ALASC stands for American Library Association Students Chapter. The San Jose State University chapter is very active and has received awards. I have attended several other ALASC tours during my SLIS career. They have always been interesting and insightful. This is the first time that I have gotten the opportunity to describe such a tour on my blog at the request of tour coordinator, Elissa Papendick.
The African American Museum and Library of Oakland (AAMLO)was originally a Carnegie library built in 1902. It is an Oakland historic site but it was severely damaged in the Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989. AAMLO was closed until funding could be found to repair the damage and re-construct the building. In the vestibule, I saw the plaque in honor of the restoration of AAMLO in 2001. I also noticed the sculpted head of African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass which had been donated by former Congressman and Oakland Mayor, Ron Dellums whose papers have been deposited at the AAMLO archive along with those of current Oakland Congresswoman Barbara Lee. Ron Dellums was the original head of the Congressional African American Caucus. Barbara Lee is the current head of the Congressional African American Caucus. As a resident of Oakland, I am proud that Barbara Lee represents me in Congress.
I and my fellow LIS students first spoke to the archivist. He told us that many finding aids for the archival collections had been digitized, but he still had about a year's worth of work. He is trying to develop a collection policy for the archive. He expects it to be a 20-30 page document. There are 300 feet of archival materials on site and another 700-800 feet off site. Take a look at this page about AAMLO Archival Collections to get an idea of the amazing resources represented in this repository. There are 160 collections that are mainly photographic representing all aspects of African American life. He would like to digitize some of these historic photos for the public to view online.When asked about the Black Panthers, he responded that the AAMLO Museum has a small amount of Black Panther related material, but AAMLO archives didn't have the funds to purchase the papers of the most prominent Black Panthers. They've gone to Stanford University's archives. The archive is open to research scholars by appointment.
In the Museum's gallery on the upper level, there was an imposing mural called Journey of Promise which portrayed national figures in African American history, African American figures in California history and local Oakland African American figures. There were photo displays, and oral history videos in the permanent exhibit with accounts from a diverse collection of Oakland's citizens belonging to a variety of backgrounds and occupations. The current exhibit dealing with voting rights also deals with the issue as it applies to a number of different ethnic and cultural groups who have suffered voting discrimination.
It was in the gallery that the reference librarian spoke to us about the uniqueness of AAMLO. Executive Director Rick Moss is a historian and a curator. This makes AAMLO the only library in the Oakland Public Library system that isn't headed by a librarian. Since AAMLO houses a museum, archives and library under one roof this is appropriate.
The library is composed of a 13,000 item reference collection dealing with African American subjects. No one can check out any books at AAMLO's library. Every item remains on the premises of the library.
After browsing through the reference library, I went to talk to the archivist a bit about digitization using Encoded Archival Description (EAD) which I had studied at SLIS.
I was glad to discover a library, museum and archive that I had never visited in my own city. I hoped to return to AAMLO in the near future.
Monday, September 23, 2013
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Library Kindle Loans and Privacy
This is a re-blog from Information Metamorphosis on WordPress.
Since I'm a new blogger, I'm surfing the blogosphere and uncovering posts that aren't the most current, but I feel that I have a perspective to contribute to this issue.
I just viewed Sarah Houghton-Jan's video posted October 18, 2011 to her blog Librarian in Black and here is my reaction:
I do agree with Sarah Houghton-Jan that librarians must stand up to protect the public from potential misuse of any records dealing with their reading. Libraries have historically been a bulwark against censorship. They have had annual Banned Books Week events. Intellectual freedom has been an important value of the library profession. It's such a core belief for me as a future librarian that I feel that Sarah Houghton-Jan's call to action doesn't go far enough.
Amazon has records of all Kindle e-book transactions, not just library Kindle e-book transactions. If librarians really care about reading privacy rights and intellectual freedom, then they shouldn't confine themselves to pushing for the confidentiality of library downloads through Amazon. Neither Amazon nor the public will understand why library e-book downloads should have special status. I think it's important to put it out there that the personal data associated with any book transaction should be kept confidential. This should apply to all book vendors, not just Amazon. It's terrific that California has a reading privacy law. Yet when we're dealing with internet records, like those of online book vendors, the solution needs to be federal. Libraries should advocate for Congressional legislation that protects reading privacy in all contexts.
