2.0 gets covered.” Most comments (7): “A rant about pronunciation.”
Metrics: 5th most posts (235), 21st most comments (97), 17th longest overall (31,498 words).
Tagline: “The thoughts and travels of the State Librarian of Kansas.” Author: Christie. Established June 2005. First March title: “Travels in March.” Most comments (4): “DOPA?”
Metrics: Conversational (0.6 comments per post).
Tagline: “News, views and updates on the UK Freedom of Information Act and worldwide FOI and open government.” Author: Steve Wood. First March title: “Media update.” Most comments (4): “FOI complaints data at the ICO.”
Metrics: 17th most posts (113), 16th longest overall (32,081 words), longer posts (284 words per post).
Tagline: “eli on things eli likes to talk about.” Author: Eli Neiburger. Established December 2005. First March title and most comments (2): “Things I’d like to do at Library Camp.” Categories: videogames, geekery.
Metrics: Comments (12), more conversational (1.5 comments per post), tied for 19th longest essays (519 words per post).
Tagline: “Topics and issues that will be posted here: user education, distance education support, e-learning support, librarianship, information access.” Author: Terese Hartman. Established November 2003. First March topic sentence (no titles): “I just learned about a digital media service that works through your library…” Comments not enabled.
Metrics: Terse (94 words per post).
French. Tagline: “Errances et flâneries au fil de mes représentations : un blog sur le monde de l’information et des bibliothèques” [Wanderings and musings as they pop in my mind: a blog about the world of information and libraries]. Author: Thomas. Established February 2005. Quite a few pictures and illustrations. First March title: “Une autre histoire de bibliothèques...” [Another library’s story…] Most comments (6): “Le jargon bibliothéconomique” [Library jargon].
Metrics: More comments (36), more conversational (1.44 comments per post), very long overall (16,430), 5th longest essays (657 words per post).
Tagline: “Because those are the hours I keep and that’s the job I have.” Pseudonymous. Established January 2005. First March title: “True Love.” Most comments (19): “Hot Commodity” (staplers).
Metrics: 13th most comments (124), 3rd most conversational (7.29 comments per post), longer posts (306 words per post).
Tagline: “Points of interest to the West Coast Law Librarian. Highlighted sources on KM, Web Development, and Law Library Management. ... And hey, if it’s got a Vancouver perspective, that’ll work too. :-).” Author: Steve Matthews. Established November 2004. Quite a few images. First March title: “RSS Subject Collections – FeedRinse can help!” No comments.
Tagline: “A bibliophile’s musings on books, libraries, the world, life, and anything else that comes to mind.” Author: Michelle Boule, “Jane” within the blog. Established November 2004. First March title: “Why I Come Here Every Day.” Most comments (15): “On A Honeymoon Leave of Absence.” Categories: librarianship, Conferences.
Metrics: 21st most posts (98), 11th most comments (128), more conversational (1.31), longer overall (14,122 words).
Author: Joy Moll. Established June 2004. First March title: “Monitoring student blogs.” Comments not enabled.
Tagline: “Ruminations on Libraries and Internet standards.” Author: Stuart Weibel. Established October 2005. Lots of pictures. First March title: “In Memoriam: Jim Kennedy, 1925-2006.” Most comments (4): “Ockham’s Bathroom Scale, Lego™ blocks, and Microformats.”
Metrics: Comments (17), conversational (0.71), long overall (7,820), essays (372 words per post).
Tagline: “Things Internet and Otherwise by Richard Wiggins.” Author: Richard Wiggins. Established March 2002. Quite a few pictures. First March title: “www.msu.coop.” Comments not enabled.
Tagline: “The purpose of this blog is to advance the use of wireless local area networks (WLANs) in libraries.” Author: Bill Drew. Established March 2005. Largely full copies of other posts and releases, including graphics. First March title: “Enterprise-Grade Wireless LAN Security.” Most comments (1): “New Book on Wireless Networking for Librarians.” Categories: jiwire, webjunction.
Metrics: More posts (45), longer overall (13,018), longer posts (289 words per post).
Dutch (with occasional English posts). Tagline: “Wow!ter. Blijf op de hoogte van de ontwikkelingen op het Web of over veranderingen in het informatielandschap van bibliotheek en mediatheek” [Wow!ter. Stay current with the developments on the Web or about changes within the information landscape of libraries]. Author: Wowter Edubiblioblogosphere” [Educational libraries/School libraries blogosphere].
