Comments on: Do Academic Librarians On The T-Track Blog http://acrlog.org/2006/02/23/do-academic-librarians-on-the-t-track-blog/ Blogging by and for academic and research librarians Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:32:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Norma http://acrlog.org/2006/02/23/do-academic-librarians-on-the-t-track-blog/comment-page-1/#comment-865 Norma Sat, 25 Feb 2006 21:48:42 +0000 http://acrlblog.org/2006/02/23/do-academic-librarians-on-the-t-track-blog/#comment-865 I have 7 blogs and am retired. I visit a lot of blogs written by writers, researchers, librarians and other academics. I think blogging is bad if you need to publish for the job--any job, or if you are trying to write a book. There is an energy and thought process that goes into writing, and if you are using that up by blogging, you don't have it to draw on for the "real thing." Then there is the appearance of time wasting, and in academe, appearances mean a lot. Blogging was not ubiquitous when I retired (2000), but I did have my own web page and the library web page to keep up, and even that sucked the creative juices out of me because I was always tweaking and trying to make it better. I would set my research aside and say I would just make a few changes on the webpage, and before I knew it, I'd lost 2 hours of research time. I have 7 blogs and am retired. I visit a lot of blogs written by writers, researchers, librarians and other academics. I think blogging is bad if you need to publish for the job–any job, or if you are trying to write a book. There is an energy and thought process that goes into writing, and if you are using that up by blogging, you don’t have it to draw on for the “real thing.” Then there is the appearance of time wasting, and in academe, appearances mean a lot. Blogging was not ubiquitous when I retired (2000), but I did have my own web page and the library web page to keep up, and even that sucked the creative juices out of me because I was always tweaking and trying to make it better. I would set my research aside and say I would just make a few changes on the webpage, and before I knew it, I’d lost 2 hours of research time.

]]> By: Fiona http://acrlog.org/2006/02/23/do-academic-librarians-on-the-t-track-blog/comment-page-1/#comment-852 Fiona Fri, 24 Feb 2006 00:01:48 +0000 http://acrlblog.org/2006/02/23/do-academic-librarians-on-the-t-track-blog/#comment-852 Take a look at the next figure in Michael's presentation though - I'd like to see type of library cross-tabulated with location, because librarians outside of the US generally don't have tenure systems. Some of that 41% would certainly be from outside the US. I wonder if the reason tenure-track librarians in the US don't blog is simply because their colleagues in the faculties don't either. I would like to see more of these librarians blog about other writing that they are doing and research they are working on. Librarianship doesn't have the strong preprint and discussion networks that some other disciplines do (In terms of research - communities of practice are extremely strong) eg economics and political science, and I do think blogs could be a way of developing those networks. Librarianship benefits from not being weighed down by confidentiality agreements and patents and other IP issues that have affected pre-publication discussion in other disciplines. So writing librarians are more free to discuss their work in progress. I'm also interested in bloggers who make the progression the other way around - they start to publish in journals as a result of the writing experience/exposure gained through blogging. Take a look at the next figure in Michael’s presentation though – I’d like to see type of library cross-tabulated with location, because librarians outside of the US generally don’t have tenure systems. Some of that 41% would certainly be from outside the US.

I wonder if the reason tenure-track librarians in the US don’t blog is simply because their colleagues in the faculties don’t either. I would like to see more of these librarians blog about other writing that they are doing and research they are working on. Librarianship doesn’t have the strong preprint and discussion networks that some other disciplines do (In terms of research – communities of practice are extremely strong) eg economics and political science, and I do think blogs could be a way of developing those networks. Librarianship benefits from not being weighed down by confidentiality agreements and patents and other IP issues that have affected pre-publication discussion in other disciplines. So writing librarians are more free to discuss their work in progress.

I’m also interested in bloggers who make the progression the other way around – they start to publish in journals as a result of the writing experience/exposure gained through blogging.

]]> By: Jason Griffey http://acrlog.org/2006/02/23/do-academic-librarians-on-the-t-track-blog/comment-page-1/#comment-851 Jason Griffey Thu, 23 Feb 2006 21:32:30 +0000 http://acrlblog.org/2006/02/23/do-academic-librarians-on-the-t-track-blog/#comment-851 I've written about this very topic a few times on my blog, <a href="http://www.jasongriffey.net/wp" rel="nofollow">Pattern Recognition</a>. Here's a <a href="http://www.jasongriffey.net/wp/2005/11/30/scholarly-publication-take-7847/" rel="nofollow">link to one</a>, where I say: "There’s a lot of baggage tied up in academia’s love affair with the vetting of information sources…issues of authority, issues of access, issues of relevance…but with the current moving us towards individual or university self-archiving and the web taking publishing out of the hands of the few and into the hands of the many, we’re overdue for a shift in the academic publishing paradigm." And that's pretty much how I feel about that. :-) I’ve written about this very topic a few times on my blog, Pattern Recognition. Here’s a link to one, where I say:

“There’s a lot of baggage tied up in academia’s love affair with the vetting of information sources…issues of authority, issues of access, issues of relevance…but with the current moving us towards individual or university self-archiving and the web taking publishing out of the hands of the few and into the hands of the many, we’re overdue for a shift in the academic publishing paradigm.”

And that’s pretty much how I feel about that. :-)

]]> By: Stephen Francoeur http://acrlog.org/2006/02/23/do-academic-librarians-on-the-t-track-blog/comment-page-1/#comment-845 Stephen Francoeur Thu, 23 Feb 2006 14:56:17 +0000 http://acrlblog.org/2006/02/23/do-academic-librarians-on-the-t-track-blog/#comment-845 As an academic librarian who maintains a personal blog, <a href="http://www.teachinglibrarian.org/weblog/blogger.html" rel="nofollow">Digital Reference</a>, I would have to agree with the suggestion that blogging is a good place to keep your writing skills sharp and to test out ideas. If all goes well, I should be starting the tenure track next fall. While I've got quite a few ideas for articles I'd like to publish, I expect to first mention some of those ideas on my blog in the hope that those blog posts will either get useful comments or be bandied about the blogosphere; either way, it's safe to assume that my fellow librarians who maintain read and/or blogs will help me be better prepared to write for scholarly publication. So far, none of my senior colleagues have advised me against maintaining a blog; although I haven't asked my colleagues directly if they think I should continue to write for my blog while I am also trying to get published, I think I can reasonably assume that my blogging efforts would continue to be supported. As an academic librarian who maintains a personal blog, Digital Reference, I would have to agree with the suggestion that blogging is a good place to keep your writing skills sharp and to test out ideas. If all goes well, I should be starting the tenure track next fall. While I’ve got quite a few ideas for articles I’d like to publish, I expect to first mention some of those ideas on my blog in the hope that those blog posts will either get useful comments or be bandied about the blogosphere; either way, it’s safe to assume that my fellow librarians who maintain read and/or blogs will help me be better prepared to write for scholarly publication. So far, none of my senior colleagues have advised me against maintaining a blog; although I haven’t asked my colleagues directly if they think I should continue to write for my blog while I am also trying to get published, I think I can reasonably assume that my blogging efforts would continue to be supported.

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