Since I'm a new blogger, I'm surfing the blogosphere and uncovering posts that aren't the most current, but I feel that I have a perspective to contribute to this issue.
I just viewed Sarah Houghton-Jan's video posted October 18, 2011 to her blog Librarian in Black and here is my reaction:
I do agree with Sarah Houghton-Jan that librarians must stand up to protect the public from potential misuse of any records dealing with their reading. Libraries have historically been a bulwark against censorship. They have had annual Banned Books Week events. Intellectual freedom has been an important value of the library profession. It's such a core belief for me as a future librarian that I feel that Sarah Houghton-Jan's call to action doesn't go far enough.
Amazon has records of all Kindle e-book transactions, not just library Kindle e-book transactions. If librarians really care about reading privacy rights and intellectual freedom, then they shouldn't confine themselves to pushing for the confidentiality of library downloads through Amazon. Neither Amazon nor the public will understand why library e-book downloads should have special status. I think it's important to put it out there that the personal data associated with any book transaction should be kept confidential. This should apply to all book vendors, not just Amazon. It's terrific that California has a reading privacy law. Yet when we're dealing with internet records, like those of online book vendors, the solution needs to be federal. Libraries should advocate for Congressional legislation that protects reading privacy in all contexts.
The Goodreads Experience: What if Everyone Cared About Cataloging?
This re-blog from Information Metamorphosis on WordPress refers to an earlier period of time when Amazon and Goodreads were in conflict. Now that Amazon has bought Goodreads, this conflict no longer exists. Amazon has resumed being a metadata partner of Goodreads. This post shows that people who are not catalogers do care about cataloging on Goodreads. I am sure they also care about cataloging on Librarything and other internet sites where ordinary users catalog.
Goodreads is a social networking site for book readers, but I have seen it characterized as a social cataloging site. The main purpose of Goodreads is the formation of connections between members based on their reading preferences. Yet another important function of Goodreads is the cataloging of members' books on virtual shelves. Since members can examine each other's shelves and compare books, cataloging facilitates the social networking aspect. There is a subset of volunteers that maintain the database who are called "librarians", but any Goodreads member can enter a record for a book that isn't found in search. A surprising number of members who aren't Goodreads librarians are concerned about the accuracy of the metadata. They post to the group for Goodreads librarians asking for the titles, authors, formats, numbers of pages, publication dates and ISBNs to be corrected. They are concerned about differentiation of editions as well.
When Amazon recently ended its relationship with Goodreads , Amazon's metadata could no longer be used. Although Goodreads did eventually establish a relationship with Ingram, Goodreads librarians were called upon to assist in finding alternate metadata sources. The current Goodreads policy is that users can only enter data from books in hand, or from libraries, publishers or author's websites. As a Goodreads librarian, I worked to recover data for books that I and my Goodreads friends had shelved.
During this transition to Ingram's metadata, concern over missing information in records has become very prevalent on Goodreads. There has been an increase in applications to become Goodreads librarians.
I mention all of this because there is an ongoing discussion on RDA-L, a listserv devoted to the discussion of RDA, on whether library users really care about metadata. Based on my experience of Goodreads, it seems to me that many do care. Professional library catalogers definitely are not alone in the metadataverse.
One of the stated purposes of RDA is to allow for metadata sharing in a linked data environment. The wide realms of metadata producers and users outside of libraries is being considered in the RDA development process.
Goodreads has been using Library of Congress name authorities for disambiguation purposes for as long as Goodreads librarians have existed. Worldcat is often utilized by these Goodreads volunteers to confirm the accuracy of user provided data. There has always been a strong link between Goodreads and the world of libraries. They are clearly an example of exactly the sort of non-library entity that RDA is intended to benefit. So an examination of how Goodreads utilizes metadata, and the metadata needs of its users should be relevant to any discussion of whether ordinary users really care about metadata.
Goodreads is a social networking site for book readers, but I have seen it characterized as a social cataloging site. The main purpose of Goodreads is the formation of connections between members based on their reading preferences. Yet another important function of Goodreads is the cataloging of members' books on virtual shelves. Since members can examine each other's shelves and compare books, cataloging facilitates the social networking aspect. There is a subset of volunteers that maintain the database who are called "librarians", but any Goodreads member can enter a record for a book that isn't found in search. A surprising number of members who aren't Goodreads librarians are concerned about the accuracy of the metadata. They post to the group for Goodreads librarians asking for the titles, authors, formats, numbers of pages, publication dates and ISBNs to be corrected. They are concerned about differentiation of editions as well.
