Maybe just a pivot point. I was asked to created internal blogs for two of our core service groups, children’s and teen librarians. The teen librarians have started using theirs for book reviews primarily and while it’s just a few people who make the majority of the posts, it is being read by more than just teen librarians. The children’s librarians really haven’t started using theirs, they are being very thoughtful about how they want to use it, the structure, categories, etc. but from what I can tell many of them are excited, some are scared, but most are open to improved communication. The best part is that all librarians will soon have accounts and those who really enjoy it and see the benefit will be communicating better not just about books they’ve read but what is going on at their libraries, program ideas, meeting minutes, and more.
This has been a long time coming. I think the trick is not to push it, but to demonstrate its ease, its benefits, and its power. Hopefully next year at this time the internal communication framework will move away from email to an open web-based dialogue that crosses over to our communication with our patrons and our communities.