Metrics: Tied for 24th most posts (94), 18th most comments (103), more conversational (1.10), 20th longest overall (24,662), long posts (262).
Tagline: “A young, new librarian’s ideas, musings, and news about the LIS field and her search for a place in it.” Author: Katie. Established August 2003. First March title: “Author visits.” Most comments (1): “The importance, and unimportance, of blogging.”
Metrics: Conversational (0.5), 11th longest posts (593 words), but only two posts in quarter.
French. Tagline: “Blog sur les systèmes d’information documentaires, les nouveautés informatiques et d’autres curiosités” [Blot about information systems, computing news and some other stuff]. Pseudonymous. Established March 2005. First March title: “Repositories” [Archives] Most comments (2): “Pause forcée!” [Mandatory break!]
Tagline: “News and Commentary from the World of a Professional Information Bounty Killer.” Author: Jason. Established May 2005. First March title: “Information Literacy Isn’t About Librarians.” Most comments (31): “Jason and the ZenFo Pro Walk Into a Bar…”
Metrics: More posts (62), 2nd most comments (597), most conversational (9.63 comments per post), 10th longest overall (39,331 words), 8th longest essays (634 words per post).
Most of them are doing just fine. commons-blog disappeared. infomusings became infomuse.net and shut down. scitech library question now always seems to be known as STLQ. dave’s blog is now David Lee King. Thirteen appear in this year’s look.
That’s two gone out of 60: A great record for blogs, but not surprising for blogs with broad reach.
I received 15 responses; 12 of them provided the unique visitor count for May, 14 provided the average visits per day during May. I thought there might be some vague correlation between Bloglines subscriptions and average visitors per day, or possibly some other correlation.
If I was desperately looking for Evidence and willing to run an extensive set of statistical tests, throwing out “anomalous cases” (that is, tampering with the results to make them look better), I might be able to suggest something—e.g., “about 2 to 4 visitors per day per Bloglines subscription.” But only if you toss out five cases with much higher ratios and four cases with much lower ratios—there’s a “good fit” for all of one-third of the instances. Every correlation I tried, including ones that take into account power laws, suffered a similar fate.
Fifteen is, to be sure, too small a sample. The fifteen blogs include three with very high Bloglines counts and three others that exceed this study’s limits; the other nine appear within this essay. Could I find correlations with a hundred examples? Perhaps, perhaps not.
Here’s what I can say: A blog with 108 Bloglines subscribers may average 3,900 visits per day; another with nine times as many subscriptions might have just over half as many visits per day. Most folks get lots more unique visitors during a month than their daily visit average—only one of the 12 reporting unique visitors had fewer than 2,000 such visitors in May 2006, and three had more than 10,000 each.
To sum up: You really can’t tell how many people read a blog or how many different people occasionally drop by based on any external evidence that I can think of. It’s a mystery.
My conclusions, such as they are, appear scattered throughout this long essay.
The major conclusion: As liblogs proliferate, they offer many more voices worth listening to. If you can’t find twenty or thirty blogs on this list that intrigue you enough to subscribe to, you either have a lot of feeds already or have narrow interests within the library field.
Given the broader scope of this year’s look, I can predict that some blogs will disappear or change (actually, one has already been declared closed and two or three changed names since this study began—I even helped suggest the name in one case: …the thoughts are broken… is now Off the Mark).
I’ve heard enough anecdotal evidence to suggest that blog readership has grown quite a bit. That may reflect ease of use via aggregators (with people subscribing who’ve never heard of “RSS”); it may also reflect the quality of library-related blogs.
I cited the title of the post with the most comments for each blog that has any comments. What conclusions can be drawn from those titles? Other than the obvious—new jobs, marriage, graduation from library school, homebuying and other major life events draw lots of comments—I’ll leave that exercise to others.
Cites & Insights: Crawford at Large, Volume 6, Number 10, Whole Issue 80, ISSN 1534-0937, a journal of libraries, policy, technology and media, is written and produced by Walt Crawford, a systems analyst at OCLC.
Cites & Insights is sponsored by YBP Library Services, http://www.ybp.com.
Opinions herein may not represent those of OCLC or YBP Library Services.
Comments should be sent to waltcrawford@gmail.com. Comments specifically intended for publication should go to citesandinsights@gmail.com. Cites & Insights: Crawford at Large is copyright © 2006 by Walt Crawford: Some rights reserved.
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