Deep Thinking

What differentiates blogging for library media specialists from writing for the generalist biblioblogs?

Our profession demands so many areas of expertise rather than focusing upon one specific area of librarianship, so I try to provide a glimpse of the activities occurring in a school library and the deep thought that occurs in our planning and implementing. For too many people their last experience in a school library was when they were young and not cognizant of the professionalism behind the scenes. They don’t have a realistic concept of the modern school library.

While a generalist blogger may focus on one philosophical issue, I intend to show that we must spend time thinking about the bigger picture while conquering practical concerns. I have to move between teaching and supporting all subjects for six grade levels and providing library service. School libraries have changed greatly and hopefully through blogging, the general public can see how exciting they are.

What are your professional objectives for blogging?
Professionally I want to share, inspire, and connect with my audience. I hope that sharing my thoughts will help connect the philosophical nature of our field with the practical needs of my students. I want someone to experience our dynamic environment through the eyes of a child.

How much time do you devote to blogging?

I blog 4 times a week at least. Three for School Library Journal and at least once for my personal blog. Some posts are written in quick fifteen minute spurts, but many of them result from a week or two of thinking about an idea, gathering information, writing, rewriting, and critiquing. I like the deep hours of the night to contemplate and wonder if anyone else is thinking about the same topics I am. I find that I view events happening around me with an eye to sharing them on my blog to the invisible audience.

How does having a professional blog impact your work with students?

My students know that I am a writer and an author of a blog. Several parents have seen my blog with their children and found it helpful to glimpse behind the scenes. Those students feel that blogging is a natural step in reflecting on a job. We seem to be experiencing spring author fever because a large number of students are bringing in their personal writing from home to share with me, to add to the collection, or to simply show me that they are authors, too. They understand that writers need readers and sometimes feedback.

What are the pitfalls for a school librarian to be writing a blog?

Blogging can be addictive and reading blogs can take all your time if you don’t set limits. There are so many topics to write about. It would be easy to complain about the problems we face daily. I want to convey a sense of optimism because these students deserve the best.

How does blogging affect your interaction with nonlibrarian colleagues?

My words carry more authority (rightly or wrongly) because I blog and my colleagues know I have a world-wide audience. Several teachers have asked how they can benefit from blogging and how to begin. Teachers willingly participate in providing ideas for my blog topics. My exposure has grown and doors have opened for other activities.

What has been the response of your faculty and/or administration to your blog?

To quote my principal Bob Wolfgang, “I think that it is great. The issue is and always will be the appropriate use of the tool.” He went on to say that he has complete faith in my judgment in those matters. In fact, he has posted on my blog. My district level administration has been supportive.

If your administration was wary of you blogging, how did you allay those fears?

No one has expressed fears about my blogging. Our local educator’s union included a warning in their newsletter about revealing too much in personal blogs that could be used against us. I chatted with our public information and communication office about the district implementing a blog for the community to participate and their concerns revolved around the amount of staff time needed to monitor a blog and to maintain safety and civility.

What is the greatest benefit to blogging about school libraries?

The Wow! affect. So many people outside the school library field tell me they have learned more than they ever dreamed about our profession. Blogging about how to humorously handle intellectual freedom concerns shows that we deal with the deep issues of our profession in a real, practical manner. We are both educators and librarians. Both fields need to hear us.

I can remember being interviewed for a position once and was asked how I intended to stay current in my profession. Blogging has passed participating in specific email lists because I am no longer limited to reading the posts of and writing to only school librarians, but I am part of the larger communities in education and librarianship.

How do you see the evolution of blogging (i.e., the growth of online video) as intersecting with the job of school media professionals?

Tools like technorati, google reader, and bloglines search for blogs using tags, but the human factor is still the essential piece of the puzzle. We work in a people industry. A personal recommendation of blog favorites is worth more to busy educators who want to expand their horizons in a practical fashion than long lists of general blogs. Interactivity will continue to grow as we learn how to rank our tagging (perhaps by people trust factors) and adjust our focus. I’m excited to watch more professionals participate and try new techniques as they find practical reasons overcoming perceived risks.

Beyond the training in how to blog, school library media specialists will be needed to teach the higher order thinking skills behind communicating and creating new ideas. It’s our job to make people feel comfortable with the present technologies and to inspire them to develop new Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT) skills in order to keep abreast with society. It’s an exciting time to be a library media specialist and our voices need to be heard whether in print (traditional or electronic) or video.