I received 116 responses to the open ended question “why do you blog?” Instead of presenting every answer to you, I went through and categorized them by the different goals one would have for blogging. Many of the answers fit into more than one category. Here are the reasons why we blog:

To share ideas with other/to communicate with colleagues, friends, family: 47 (40.5%)

To record ideas for self/to keep current: 28 (24.1%)

To network/to build community: 22 (19%)

To market library to patrons or clients/to reach out to patrons or clients: 15 (12.9%)

To write/to build up one’s writing skills: 14 (12%)

To process ideas/to clarify one’s thinking on certain issues: 14 (12%)

To contribute to the profession/out of a sense of duty to the profession: 11 (9.5%)

No one else was writing about a specific topic/to represent the underrepresented: 8 (6.9%)

To vent/to get ideas and opinions out: 7 (6%)

For fun: 7 (6%)

To market self/self-promotion: 5 (4.3%)

Perhaps when I have some free time (as unlikely as that is), I’ll share some of the more interesting and eloquent responses.