Comments on: Top Three Library-Related Blogs Survey

By: Steve Lawson

Steve Lawson — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 04:11:08 +0000

w/r/t stevenb’s latest, I think lists like the one that will result from this poll are actually most helpful for those people who are just getting interested in librarian blogs.

Those are the folks most likely to ask “how do I find good blogs,” and it seems like an OK answer will be “choose a few that sound interesting from this list. Read them, and read the bloggers they link to. Drop the ones that aren’t so good.”

By: Rory Litwin

Rory Litwin — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 14:27:50 +0000

In relation to blogs and popularity:

Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong. -Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900)

By: Meredith Farkas

Meredith Farkas — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 23:28:07 +0000

Oh definitely! Ask me next week and I might well have a different list of three.

By: Peter Bromberg

Peter Bromberg — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 21:30:00 +0000

Three? Three? Hooboy, that’s tough, and for me it changes month to month with the ebb and flow of topics being written about and volume of posts. Still, it will be fun to see the results

By: K.G. Schneider

K.G. Schneider — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 14:52:50 +0000

Like I said… let a thousand flowers bloom… and have fun with it! Just ’splaining why it doesn’t work for me.

By: stevenb

stevenb — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 02:15:32 +0000

In response to Walt – Blake doesn’t exactly pick his top blogs all by himself. He does contact other bloggers (I’ve been contacted the last few times), perhaps selectively, to ask for opinions and contributions for his lists – and then he develops the list. So there is some input, but it’s a less a popularity contest than the Farkas Rankings (oops – shouldn’t call it that – but she is originating and compiling the rankings – USNWR doesn’t create the rankings either – they are based on data from questionnaires sent to IHE administrators – but it’s still called the USNWR rankings).

I agree that most bloggers are unlikely to change their blogs to get higher rankings, but some may pander to getting ranked. But what about the other impact of rankings – on those who are new to the profession or just starting to explore the liblogoverse. One impact of rankings is that they may unduly influence the decision making of those who are trying to decide among all their options. It’s easier to pick the popular ones rather than the ones of greatest value. You can see this happening in higher education with respect to college choice owing to rankings. That’s just one more problem I have with rankings.

But just like the Oscars, MTV Video Awards, and all the others – people just love to have things ranked. Personally, I’m waiting for Crawford’s 50 Most Beautiful Librarians – just so I can boycott that too.

By: vonjobi

vonjobi — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 23:53:24 +0000

keep it up! maybe the results will eventually reach this bookseller who's wondering "if there aren't only about 30 librarian bloggers out there."

By: Meredith Farkas

Meredith Farkas — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 16:58:07 +0000

Karen, I think we too often look at what the bloggers read and enjoy; I’m curious to see what the folks who don’t normally publish lists (or who don’t have blogs at all) find most enjoyable/stimulating/useful/thought-provoking/etc.

As to your 3 versus 25 thing, it’s always going to be hard to pick any number of favorite blogs without excluding others you think are great too. And I’d wager that if asked a month or so from now, your top 25 might even be different. The point is, there is no perfect way to rank blogs and no perfect number that will include all that you want to include.

By: Meredith Farkas

Meredith Farkas — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 16:53:02 +0000

Like it, hate it, just please don’t call it the “Farkas ratings!” Makes it sound like I’m coming up with the list myself.

By: walt crawford

walt crawford — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 16:49:41 +0000

In response to stevenb: Blake Carver doesn’t ask people to vote on the best blogs and post the results. He chooses them himself.

Otherwise…well, I disagree, especially because these aren’t like IHE ratings. Almost none of us make any money from our blogs. Anyone who’s going to change their style to get more readers will do so regardless of rankings. There’s not going to be one authoritative set of rankings, and we’re not about to stop doing rankings for various reasons, fun or serious.

I’m reasonably confident I won’t be in the top 10 of the Farkas ratings, probably not in the top 25–and that’s OK. I believe my ranking in OEDb shows flaws in their criteria–and that’s OK too.

“Favoriteness” is a valid but limited criterion. Reach and visibility are less valid (because mostly unknowable) and also limited criteria. It’s all good (to name another blog that ranks WAY higher than mine in most any coherent rating scheme, almost certainly including this particular survey).