In August of 2005, I conducted a survey of people in the library and information science profession who blog to get some sense of the demographic characteristics of bibliobloggers. The results of the first Survey of the Biblioblogosphere can be found here.
After two years, it doesn’t take a survey to see that the library blogosphere has changed a great deal. So many people now are blogging who would never have considered it two years ago. While I felt like I knew of most of the library blogs out there in 2005, I know that I probably barely know 1/10 of them today. Something that was once seen as incredibly risky to do (and still is depending on how you approach it) is now thought of as a way to make a name for yourself in the profession. The number of libraries that are blogging has exploded as well. All of these changes have made me very curious about what we’d find today if we did the Survey of the Biblioblogosphere.
So I decided to design a survey for 2007. While it has a lot of the same questions from 2005 (some fixed to avoid some of the things I got criticized for the first time around), I’ve also added a few new questions that I think should offer interesting insights for all of us.
If you consider yourself a “biblioblogger,” please consider taking this survey and pass the word on to other library-related bloggers. The more people who fill it out, the better picture we will have of the characteristics of the library blogosphere. I’m looking for both people in the profession who have blogs and people who blog at their library as part of an official library blog. You don’t have to have an MLS to be a part of the survey and you don’t have to work in a traditional library setting. If you consider yourself a part of the profession and you blog, please do take part. I’ll probably keep the survey open for four weeks.
Just like last time, I’ll be sure to publicly share all the details. I definitely can’t wait to see the results myself!
Cool Meredith!
Filled out and I can’t wait to see the results!
Ditto here. Thanks also for taking the time to do this! 🙂
I can remember filling the first survey out. I can’t believe it’s already been two years.
I just stopped blogging on my professional blog a few days ago but answered it as though I still was since I plan to blog again once I have a different job.
Found my way here via a Walt at Random post this afternoon. Ditto the other comments, I look forward to the results of this survey.
I think it is interesting that you asked about job satisfaction at the end. I am very curious to know how people who are very tech savvy answered that question.
Carleen, I know! When I looked back on the survey, I was convinced that it had only been a year. Where does the time go?
Michelle, I’m very interested in the answers to that question too. I wish I had a control group of non-bloggers to compare those results against.
Was happy to fill out the survey form. Will be keen to see the results.
Thanks from these quarters, too. It was fascinating to me to see how much my world has changed in two years–I work in a totally different library, I now have a degree, I’ve blogged for two years instead of just a few months, and I’m even using different blogging software!
I’ll look forward to seeing the results.
Covering people who used to blog but stopped would indeed be an interesting addition. Also whether bloggers have switched software (and why). Sound like good projects for some MLS students somewhere. Another line of inquiry that you didn’t follow is: Was your blog added to or a replacement for an existing site or started on its own? (For me, the former. Probably a rare case, so maybe not worth asking after all.) Oh, and in these surveys, I think “peer pressure” needs to be added as a reason for blogging. And “had to do it for a class”, if that’s not already there.
Cool, I’m interested in seeing the results, especially geographic location. Everyday I look at the hits to our blog, and everyday we might get 1 from the Midwest. I’m originally from the Midwest, so it interests me that we have so few readers from that region.
I wish you’d had an option for pseudononymously blogs, not just anonymously. There’s a difference.
Just wanted to add my thanks to the chorus. I filled it out even though I don’t really consider myself a blogger.
But, since I’m a Librarian and I have a blog – of sorts – I wanted to contribute.
One other comment, I also think there should have been a third option for pseudononymous blogs.
Good work on the first question!
Made me smile with delight.
While I ID as F, many of my friends live in a grey fuzzy area and it’s marvellous to see them included.
I only wish they were librarian bloggers so they could enjoy ticking their box of choice here.
*three cheers*
Thanks for your comment, Miss Yasmin. I think it’s a sad comment on our society that we really should be pleased by having that option; it SHOULD be that way in any survey. I actually have had two people answer “other” on the gender question and was glad that they could feel represented properly in the survey. 🙂
As a non-librarian library blogger, I am eagerly awaiting the results of your pool. Good on ya for putting it together.
Just starting after a few weeks holiday (we’re in Europe you know) just missed this survey any earlier. Found it was closed.
Already sufficient responses?
Look forward to the results.
Yes, it was just closed on Monday. Sorry about that. There were over 800 responses within that period of time, which in my opinion is REALLY amazing!
“This survey is currently closed. Please contact the author of this survey for further assistance.”
Boy! That was fast.