Inspired by David Lee King’s series of posts on “Inviting Participation,” I wrote a post for MPOW’s public blog in which I raised issues about our library and libraries in general, openly inviting people to respond. Being the hotspur that I am, I went ahead and published the post…and then thought, “Maybe I should’n'a done that.” I went to my supervisor and asked her to read it and give me feedback. “So far,” she said, “the blog has only had posts about library news and programs. This is really going in a new direction.” Her advice was to pull the piece and run it by the library director for approval. I moved the post back into draft form, then decided to run it by the entire Web Committee (which includes our director).
This turned out to be a Very Good Thing. A vigorous discussion started through emails and ended with a spirited (but at all times polite and respectful) Web Committee meeting. Some of the committee members and I argued that the point of having a blog is to invite discussion and participation. One of my coworkers said, “Look at the discussion we’ve been having here today. We should be having these discussions with our customers.” It was a great discussion, and it ended with the decision that I rewrite the post somewhat (and everyone on the committee gave me good feedback), then submit it for final approval. It’s now up on our blog. It will be interesting to see if anyone submits a comment. Heck, I’ll be happy just to know that patrons are reading what I wrote.
5 Comments
What a great post from your library’s blog. These discussions definitely need to be happening with our customers. How else will we get answers? I will also be interested to see if you get any comments. Thanks for sharing!
What Jennifer said. Seems like a library blog is a natural place to invite participation from (some, more technologically oriented) patrons. And that post strikes me as a good starting point.
Thanks, guys! And the post got its first comment, from Olathe resident (and Johnson County librarian) Scott Vieira.
Two in two days! I’ve permachecked the post, and I’ll check back in a week. David Lee King would be proud.
Yeah, I’m really, really happy right now.
And speaking of David King, I want to mention Papercuts, the blog for David’s POW, Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library. Papercuts has a great voice. The staff who write for the blog write with loads of enthusiasm and personality, written in the 1st person, and it sounds absolutely nothing like bland corporatespeak. I think it’s a great example of a public library blog.