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Eric Muzzy; Alexandra Sarkozy; Isabel Sulimanoff; Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Library, and Stephanie Margolin; Consulting Digital Librarian

Developing a Library Blog: Sustaining a Rich and Dynamic Communication Channel for Our User Community

Presenters: Donna Gibson; Christine Beardsley. Additional Authors: Mary DeJong; Amy Draemel; Marisol Hernandez; Sarah Jewell; Hong Jing; Mark D. Monakey;

Top Ten Reasons to Launch a Blog

10. A fun and creative ongoing “team” project!

9. Great place to solicit ongoing feedback

8. Build a network of users with similar interests

7. Create an ‘alternate’ path back to the library web site

6. Help staff stay on top of current technology trends – if they write about it, they must know about it!

5. Establish library staff as information experts and knowledge sharers

4. Promote library resources that might be overlooked or underutilized

3. Create an additional communication channel to promote library services

2. Increase library’s visibility1. Increase library’s ROI

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Access Points

• Direct: http://library.mskcc.org/blog• From the library web site:

http://library.mskcc.org• RSS Feed • Sign-up for email alerts:

MSKCC Library Spotlight Digest

http://library.mskcc.org/blog

Medical Library Association Annual Meeting , May 21 – 26, 2010

Blog Metrics (as of 4/22/2010)

• Soft Launch: January 28, 2010• MSKCC Traffic: 74%• Visitor Traffic: 26%• Unique Visitors: 1,352• Visitors from as far as: Argentina,

Brazil, Hungary, and Spain!• Total Page Loads: 3,817• Most Popular Category: Do You

Know? (Quiz) and Blog Buzz

Blog Structure & Categories

• Links:• About the Library• Access, Services, Policies• Employee Registration• FAQs• Location and Hours• Staff Directory• Today’s Science Sparks• Using RSS Feeds

• Forms:• General Feedback• Ask A Librarian• Document Delivery Services• Literature Search

• Site Features and Categories:• Views from the Library• Calendar (Classes, Conferences & Events)• Looking for: (link to library’s and

organization’s home pages)• Recent Posts• Recurring Categories: Blog Buzz, First

Impressions, Resource Highlights, Tips & Tricks from Staff, Cancer Research News, MSKCC in the News, Announcements, Director’s Reflections, Do You Know? and Working Together

Workflow Tips

• Have an editor-in-chief responsible for ensuring the blog’s content is fresh

• If possible, involve all staff • Integrate content creation and

publishing into staff’s daily work routine

• Allow time for staff to become comfortable with posting before rolling blog out

• Match the right staff member with the right recurring category. Leverage their interests and knowledge

• Explore tools such as Outlook Calendar to schedule publishing reminders

• Prepare a posting schedule and stick with it

• Ensure each category has a different posting schedule

• Have an editor and a back-up editor for each category. Staff can have responsibility for more than one category

• Create a centralized spreadsheet or document and encourage all editors to keep a bank of post topics