When Amazon recently ended its relationship with Goodreads , Amazon's metadata could no longer be used. Although Goodreads did eventually establish a relationship with Ingram, Goodreads librarians were called upon to assist in finding alternate metadata sources. The current Goodreads policy is that users can only enter data from books in hand, or from libraries, publishers or author's websites. As a Goodreads librarian, I worked to recover data for books that I and my Goodreads friends had shelved.
During this transition to Ingram's metadata, concern over missing information in records has become very prevalent on Goodreads. There has been an increase in applications to become Goodreads librarians.
I mention all of this because there is an ongoing discussion on RDA-L, a listserv devoted to the discussion of RDA, on whether library users really care about metadata. Based on my experience of Goodreads, it seems to me that many do care. Professional library catalogers definitely are not alone in the metadataverse.
One of the stated purposes of RDA is to allow for metadata sharing in a linked data environment. The wide realms of metadata producers and users outside of libraries is being considered in the RDA development process.
Goodreads has been using Library of Congress name authorities for disambiguation purposes for as long as Goodreads librarians have existed. Worldcat is often utilized by these Goodreads volunteers to confirm the accuracy of user provided data. There has always been a strong link between Goodreads and the world of libraries. They are clearly an example of exactly the sort of non-library entity that RDA is intended to benefit. So an examination of how Goodreads utilizes metadata, and the metadata needs of its users should be relevant to any discussion of whether ordinary users really care about metadata.
New York Public Library's Biblion Project
I have re-blogged this post from Information Metamorphosis on WordPress. It deals with how a library can utilize linked data.
James Weinheimer's recent podcast of Cataloging Matters no.14 dealt with how linked data can be viewed in various ways. He concluded that library users needed selection to make sense of that vast network of links.
I retained Weinheimer's salient point when I viewed the recording of the San Jose State University LIS Colloquium presentation by Deanna Lee today. Deanna Lee is the Vice President of Communications and Marketing at New York Public Library. The subject of her talk was NYPL's Biblion Project. Biblion is an app that allows NYPL to present digitized archival materials in a manner that provides access to them for a much wider audience. It also allows users to browse the materials in the same fashion that they would browse the shelves of a library. This was a goal of Biblion. Lee wanted users to be able to make serendipitous discoveries. It occurred to me that the Biblion Project is an example of a library making use of the linked data paradigm. All the materials in the collection are linked through the app. Serendipitous discoveries are made by following links.
Lee pointed out that this project could not have been been realized so quickly if the collection didn't already have a finding aid and had not already been digitized. I need to point out that archival collections are digitized using metadata schemas. Encoded Archival Description (EAD) facilitates the digitization of finding aids. Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS) is often used by archives and museums to digitize the items in a collection. So metadata is the foundation for the utilization of linked data. NYPL could not have selected this particular data set if the metadata hadn't already been made available to them. This is the key to the universe of linked data. So cataloging does indeed matter, and the methods used to catalog materials are crucial. This is the means by which libraries can remain relevant for users.
James Weinheimer's recent podcast of Cataloging Matters no.14 dealt with how linked data can be viewed in various ways. He concluded that library users needed selection to make sense of that vast network of links.
I retained Weinheimer's salient point when I viewed the recording of the San Jose State University LIS Colloquium presentation by Deanna Lee today. Deanna Lee is the Vice President of Communications and Marketing at New York Public Library. The subject of her talk was NYPL's Biblion Project. Biblion is an app that allows NYPL to present digitized archival materials in a manner that provides access to them for a much wider audience. It also allows users to browse the materials in the same fashion that they would browse the shelves of a library. This was a goal of Biblion. Lee wanted users to be able to make serendipitous discoveries. It occurred to me that the Biblion Project is an example of a library making use of the linked data paradigm. All the materials in the collection are linked through the app. Serendipitous discoveries are made by following links.
Lee pointed out that this project could not have been been realized so quickly if the collection didn't already have a finding aid and had not already been digitized. I need to point out that archival collections are digitized using metadata schemas. Encoded Archival Description (EAD) facilitates the digitization of finding aids. Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS) is often used by archives and museums to digitize the items in a collection. So metadata is the foundation for the utilization of linked data. NYPL could not have selected this particular data set if the metadata hadn't already been made available to them. This is the key to the universe of linked data. So cataloging does indeed matter, and the methods used to catalog materials are crucial. This is the means by which libraries can remain relevant for users.
