Blogging in Libraries

I have found the reading on blogs this week very exciting and stimulating on the one hand, but in another way I am finding it quite difficult to "make it real". Some of the library blogs I have visited were great, I particulary liked the Bergen county cooperative library system where the library users themselves left comments on the book they have read. I was also impressed by this blog because it is really alive and current, a whole community of interested participants using the blog to communicate their ideas. The SaTH library blog looked very professional and contained interesting information, but I was very disappointed to see no comments returning to the posts from a "live audience" out there.

I can see that library blogs are a good idea to keep customers up to date with the latest information we want to give them and also to encourage immediate library feedback from customers on our library services and the sort of information they really need to be getting from us. I am beginning to think that a blog for our outreach library service could provide us with a distinct voice and become a useful link with our remote library users. A blog would provide an area to disseminate more widely SDIs and targeted news alerts, as well as creating a forum for the exchange of research ideas and evidence based practice projects within the Trust.

BUT!!, yes there is a but here for me. I am really finding it difficult to convince myself that Trust staff in North Staffs are ready for blogging. I am unsure that the library service could create a blog space which would engage with the "live audience" out there and if this is not achieved I have to question whether it would be a good use of time. In order to work it would probably need to be a project for several library team members, perhaps the outreach librarians and the training team? I suppose the only way to find out if a blog would be used is to try, then we will see the response we get. I think the first step would be to get together and come up with some content that could really get people interested and a style that makes people want to visit.

Reading on blogs 22 may

Really liked the music blog idea. I can see how this could be a very good way for fans to share info about their favourite music.
Also helps me to see how blogs could work for sharing information in the NHS. I am wondering if a blog could be a good way to share research and ideas around evidence based practice in a journal club or critically appraised topic group.
I am interested that there is a free content management system available on Wordpress. I also like the idea of a site meter to keep track of use on a blog.

Bloglines | My Feeds (238)

Bloglines My Feeds (238)

Mental Health Centre Managers

Mental Health NSF Newsfeed from the NHS Improvement Network in the East Midlands. This update includes news items concerned with;

• The mental capacity act
• New ways of working in mental health
• The mental health bill 2006 - 2007
• Commissioning

I like it because it is bringing forward the sort of news and issues that mental health centre managers are facing right now and need the latest information on.

http://www.tin.nhs.uk/welcome/keeping-up-to-date/rss-newsfeed-menu/mental-health-nsf

e-CAB is a fortnightly bulletin containing selected news items on mental health issues. It is produced by the Centre for Evidence based Mental Healthcare in Oxford. the news bulletin contains items from sources including;

• the Mental Health Foundation
• MIND
• Royal College of Psychiatrists
• SANE
• National Electronic Library for Medicines
• Department of Health

I think this feed is good for mental health centre managers because it includes all sorts of information in one place and it is UK. It includes information on policy, research and also patient information.

http://www.psychiatry.ox.ac.uk/cebmh/dissemination_cab.htm

From Medical News Today this feed brings the latest research and reviews on bipolar disorder, and includes links to some full articles online, which I find to be a good thing for really busy managers who do not always have time to source information. It is an american feed which may not be of interest to all. However, bipolar disorder and the latest research is a topic that would interest staff in the mental health centres.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/sections/bipolar/

My new Blog

Hello

This is my first blog.