I don't normally blog.
Don't get me wrong, I love the concept of sharing ideas and thoughts with people on the Internet, and while I post short stories online, the task of sharing my own personal opinion evades me. However, this entry isn't supposed to be about my opinion, it's supposed to be about blogging facts, so to speak.
Blogging. It's an excellent way of throwing news into the world, sometimes by news corporations, but most of the time, a blogger is just a normal person, one who wants to be heard, who wouldn't normally be able to make their views known normally.
Libraries fall well within this category. Librarians and library staff struggle when it comes to promoting their services- to the point of frustration. It's not their fault- many people in this society just don't care what the libraries do, which makes advertising considerably more difficult. However, with the introduction of the blog, promotion has become astronomically easier. Librarians can now voice their opinions about current events where patrons will see it, on a free website, where they can link to and from other websites.
Public libraries definitely have the potential to benefit from this aspect of Web 2.0, more so than most other libraries. While many school libraries have students coming in regularly, public libraries rely on the general populace, parents that bring in their children, students looking for a quiet place to study, or anyone that's looking for a good book, or Internet service.
Libraries have been waiting for a free mode of information transportation to become available, and that mode is finally here. Nobody will benefit more from a blog than a library.