Librarything vs. Goodreads
This is yet another re-blog from Information Metamorphosis on WordPress that I created last semester when I was a Peer Mentor for LIBR 203 at San Jose State University School of Library Science.
Peer Mentors at SJSU SLIS do group presentations online through web conferencing. These group presentations are called meet-ups. When I did my Peer Mentor meetup presentation, I discussed Wordpress, Blogger and Librarything. I was hoping that someone would ask me how Librarything compares with Goodreads because I was completely prepared for that question. Since no one had any questions for me, I thought I would compare Librarything and Goodreads on my blog.
My recent experience cataloging on Librarything for a special library with a small collection has persuaded me that Goodreads is in no way the equal of Librarything when it comes to cataloging a collection of books. I have been so impressed with my ability to obtain complete bibliographic records from libraries for use on Librarything. Anyone who has cataloged on Librarything will be disappointed that Goodreads doesn't have this relationship with libraries. If a member wants to shelve a book on Goodreads that isn't part of the database, he or she can't simply pull up a record from the Library of Congress. If a book hasn't been previously shelved by a Goodreads member, or imported from Ingram, its current bibliographic partner, members must fill out every field in the record manually. Unfortunately, some members have no idea of how to record information from a book in hand. This means that the Goodreads database is riddled with errors. The volunteers who maintain the database at Goodreads have a task similar to the legendary Sisyphus. For every record successfully corrected, there will probably be ten more that require revision that have recently been entered manually.
So why do I still love Goodreads? The primary purpose of Goodreads is social networking for book readers, and that is the area where it excels. When someone requests to be your friend on Goodreads, you can do a book comparison. It will tell you what books you have in common and the percentage of similarity between you. There is an amazing array of affinity groups. Many select a book of the month to discuss or have reading challenges. Goodreads has also added a tool that allows group members to keep track of their challenge reads. Goodreads does everything it can to facilitate the formation of communities of readers.
Another thing that I love about Goodreads is that some of my Goodreads reviews appear on Worldcat. Although Goodreads can't import metadata from Worldcat, Worldcat can harvest reviews from Goodreads. I have established a shelf on Goodreads to identify which of my reviews appear on Worldcat. I am proud of my contribution to my favorite bibliographic utility through Goodreads.
Peer Mentors at SJSU SLIS do group presentations online through web conferencing. These group presentations are called meet-ups. When I did my Peer Mentor meetup presentation, I discussed Wordpress, Blogger and Librarything. I was hoping that someone would ask me how Librarything compares with Goodreads because I was completely prepared for that question. Since no one had any questions for me, I thought I would compare Librarything and Goodreads on my blog.
My recent experience cataloging on Librarything for a special library with a small collection has persuaded me that Goodreads is in no way the equal of Librarything when it comes to cataloging a collection of books. I have been so impressed with my ability to obtain complete bibliographic records from libraries for use on Librarything. Anyone who has cataloged on Librarything will be disappointed that Goodreads doesn't have this relationship with libraries. If a member wants to shelve a book on Goodreads that isn't part of the database, he or she can't simply pull up a record from the Library of Congress. If a book hasn't been previously shelved by a Goodreads member, or imported from Ingram, its current bibliographic partner, members must fill out every field in the record manually. Unfortunately, some members have no idea of how to record information from a book in hand. This means that the Goodreads database is riddled with errors. The volunteers who maintain the database at Goodreads have a task similar to the legendary Sisyphus. For every record successfully corrected, there will probably be ten more that require revision that have recently been entered manually.
So why do I still love Goodreads? The primary purpose of Goodreads is social networking for book readers, and that is the area where it excels. When someone requests to be your friend on Goodreads, you can do a book comparison. It will tell you what books you have in common and the percentage of similarity between you. There is an amazing array of affinity groups. Many select a book of the month to discuss or have reading challenges. Goodreads has also added a tool that allows group members to keep track of their challenge reads. Goodreads does everything it can to facilitate the formation of communities of readers.
