Comments on: Safe blogging

By: Lethal Librarian » Blog Archive »

Lethal Librarian » Blog Archive » — Sun, 17 Jul 2005 21:38:18 +0000

[...] That being said, I did find Tribble’s piece more upsetting than Cronin and Gorman’s writings on blogging because I knew that people had been punished (in my opinion, sometimes unfairly) for Tribble’s views on blogging. With the exception of the candidate who misrepresented his research, I don’t think that the other two candidates’ blogs should have excluded them from further consideration. Tribble’s reasoning for dismissing the “Turbo Geek” candidate just didn’t make any sense. I don’t feel right about the “Professor Shrill” candidate, either – Tribble wrote that the candidate “scrupulously avoided comment about the writer’s current job, coworkers, or place of employment.” Sounds good to me; this goes along with what Meredith wrote not long ago about safe blogging. Tribble goes on to say “it’s best for job seekers to leave their personal lives mostly out of the interview process.” Tribble notes, however, that in some cases candidates’ blogs were found with a Google search. Did the job seeker really bring their personal life into the interview process, in that case? In my opinion, no. In any case, I think these job seekers are better off not working at this particular institution – I just hope it’s not Grinnell (which is, in fact, a small liberal arts college in the Midwest). [...]

By: Rick Roche

Rick Roche — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 21:51:29 +0000

Our library fully supports that Aaron Schmidt and I blog. The feeling is totally positive that our blogs reflect well on the willing-to-try-new-things attitude at our library.

What I have not heard in this discussion is our clients rights to privacy. We do make sure we do not discuss questions asked at our reference desk in a way that identifies the client or is in any way disrespectful of their rights and feelings (should they ever come across our blogs).

By: Ivan Chew

Ivan Chew — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 15:57:22 +0000

In general, my bosses are supportive of me blogging. I show them what I blog about (mainly library-related matters) and they are bought in when I show them comments from public. What blows them away are people who write in to me asking how they can be librarians too : )

Basically I demonstrate that (1) my blogging does not interfere with my regular work, (2) that it adds rather than detracts from my work, (3) I show specific examples of how blogging is able to engage our potential users, (4) that one can blog and still adhere to company policy, (5) that blogging librarians get googled.

While I can’t say I can 100% senior management support, there’s enough supporters that who count.

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 17:24:26 +0000

Fascinating post Meredith…and great comments too. I am careful to respect MPOW but I also do not shy away from posts about bigger picture items that may indirectly include policies, procedures and the like at my library. Is that passive aggressive?

By: Christopher

Christopher — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 23:32:47 +0000

The IT department at the educational agency for which I work does not support blogs at all - not reading and especially not writing. So, when I started blogging more seriously a few months ago, I shared the IBM Blogging Policy and Guidelines with my supervisor and gave her a heads up in case the issue ever came up. My blog is hosted on an outside server and I do not directly discuss my employer (though anyone with half a brain could figure it out with some quick searching). This means, of course, that even if the blog receives positive notice, such as a mention on the SLJ Virtual Summit Blog (nice write up, Meredith!) the organization gets no PR from it.

By: Samantha

Samantha — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 22:24:27 +0000

Wow, I’m excited to be name-checked! And I’m excited that someone reads my blog! I’m still mulling it over. I doubt I’d be fired for anything I’d post but I’ve been warned by blogging coworkers that supervisors “could make [my] life miserable” if they disagree with how I represent my institution. Which of course makes me worry about saying anything at all in an identifiable way. I’m still mulling over my options but I am leaning toward sharing more of my personal work experiences (and leaving my personal life experiences in my LiveJournal, so it can be friends-locked!). There is just a great community of blogger librarians out there and I want to contribute.

By: Rikhei

Rikhei — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 03:02:30 +0000

As usual, I agree with what you’ve said. I think your ideas of (1) not sharing things you wouldn’t say to your colleagues’ faces [it seems kind of passive-aggressive to blog something you wouldn't say to a colleague's face, actually] and (2) not posting negative things without a useful purpose are both good rules of thumb.

I’m lucky: I think MPOW is pretty accepting of blogging. I know two other librarians who keep blogs, we have a reference team blog (though it’s rarely updated and probably rarely checked), and I am very “out” about my blog. I also did a presentation about blogging (and RSS) for my co-workers at a reference team meeting a few months back. While I don’t think most of my coworkers are “drinking the blogging Koolaid”, if you will, they’re definitely pretty open to the idea, which is happy-making.

I don’t generally feel censored when writing on Lethal Librarian, mainly because I rarely talk about what I do at my job. I’m still sort of defining what LL’s focus is and what I hope to get out of it, but I feel like my work and my blog reading/writing complement one another – I think they satisfy different professional needs for me.

I can’t say I don’t feel frustration with my MPOW occasionally, but I have what I consider to be a great solution to that: my LiveJournal. All my entries are “friends locked” and thus limited to a relatively small audience (which does not boast any coworkers and only a few librarians as its members). It’s odd to think of them both as blogs; like Lisle, I blog (on LL) for professional development whereas my LiveJournal is much more like a journal: full of mundane details of my day-to-day life with a healthy dose of whinging.

By: Lisle

Lisle — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 01:19:10 +0000

These are BIG questions. I can speak a little from a public library perspective. I began my blog mainly for my own professional development. I mostly thought about it as a reflection of me, rather than a reflection of my employer. Silly me. It is very difficult to keep things in tight containers–they tend to slop over a bit. Some of my colleagues discovered my blog. Most of them didn’t know what a blog was, so they only visited once. But others subscribed–one even set up a LiveJournal feed. What a shock that was to discover.

There has been a lot of upheaval at MPOW this year. I have been unable to divorce my feelings about various policies and procedures from my feelings about the larger bibliosphere. I am sure that administrators have visited my blog. It’s one tiny reason I am so happy to put up my little reviews of romance novels and various photos. See, I’m harmless! (Muffled muwhahaha.)

Perhaps I am guilty of belittling the public library community. “Incapable of reading short, slightly daft texts?” I am sure our Public Relations manager would take issue with my blog, if she hadn’t been laid off. Because it’s not all good everywhere, unfortunately. Keeping your voice true to yourself is very difficult. Some restraints are easier than others. First, do no harm…but I have complained about federated search and our catalog interface. I wonder how much my blog represents my own feelings of disenfranchisement at MPOW. Peering through different lenses; practicing our balancing acts. Sorry to write such a long “comment”, but I am pondering these things as well.

By: Blisspix.net

Blisspix.net — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 01:16:55 +0000

[...] Meredith has a great post about the how and why of blogging about work at Information Wants to be Free. I like her criteria for what is acceptable to blog – borrowing the concept of the “teachable moment” from training, she says that one should only post what is not detrimental to others and what serves to provide insight to others. [...]

By: Rochelle

Rochelle — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 01:03:33 +0000

Interesting thoughts, Meredith. Everyone knew about my blog when I interviewed, and I’ve made no secret of it while working. I don’t think there’s anyone who doesn’t know about it. (It’s not a huge library.) Everyone is extremely supportive about it, actually, I’m very lucky. But I had a chat with the chief librarian over dinner the day before I started work and told her straight up that I was concerned about how to continue blogging while working, how to stay honest while not upsettiing any balances at work. I felt it was important to be completely upfront about it, so that if, horror of horrors, I post something I shouldn’t, the conversation has already begun.

I can’t wait to hear how you’re dealing with these issues.