BEYOND BOOKS : BLOGS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA Kristi Bergland, Mary Huismann, Stacie Traill

1. BEYOND BOOKS : BLOGS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA Kristi Bergland, Mary Huismann, Stacie Traill University of Minnesota LOGO LOGO RESULTS ABSTRACT PROCESS UThink : Blogs at the University Libraries The University of Minnesota was among the first university libraries to offer blogging to its community with the launch of its UThink blog system in April 2004. Nearly 500 unique blogs have been created and used by departments, faculty and students. The University Libraries Technical Services department currently has three blogs. TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS Blogs can be created by any faculty, staff or student with an active U of M internet account. Creating and editing blogs require the X.500 login and password. The system is powered by Movable Type, a popular blogging package. SETTING UP THE BLOGS Blogs are easily created through the system’s template. There are three basic steps to setting up a blog: Create the blog The blog needs a name, a brief description (“tagline”), and a directory. Content and appearance can be customized easily by editing CSS and HTML templates. Post entries To add entries, just click the “New Entry” link and the “Create New Entry” page will load. Entries may be given a subject or title. The entry can be assigned a category from a pull-down menu. The system allows a “preview” option before saving the entry. Add authors Additional contributors can be added to a blog. There are various levels of access or permissions that each author can have. BLOG FEATURES A navigation pane includes a clickable calendar, search box, archives, and lists of recent entries, categories, and links. A “comments” option allows readers to post comments and reactions to the blog entry. • The goals of the University Libraries blog initiative are to “to promote intellectual freedom, to help build communities of interest on campus, to investigate the connections between blogging and the traditional academic enterprise, and to retain the cultural memory of the institution.” Blogs serve as one way to connect the University community and allow opinions to be heard. • We have a more specific goal for our departmental blogs: to improve communication between Technical Services with branch libraries and staff residing outside Wilson Library, and to disseminate information more quickly and consistently. • The initial feedback from our departmental blogs has been good. Here’s a sampling of comments posted: • “Every time I check this blog, I find something worthwhile. Thanks. “ • “...shows that academic units such as the library can also see the value of popular music.” Special formats and music materials are two areas that provide unique challenges—not the least being communication among staff located in branch or other campus libraries. When the University of Minnesota Libraries launched its blog initiative titled “UThink” offering free blogs to the university community, the Libraries Technical Services Department was eager to take advantage. In addition to a general blog titled “Tech Services Extra,” staff started two specialized blogs as well. These blogs, titled “Beyond Books” (special formats), and “Music Notes” (music materials), were formed with the intent of easing communication difficulties among staff distributed throughout a large campus library system. In our presentation we will describe the process, desired outcomes, and feedback from our blog initiatives. Contact Information BACKGROUND Beyond Books : http://blog.lib.umn.edu/trail001/beyondbooks Music Notes : http://blog.lib.umn.edu/huism002/musicat Kristi Bergland bergl007@umn.edu Mary Huismann huism002@umn.edu Stacie Traill trail001@umn.edu University of Minnesota 160 Wilson Library 309 - 19th Ave. S. Minneapolis, MN 55455 What’s a blog? Short for “weblog,” a blog is a webpage consisting of brief, frequently updated postings. Blogs are usually arranged in reverse chronological order, with the newest postings appearing first. Depending on the purpose, blogs may contain anything from fiction to scholarly discourse. CHART or PICTURE - music notes CHART or PICTURE - beyond books