Another thing that I love about Goodreads is that some of my Goodreads reviews appear on Worldcat. Although Goodreads can't import metadata from Worldcat, Worldcat can harvest reviews from Goodreads. I have established a shelf on Goodreads to identify which of my reviews appear on Worldcat. I am proud of my contribution to my favorite bibliographic utility through Goodreads.
The Value of the San Jose State University School of Library Information Science Peer Mentor Program
This is another re-blog from the WordPress version of this blog. I have decided to copy all my significant posts to this Blogger version because I will eventually be deleting the WordPress version entirely.
This post was created while I was a Peer Mentor at SJSU SLIS last semester.
Peer Mentors are students at SJSU SLIS . Debbie Faires, who runs the program, requests applications every semester. Peer Mentors assist students in LIBR 203, the required introduction to the tools and technology used at SLIS. There are a number of good motivations for becoming a peer mentor. My motivations were an interest in helping students and a need for recent instruction experience. I taught a training class for U.S. Census enumerators, but that was back in 1990. I have had no previous experience in online instruction, and I thought that such experience would be useful for my future career.
The Peer Mentor program was established because LIBR 203 instructors teach multiple sections of the course, and cannot be everywhere at once. Vicki Steiner, the wonderful instructor that I'm assisting, teaches four sections of LIBR 203. Students are attempting to finish the course quickly, and will often need immediate assistance. Peer mentors have more to offer students than their availability. We can offer our experience as students in the program. We can offer practical suggestions about study habits and organization. We can make recommendations for courses in the areas that interest individual students, and tell you about their workloads. We can tell you who to contact at SJSU SLIS if you have a particular problem. If we don't know, we can find out. That is the value of having a mentor.
Those who are training for the information professions are in the business of helping people. This means that successful candidates for an MLIS degree want to help others. I have found librarians and archivists outside of SLIS who were willing to assist me. This is an advantage of being part of a helping profession. Students at SLIS should look for mentors along their career path. The best way to find mentors is by joining professional organizations, but students can also find mentors through volunteering and through internships. I hope that my students in LIBR 203 will take full advantage of the opportunity of having a mentor, so that can be more successful students.
This post was created while I was a Peer Mentor at SJSU SLIS last semester.
Peer Mentors are students at SJSU SLIS . Debbie Faires, who runs the program, requests applications every semester. Peer Mentors assist students in LIBR 203, the required introduction to the tools and technology used at SLIS. There are a number of good motivations for becoming a peer mentor. My motivations were an interest in helping students and a need for recent instruction experience. I taught a training class for U.S. Census enumerators, but that was back in 1990. I have had no previous experience in online instruction, and I thought that such experience would be useful for my future career.
The Peer Mentor program was established because LIBR 203 instructors teach multiple sections of the course, and cannot be everywhere at once. Vicki Steiner, the wonderful instructor that I'm assisting, teaches four sections of LIBR 203. Students are attempting to finish the course quickly, and will often need immediate assistance. Peer mentors have more to offer students than their availability. We can offer our experience as students in the program. We can offer practical suggestions about study habits and organization. We can make recommendations for courses in the areas that interest individual students, and tell you about their workloads. We can tell you who to contact at SJSU SLIS if you have a particular problem. If we don't know, we can find out. That is the value of having a mentor.
Those who are training for the information professions are in the business of helping people. This means that successful candidates for an MLIS degree want to help others. I have found librarians and archivists outside of SLIS who were willing to assist me. This is an advantage of being part of a helping profession. Students at SLIS should look for mentors along their career path. The best way to find mentors is by joining professional organizations, but students can also find mentors through volunteering and through internships. I hope that my students in LIBR 203 will take full advantage of the opportunity of having a mentor, so that can be more successful students.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
My Empty Reference Desk
This is a reblog of my last post from the WordPress version of this blog. It includes a modicum of my frustration with WordPress.
This post is inspired by Sarah Ludwig's guest lecture on the Hyperlinked Library MOOC which is a non-credit course primarily for librarians that I'm taking at San Jose State University SLIS in addition to my for credit courses this semester. Sarah Ludwig pointed out that failing to maintain your social media that you've established for professional purposes is like allowing your reference desk to be empty. This is my professional blog. I haven't posted here since last semester when I was expected to blog as a peer mentor for LIBR 203. This blog was linked to the LIBR 203 class blog feed. This semester I have a Hyperlinked Library MOOC blog that I'm maintaining instead, but what about my empty reference desk here?
