content | Sues Bent

In 2011, I began an investigation into Australian Librarian bloggers: how many could I locate online; who were they; what sector did they work in; the topics they posted about; and the overall look and feel of their blog. I was interested in individuals and did not want to investigate the blogs of library organisations. So I narrowed the field to the personal blogs of Australian Librarians. While I did include librarians from tertiary academia, I narrowed the field by not including the blogs by teacher librarians situated in primary or secondary school libraries. I also added 14 Librarian bloggers from overseas just to provide a measure of comparison.

After a quick and dirty Google search I located Libraries Interact where there is a list of Australian Librarian bloggers. Of these, in 2011, many were already inactive after running out of steam following the 23 Things training. There were other lists and indexes I stumbled across and I soon listed 66 active Australian librarian bloggers. Although my list did include many of the active bloggers from the Libraries Interact list, it also included others not on that list. I looked for the names of the bloggers and their twitter links. I tried to ascertain the library sector that they worked in. I read about their favourite topics and attempted to evaluate the content by gauging them against a content rubric that I created for the task.

Some bloggers like to write book reviews; some like to talk about their experiences answering customer’s questions; others like to pass on information about technology; some vent; some show their creative talents in the kitchen or with crafts; holidays are popular topics; most were personal; and many were superficial. My five-smile rating 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 was a rare gem indeed on my incomplete list.

I was searching for relevant, interesting, deep, and meaningful content. I wanted to hear opinion. And while there is much great content from our bloggers, one stood out – It’s Not About The Books by Hugh Rundle. Good on you Hugh! Hugh continues to boldly post thought-provoking and challenging articles that are written with excellence. He embeds relevant links thoughtfully. He sets the bar high and is a fine example for anyone wanting to lift their own efforts to a new level; myself included.

So I have once again reviewed the list on Libraries Interact. Of the 58 bloggers listed under personal blogs of Aussie Librarians only 27 are still active (46.5%). Of the 66 Aussie Librarians on my list that were active in 2011, 46 bloggers have posted content in the last year; and only 36 in the last 4 months. (69% still active). Of the 14 blogs from overseas all are still active.

Here is my list of Aussie Librarians who are active bloggers:

1	A Chivas Regal Moment	@CatyJ
2	Alyson in Library Land	@alysondalby
3	A work in progress	@fionareadersrr
4	Ballarat Library Chick	@gemmas1980
5	Better than cheesecake	@susannenewton
6	Biblio Turismo	@Biblioturismo
7	Blog Fest at Tiffany’s	@LibrarianCat
8	Book boy	@bookboy
9	Bronwyn’s Library Blog	@pivotalbooks
10	Connecting Librarian	@michelleamclean
11	Digital Collaboration	@SusanMyburgh
12	explodedlibrary.info	@explodedlibrary
13	Feral Library Tales	@kalgrl
14	From Melbin	@malbooth
15	Girl in Landscape	@wateryone
16	Hecuba’s Story	@polyxena
17	HeyJudeOnline	@heyjudeonline
18	Hmmm	@Kridwyn
19	Inn0vate	@petahopkins
20	It’s not about the books	@HughRundle
21	JayGee Library Log	@jaygee35
22	Jenelle Net	@jenelle
23	Langridgep	@langridgep
24	Librarian Hoi	@librarianhoi
25	Librarians Matter	@libsmatter
26	Library Dreamings	@VesnaC
27	Macaronic	@jobeaz
28	Opinions from an OPL	@newgradlib
29	Pixelated Mushroom	@pixelmushroom
30	Ramblibrarian	@boycetrus
31	Ramblings from yet another Librarian	@katejf
32	Read Watch Play Participate	@ellenforsyth
33	reeling and writhing	@mulberry_road
34	Ruminations	@flexnib
35	Shallowreader’s Blog	@VaVeros
36	Shelterit	@shelterit
37	snail	@snailx
38	Stained Glass Waterfall	@warrencheetham
39	Sues Bent	@suesbent
40	The Land of the Surprising Pun	@librarianidol
41	There she goes	@stephmcg
42	Thoughts and Reflections	@shewgirl

And the list of Library bloggers from overseas:

1	Annoyed Librarian	@LibraryJournal
2	Circulating Ideas	@circideas
3	David Lee King	@davidleeking
4	Free Range Librarian	@kgs
5	Librarian by Day	@bobbinewman
6	Librarian in Black	@TheLib
7	Librarian Net	@jessamyn
8	Phil Bradley	@Philbradley
9	Self-plagarism is style	@daveyp
10	Stephen’s Lighthouse	@sabram
11	Swiss Army Librarian	@SwissArmyLib
12	Tame the Web	@mstephens7
13	The Shifted Librarian	@shifted
14	Virtual Dave	@rdlankes

P.S. This list is not complete in an online world that is constantly changing, but if you are an Australian Librarian who writes a blog and your blog is not listed here and you would like it to be, then please leave a comment below.

So I spent an afternoon traipsing around the city shops of Melbourne in search of two particular books. I asked at the desks and eventually conceded that these two titles were not currently available in print. Neither were old or obscure titles. I want to support local businesses in preference to large multi-national companies that monopolise the market. Alas this was not possible.

The next day when seated at my desk with blisters on my feet I quickly and easily and cheaply downloaded the two ebook versions onto my iPad. I find that my eBook shelf is gradually filling up (if that is possible?!) Talking with colleagues at work, who share a love of books, reading, and techno-gadgets, we compare our eBook experiences. One person deletes the books she buys after she has read them assuming they remain on her invisible purchases sitting in ‘the cloud’. None of us seem to mind what format the book is in, and ultimately it is all about the content and getting our hands on it when we want it.