Weblogs and Libraries (review)

It is the springtime for bloggers. In just a few short years, Weblogs have become ubiquitous. There are political blogs that provide analysis from a wide variety of perspectives. Companies use professional blogs to share information and help workers to communicate more efficiently. At the other end of the spectrum, personal blogs serve as "public" diaries.

Yet despite the pervasive influence of blogs in the information world, the library literature has been oddly silent. Laurel A. Clyde, in her useful study Weblogs and Libraries, seeks to fill this void. Clyde, a professor in the School of Library and Information Science at the University of Iceland, has published extensively on Weblogs. In this work, she focuses on two aspects of Weblogs: their usefulness as information sources for librarians and as tools for external and internal communication for libraries. Using a concise and accessible style, Clyde discusses the history of Weblogs, strategies on how to find them, ways in which librarians can use them as tools for both their patrons and internal communication, and how librarians can set up their own Weblogs. Throughout the book, a generous number of annotated Weblog examples of all kinds are used, and screenshots illustrate the structure of the Weblogs. Also, she has listings of directories that allow for easy access to even more Weblogs. Finally, there is a comprehensive chapter that lists paper and Web resources for further study.

Librarians will find much valuable and practical information in this book. There is a detailed section on evaluating Weblogs that should be adopted by information literacy librarians. Among the criteria are questions about authority, scope, purpose, reliability, coverage, and currency. If followed closely, these criteria will create a basis for thinking critically about Weblogs. For librarians unfamiliar with Weblogs, Clyde provides an overview and analysis of the Weblog revolution that even technophobes will find interesting. She also provides a comprehensive outline of the strategic planning process that is necessary for libraries to create and maintain Weblogs. There is an empirical study that significantly examines the small number of library Weblogs in cyberspace.

Clyde also describes the architecture of Weblogs. She asks Webloggers to consider the layout of their prospective sites. Importantly, she makes distinctions between using free and for-pay host sites, using an internal server rather than an external one, and using templates as opposed to original designs. This technical information is clearly spelled out and can easily be converted into a checklist for librarians considering setting up their own Web sites. The usefulness of this kind of evaluation cannot be over-emphasized. Far too many people are intimidated by computer jargon and the dizzying array of choices available on the internet.

If Weblogs and Libraries were only about how librarians can set up and use Weblogs it would be an unqualified success. However, Clyde also aims to analyze Weblogs as information sources, and it is here that there are some shortcomings. Although Clyde makes no claim for an all-inclusive list, some of her examples are poorly chosen. For instance, under the heading of "news and current events" she lists the odious Drudge Report. Noted for its slanted ideological coverage and tabloid style inaccuracies, the Drudge Report is a perfect example of an untrustworthy source. Yet Clyde makes no mention of bias, noting only that the Drudge Report broke the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal and has been widely imitated. Also, Clyde has little to offer about the social implications of Weblogs, a rich topic that deserves deeper analysis. Finally, there is nothing about how Weblogs can be used in the classroom by librarians. Weblogs would seem to be a natural topic for information literacy instruction sessions.

Still, most of the book's weaknesses are sins of omission. As a practical guide and introduction to the Weblogging phenomenon, Weblogs and Libraries succeeds brilliantly. For a subject that is constantly evolving, this book, despite being published last year, is remarkably current. A spot check of 10 percent of the 227 examples provided reveals that only a few are out...