Blogs and Blog Readers

Blogs are a great way to read about topics of interest and connect with like-minded people. I have tried blogging in the past but haven’t ever kept up with it. Still, I enjoy reading the blogs of others and learning more about them and the topics they write about. There are some fabulous blogs with very relevant and interesting information about education, libraries, and technology.

Although I’ve heard of Tumblr and Digg, I didn’t fully understand their purpose. I had the opportunity to learn more about these and other blog readers by checking out some of the most popular blog readers out there. I spent a little time navigating each of the following: Bloglovin’, Feedly, Bloglines, Newsblur, Digg Reader, and Newsvibe. As I learned more about the purpose of blog readers, I got very excited. Using a blog reader helps organize blogs of interest in one spot, saving much time and effort. I also easily located new blogs to follow.

Out of all the blog readers I explored, I chose to stick with Feedly. Though they all had beneficial features, I really liked the layout on Feedly and found it easy to locate blogs by searching for title, URL, or topic. I also really liked the “must read” feature, which allows you to organize blogs of priority in one space. Another helpful feature is the ability to organize different blogs into collections. As a librarian, I might have a collection for technology, another for books or literacy organizations, and one for blogs of colleagues. As I searched for blogs to follow, I found this great resource, “Top 50 School Library Blogs:”
http://www.teachercertificationdegrees.com/top-blogs/school-library/

After spending some time looking through them, I chose these five to follow:

http://www.mrschureads.blogspot.com/ 
Mr. Schu is an elementary librarian who posts book trailers as a means to promote reading. I love using book trailers and will use this as a resource to find great book trailers to share with my students.
http://www.booklistreader.com/
A collection of blogs maintained by Booklist, a group affiliated with The American Library Association. High quality content includes book reviews, reading lists, audiobooks, and Q&A. This is a great source for finding high-quality literature and following discussions about books.
http://www.mightylittlelibrarian.com/ 
This blog is authored by Tiffany Whitehead, a librarian from Louisiana. In this blog she shares her experiences as a librarian including lessons, library events, current issues, and promotes her Webinars. I think it will be helpful to read about her successes and challenges as a librarian to inform my practice.
http://www.libraries.wright.edu/noshelfrequired/ 
No Shelf Required was created by Sue Polanka, and focuses on e-books, audiobooks, and e-reading devices. Lots of great information about best practices with e-books and other related issues.
 http://www.thedaringlibrarian.com/
The Daring Librarian blog is authored by Gwyneth Jones, a technology expert and educator. I already follow her on Twitter and really like her posts. She shares wonderful information about applying technology in meaningful learning activities and also shares wonderful resources. '

Tumblr is another blogging site that allows you to read, create, and post microblogs. I spent some time looking at how school librarians are using Tumblr and the types of things they are posting. Many of the school librarians were posting reading lists and promoting individual titles through book quotes and book covers. I also noticed many sharing humorous memes and other quotes about reading and library use, such as this:

http://mhslibrary.tumblr.com/post/67408516250/thelibrarybug-which-can-sometimes-be-so-very

And this:

http://chhslibrary.tumblr.com/post/121184670474/yall-we-mean-it-turn-in-your-books-before

I think these types of posts are meaningful for students and in a “language” that they speak. Social media and specifically microblogging are a great way to connect with students. Many of them are already using these platforms and it would take little effort for them to give the library blog a follow. There is a lot of potential with Tumblr and I am absolutely planning to stay active and become more familiar with it so I can someday use it in my library. Until then, I will keep following other school librarians to get some great ideas!

Below is a link to my Tumblr account. I had to pull myself away! I can foresee spending a lot of time on this site! https://www.tumblr.com/blog/mischiefmanaged023