Weblogger's Salon - UBC'sBloggers Sound Off

Blogging in UBC Library

By Eugene Barsky, Physio Outreach LibrarianIrving K. Barber Learning Centre, UBC

eugene.barsky@ubc.ca

what’s it all about?

what are blogs

what we do with blogs

how other UBC Librarians use blogs

what are blogs?

defining blogs…think online journal about a subjectarranged in reverse chronological orderupdated frequentlyshort posts, usually containing personal commentary and links

what are blogs?

“the blog concept is about three things: Frequency, Brevity, and Personality”

evan williamscreator, Blogger software

http://writetheweb.com/Members/gilest/old/107/

UBC Physio Info-Blog

http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/physio/

UBC Physio Info-Blog – why blogging?

the Physio Outreach Librarian is working with 1,700 practicing physiotherapists in BC, who belong to Physiotherapy Association of British Columbia

the physios are located anywhere in the province from Terrace to Cranbrook to Nanaimo

the challenge is to serve information needs of practicing health professionals

UBC Physio Info-Blog – why?

provide immediate information serviceskeep up with community interestskeep the community informed of itselfshare community’s interests with others

provide immediate information services

immediate reference service by the librarian via Instant Messaging (using MeeboMegadget)no need for personal IM account

provide immediate information services

specialized physiotherapy search engine (using Google interface)searches only for high quality physio info on the web

provide immediate information services

Library workshops’registration and materials across BC are available from the blog

provide immediate information services

In-depth health info is provided via “how to” section on the blog

keeps up with community interests

RSS feeds for up-to-the-minute physiotherapy research from major biomedical databases (PubMed, CINAHL)

keeps up with community interests

RSS feeds for up-to-the-minute general science and health information from various sources

keeps a community informed of itself

work of community members is highlighted

keeps a community informed of itself

local authors publications are highlighted

shares community’s interests with others

Audiocasts of UBC Physio events are recorded and distributed (UBC IR)

shares community’s interests with others

Audiocasts of local physioworkshops and seminars are recorded and distributed (please be aware of copyright!)

the result?

Our users LOVE it!“Thank you for moving the profession into the 21st century”“Great service you are offering the physio community”“Thank-you Eugene! I have been listening to these files with my .mp3 player and it's so convenient! Thank-you for going to the effort to do this for us, especially those of us on the island that cannot attend some of the presentations. I hope you will be doing more podcasts.”

stats, graphs…

keeps the stats from visitsdistribution of visitors

a story….

physio in Smithers using IM via the blogpatient with a neck painusing therapeutic exercisewhether effective?best practices / best evidenceanswer found and provided in five minutes

More UBC Library blogs

Law Library blog -http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/lawlib/Alive since summer 2004. Says Elim Wong – “this is a great way to announce new books and things of interest to generally the Law Faculty and students. “

More UBC Library blogs

UBC Academic Search – Google Scholar blog -http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/googlescholar/"To observe, document & comment on the evolution of academic-scholarly searching"

More UBC Library blogs

the Social Library blog -http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/lawlib/Discusses how librarians are using social software at UBC

More UBC Library blogs

Linguistics and Language Resources blog -http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/lingua/library weblog for linguistics faculty and students at UBC

More UBC Library blogs

psychology resources blog -http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/psychresources/name says it all

Managing UBC Library blogs

it is easy to co-author more than one blog, collaboration is the nature of blogging

Contact info

Eugene Barsky, MLISPhysiotherapy Outreach LibrarianIrving K. Barber Learning CentreUniversity of British ColumbiaPhone: (604) 827-4088Fax: (604) 822-9122Email: eugene.barsky@ubc.caMSN/Meebo: eugene.barsky@ubc.caBlog: http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/physio/Web: http://www.ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca/