Re-education through blogging

I'd like to thank Annoyed Librarian for the thoughtful and comprehensive response given to my rather off-the-cuff (and perhaps even impetuous) observation on anger and loathing in the librarian community. As my eyes were opened by my initial 'discovery', so much the wider are they opened by AL's reply. (And by the follow-up comments to that post, but more of that perhaps at a later time.) She has devoted more thought and more bytes to the issue than I, and in doing so I hope clarified some of the questions raised by my more scatter-shot effort.

To respond to the easier points first, the politics of a blogger are either a matter of record or not, at the discretion of the blogger. In most instances I'm happy inferring them from the blog itself or, if there's no indication, not worrying about it. For me they're not usually an issue: I don't often preselect sources with a particular political bent in mind, although discovering them certainly may color how I respond to the blog, favorably or unfavorably. It's only human. Whether the blogger is also a librarian would seem immaterial.

Even as a neophyte blogger it's clear to me: If you see something blogworthy, whether a post or an entire blog, blog it. I did not intend to conflate AL with some of the views in her blogroll -- say, how ALA may be going astray doctrinally -- but if she shares some of the points of view there, so be it. (What I can make out of AL's political philosophy suggests we might actually enjoy a lively conversation with no few points of correspondence.)

Ironically, I see now that I managed to tar her for the 'crime' of providing access to these (still to me) disturbing points of view. And me a seasoned librarian, haven't I learned anything? My criticism, and it's a small one, was more about conflating humor and politics. Rarely do they mix well, let alone parse.

AL makes a good point: politically and socially conservative librarians get annoyed too, and why not? It's simply a different manifestation of the same human condition, one not often revealed in LIS blogs. I might submit that I should spend time reading 'liberal' blog rants, but that begs the question. Even as that prussian blue 'liberal' I have to concede that labels like 'liberal' and 'conservative' don't necessarily contribute to the debate, only to the shrillness of the demagoguery. And personally I find the labels more and more misleading, whether wielded by their owners or detractors. But I digress.

I'm not sure I would abandon the idea of blogrolls just yet, however. I like the idea of being able to showcase and promote useful (informative? humorous?) blogging elsewhere. But as far as seed material for my own blogging or for areas I think are out-of-scope for my blog, there are some corners I may choose not to highlight in my blogroll, and they will remain 'private'.

And here's where the librarian's professional mantra of impartiality and the still-quite-personal blogosphere might seem to conflict. Should individual librarian bloggers avoid capitalizing on the intrinsic potential of blogs because of perceived professional standards? I see now probably not. (Here I might be retreating from the 'blogs don't have to be personal' position I took in a comment to Life As I Know It.) Yet as someone who hopes to bring up an library-generated blog, with all the institutional and individual professional responsibility that adheres to it, I will have to face issues regarding the tenor and authority of our blog soon enough; Selection will become an issue.

By the way, some might think that I started a tempest in a teapot in order to draw attention to my new blog. That would be really clever if I had actually thought of it. Far from it! It's more a case of underestimating the potential for the very medium I was jumping into. I have been dodging controversy most of my life, in that annoyingly WASP-y sort of way, and applying it in my library career is simply a new outlet for a familiar attribute. I would just as soon matters here weren't thoroughly distorted by this one post, canting a blog meant for positive discussion of social networking software in the context of art museum libraries (and elsewhere by extension) toward polemics. There will always be a place for the latter; I'd rather it wasn't here. I don't want to stumble into a nightmare of endless intellectual pre-ignition.

And many thanks, AL, for the book citation as well. What kind of librarian blog contribution would it be without one? I look forward to perusing it. Rest assured that when I do, it will be more because you cited it and to enrich my own personal philosophy than as a vade mecum to your political beliefs. I'm sorry I can't gainsay a comparable publication that matches my political p.o.v.

Thanks also to Dances With Books for reminding me that I should be paying closer attention on what's blogging around me, let alone about me.

So let's on with the blog!

 

Comments

[Degolar]

I had a somewhat similar reaction to yours upon exploring the Annoyed Librarian and others like her.

[Ross Day]

Thanks for the self-reference, Degolar. I'll read your earlier post with interest. What you say may be, nevertheless I'm completely satisfied with her explanation now.

[Jennifer Macaulay]

Ross, this is a very interesting post. I'm enjoying your blog tremendously!! I think it was brave of you to take on the Annoyed Librarian!!!

[Dances With Books]

You are welcome. I should say I have built a lot of my aggregator reading list on the basis of people's blogrolls, which I have seen vary from trying to be useful and informative to just flights of whimsy to everything in between. As I have not been that long in LJ, I have not quite figured out if I can do that, but something think about.

Tempest in a teapot? Now why did I not think of that before? Well, if nothing else, you are off to a good start. May you continue blogging and learning. In the end, that is the beauty of a blog. You shape it as you go along with what you envision for it. Do you stray now and then? Sure, but it may all be part of the journey.

P.S. I will have to take a look to that book as well.