[MCN-L] Museum librarian blogs
Our research library has just started their own blog which covers the research enquiries they are working on. http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/library/ Seb Sebastian Chan A/g Head of Digital Services Research Powerhouse Museum street - 500 Harris St Ultimo, NSW Australia postal - PO Box K346, Haymarket, NSW 1238 tel - 61 2 9217 0109 fax - 61 2 9217 0689 mob - 0413 457 126 e - sebc at phm.gov.au w - www.powerhousemuseum.com b - www.powerhousemuseum.com/dmsblog -Original Message- From: mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu on behalf of Ari Davidow Sent: Fri 13/02/2009 7:33 AM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Museum librarian blogs I take your point, but in our case, at least, it isn't that management is against such discussion, but rather that the blog is seen as an outreach tool, and staff haven't been interested in adding the meta dimension. I am curious as to whether the library bloggers you notice are their main institutional bloggers, or if they are blogging on their own time about their craft. I seem to have a long list of bloggers I follow from general cultural heritage institutions--in most cases, though, they blog outside the institution--Seb Chan at Australia's Powerhouse being one notable exception as I try to think on my feet and fail, yet again. ari On Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 3:04 PM, Eric Johnson ejohnson at monticello.org wrote: Hi, Ari-- That last point is very much at the heart of my inquiry. I find it intriguing that museum librarians and archivists (and related information professionals) who are engaged in the day-to-day work of helping connect people to information spend so little time talking among themselves about the meta-level questions of what they're doing. There are certainly plenty of librarian blogs out there that address librarianship as such, but not many that I've found doing so with a focus on the museum world. I've seen quite a bit of discussion of museum/information connections, but it seems to be lead primarily by academics and programmers, with curators throwing in their occasional two cents. I'd like to see more sharing of information from other museum information practitioners (spoken of broadly, as the lines are often quite blurred). I suspect you're right about the institutional reluctance to support that kind of blogging, as it may result in negative reflection on the way things are being done at a given institution. But I don't think that negativity necessarily has to be the case at all, nor does the conversation really have to revolve around a single site. In any case, more food for thought. Thanks! --E. Eric D. M. Johnson Web Services Librarian Jefferson Library, Monticello P.O. Box 316 Charlottesville, VA 22902 Phone: (434) 984-7540 | Fax: (434) 984-7546 http://www.monticello.org/library/ ejohnson at monticello.org -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Ari Davidow Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2009 2:35 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Museum librarian blogs Interesting take on the subject. The Jewish Women's Archive blogs at http://jwablog.jwa.org but mostly we blog about current events and how they relate to our collections, or just about current events. Very little meta discussion about the archive, itself. There has been resistance here to using the blog that way. In fact, I blog at Musematic when I have something to say about the tools we use or the philosophical issues we face. ari ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/ ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/ =Important Notice= This email and attachments are for the use of the intended recipient(s) only and may contain confidential or legally privileged information or material that is copyright of Powerhouse Museum or a third party. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately and then delete it. If you are not the intended recipient, you must not use, disclose or distribute this e-mail without the author's prior permission. Any views expressed in this message and attachments
[MCN-L] Museum librarian blogs
I take your point, but in our case, at least, it isn't that management is against such discussion, but rather that the blog is seen as an outreach tool, and staff haven't been interested in adding the meta dimension. I am curious as to whether the library bloggers you notice are their main institutional bloggers, or if they are blogging on their own time about their craft. I seem to have a long list of bloggers I follow from general cultural heritage institutions--in most cases, though, they blog outside the institution--Seb Chan at Australia's Powerhouse being one notable exception as I try to think on my feet and fail, yet again. ari On Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 3:04 PM, Eric Johnson ejohnson at monticello.org wrote: Hi, Ari-- That last point is very much at the heart of my inquiry. I find it intriguing that museum librarians and archivists (and related information professionals) who are engaged in the day-to-day work of helping connect people to information spend so little time talking among themselves about the meta-level questions of what they're doing. There are certainly plenty of librarian blogs out there that address librarianship as such, but not many that I've found doing so with a focus on the museum world. I've seen quite a bit of discussion of museum/information connections, but it seems to be lead primarily by academics and programmers, with curators throwing in their occasional two cents. I'd like to see more sharing of information from other museum information practitioners (spoken of broadly, as the lines are often quite blurred). I suspect you're right about the institutional reluctance to support that kind of blogging, as it may result in negative reflection on the way things are being done at a given institution. But I don't think that negativity necessarily has to be the case at all, nor does the conversation really have to revolve around a single site. In any case, more food for thought. Thanks! --E. Eric D. M. Johnson Web Services Librarian Jefferson Library, Monticello P.O. Box 316 Charlottesville, VA 22902 Phone: (434) 984-7540 | Fax: (434) 984-7546 http://www.monticello.org/library/ ejohnson at monticello.org -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Ari Davidow Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2009 2:35 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Museum librarian blogs Interesting take on the subject. The Jewish Women's Archive blogs at http://jwablog.jwa.org but mostly we blog about current events and how they relate to our collections, or just about current events. Very little meta discussion about the archive, itself. There has been resistance here to using the blog that way. In fact, I blog at Musematic when I have something to say about the tools we use or the philosophical issues we face. ari ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/
[MCN-L] Museum librarian blogs
Hi, Ari-- I rather tangled two points, for which I apologize. You're quite right about the typical use of institutional blogs as outreach tools--that's been how we use ours as well, and how most seem to be getting used. Announcing interesting exhibits, new books, speakers, fun facts, etc. We briefly contemplated also including the meta dimension in our own library blog, but we decided fairly early on that that would get a little confusing for readers. So we've stuck primarily with the outreach aspects. Any meta-level bloggers I'm finding do indeed seem to be doing so on their own time. What I've found though is that very few of even those people seem to be heritage institution *librarians*. That's the thing that has struck me in all this. My thought, indistinctly made in my previous post, is that--whether they would blog from outside or within of the walls of an institution--perhaps that reluctance to blog is in part due to a reluctance to be seen as critical of the institution in question? I think that's a shame, because it needn't be done from a critical perspective. And as you point out there are quite a number of cultural heritage staffers who blog (primarily on their own time), and quite successfully and compellingly. But not so much from the library perspective. I'll see what I can do to pull together who seems to be responsible for what kind of blogging and report back. --E. ? Eric D. M. Johnson Web Services Librarian Jefferson Library, Monticello P.O. Box 316 Charlottesville, VA 22902 Phone: (434) 984-7540 | Fax: (434) 984-7546 http://www.monticello.org/library/ ejohnson at monticello.org ? -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Ari Davidow Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2009 3:33 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Museum librarian blogs I take your point, but in our case, at least, it isn't that management is against such discussion, but rather that the blog is seen as an outreach tool, and staff haven't been interested in adding the meta dimension. I am curious as to whether the library bloggers you notice are their main institutional bloggers, or if they are blogging on their own time about their craft. I seem to have a long list of bloggers I follow from general cultural heritage institutions--in most cases, though, they blog outside the institution--Seb Chan at Australia's Powerhouse being one notable exception as I try to think on my feet and fail, yet again. ari On Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 3:04 PM, Eric Johnson ejohnson at monticello.org wrote: Hi, Ari-- That last point is very much at the heart of my inquiry. I find it intriguing that museum librarians and archivists (and related information professionals) who are engaged in the day-to-day work of helping connect people to information spend so little time talking among themselves about the meta-level questions of what they're doing. There are certainly plenty of librarian blogs out there that address librarianship as such, but not many that I've found doing so with a focus on the museum world. I've seen quite a bit of discussion of museum/information connections, but it seems to be lead primarily by academics and programmers, with curators throwing in their occasional two cents. I'd like to see more sharing of information from other museum information practitioners (spoken of broadly, as the lines are often quite blurred). I suspect you're right about the institutional reluctance to support that kind of blogging, as it may result in negative reflection on the way things are being done at a given institution. But I don't think that negativity necessarily has to be the case at all, nor does the conversation really have to revolve around a single site. In any case, more food for thought. Thanks! --E. Eric D. M. Johnson Web Services Librarian Jefferson Library, Monticello P.O. Box 316 Charlottesville, VA 22902 Phone: (434) 984-7540 | Fax: (434) 984-7546 http://www.monticello.org/library/ ejohnson at monticello.org -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Ari Davidow Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2009 2:35 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Museum librarian blogs Interesting take on the subject. The Jewish Women's Archive blogs at http://jwablog.jwa.org but mostly we blog about current events and how they relate to our collections, or just about current events. Very little meta discussion about the archive, itself. There has been resistance here to using the blog that way. In fact, I blog at Musematic when I have something to say about the tools we use or the philosophical issues we face. ari ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post
[MCN-L] Museum librarian blogs
The Art Libraries Society listerv has an archive to find ongoing discussions about art (and museum) librarianship. I understand there is some discussion on using Facebook as a different vehicle for communication. http://lsv.uky.edu/archives/arlis-l.html Katherine Moloney Teaching Resources Coordinator Amon Carter Museum www.cartermuseum.org -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Eric Johnson Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2009 9:04 AM To: mcn-l at mcn.edu Subject: [MCN-L] Museum librarian blogs Hi, all- Please excuse any cross-posting. I'm interested in compiling a list of blogs written by museum librarians (and those by librarians at other heritage institutions) and sadly, I haven't been able to find many. Are you or one of your colleagues a museum librarian who writes a blog? Or if you are your institution's librarian or fill that role (or just dig museum libraries), what blogs do you read to stay current on museum librarianship? I'm primarily interested in blogs discussing museum librarianship as such, though I'd also be interested in blogs that are done by/for museum libraries themselves (e.g. the Smithsonian Libraries blog http://smithsonianlibraries.si.edu/smithsonianlibraries/ ) especially if they are more than simple announcement lists. Any guidance/suggestions/rants you can provide is most appreciated! Thanks, --Eric Eric D. M. Johnson Web Services Librarian Jefferson Library, Monticello P.O. Box 316 Charlottesville, VA 22902 Phone: (434) 984-7540 | Fax: (434) 984-7546 http://www.monticello.org/library/ http://www.monticello.org/library/ ejohnson at monticello.org ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/