I decided that this would be an appropriate post to write on Information Metamorphosis and re-blog to Linda's Liminal Log, my Hyperlinked Library MOOC blog. Why do I blog less here than I do on my review blog on Blogger? Well, part of the answer is that The Unmasked Persona's Reviews is on Blogger. I prefer Blogger over WordPress. WordPress has usability problems. The biggest problem is having to fiddle with code way too much on WordPress. I can do it, but I'd much rather not take the time. Images don't display properly when I copy them from my hard drive. I never have problems with displaying images on Blogger. I could go on about WordPress's usability problems at great length, but I'm blogging before work today and my time is limited.
I also blog more on my review blog because I'm a natural blogger about books. Books are my passion. Blogging about books is like breathing for me. I don't naturally think of topics for this LIS blog. I've also been really engaged by blogging on Net Galley books, and books sent to me by an authors' publicist who discovered The Unmasked Persona's Reviews, and likes what I write. My book blog is really taking off. I want to feel as motivated about writing for Information Metamorphosis. Last semester, I re-blogged a review dealing with a book about a librarian which was the last post to appear here. The problem is that I don't read LIS oriented books recreationally very often.
I am now resolved not to allow this blog to be the equivalent of an empty reference desk. I'm trying to work on solutions to this problem. Re-blogging from Linda's Liminal Log this semester is a sub-optimal solution. I don't like to merely copy posts without added value, but maintaining two LIS blogs with original content in both simultaneously may be too much of a challenge.
Addendum: My decision to move Information Metamorphosis to Blogger should allow me to blog better and more frequently than I did on WordPress. It's an unqualified win for this blog.
This post is inspired by Sarah Ludwig's guest lecture on the Hyperlinked Library MOOC which is a non-credit course primarily for librarians that I'm taking at San Jose State University SLIS in addition to my for credit courses this semester. Sarah Ludwig pointed out that failing to maintain your social media that you've established for professional purposes is like allowing your reference desk to be empty. This is my professional blog. I haven't posted here since last semester when I was expected to blog as a peer mentor for LIBR 203. This blog was linked to the LIBR 203 class blog feed. This semester I have a Hyperlinked Library MOOC blog that I'm maintaining instead, but what about my empty reference desk here?
I decided that this would be an appropriate post to write on Information Metamorphosis and re-blog to Linda's Liminal Log, my Hyperlinked Library MOOC blog. Why do I blog less here than I do on my review blog on Blogger? Well, part of the answer is that The Unmasked Persona's Reviews is on Blogger. I prefer Blogger over WordPress. WordPress has usability problems. The biggest problem is having to fiddle with code way too much on WordPress. I can do it, but I'd much rather not take the time. Images don't display properly when I copy them from my hard drive. I never have problems with displaying images on Blogger. I could go on about WordPress's usability problems at great length, but I'm blogging before work today and my time is limited.
I also blog more on my review blog because I'm a natural blogger about books. Books are my passion. Blogging about books is like breathing for me. I don't naturally think of topics for this LIS blog. I've also been really engaged by blogging on Net Galley books, and books sent to me by an authors' publicist who discovered The Unmasked Persona's Reviews, and likes what I write. My book blog is really taking off. I want to feel as motivated about writing for Information Metamorphosis. Last semester, I re-blogged a review dealing with a book about a librarian which was the last post to appear here. The problem is that I don't read LIS oriented books recreationally very often.
I am now resolved not to allow this blog to be the equivalent of an empty reference desk. I'm trying to work on solutions to this problem. Re-blogging from Linda's Liminal Log this semester is a sub-optimal solution. I don't like to merely copy posts without added value, but maintaining two LIS blogs with original content in both simultaneously may be too much of a challenge.
Addendum: My decision to move Information Metamorphosis to Blogger should allow me to blog better and more frequently than I did on WordPress. It's an unqualified win for this blog.
Blogger Is Now For Students
I have decided to move my LIS blog to Blogger. I have long been frustrated by the lower standard of usability on WordPress. The new WordPress policy that free blogs will occasionally carry advertising was the final straw for me. I don't want WordPress to monetize my blog. It is important that a LIS student's blog look professional. Advertising on a blog is never professional, and will not be regarded as such by my potential employers. WordPress offers the option of paying for no advertising, but like many students I deliberately chose to work part-time so I would be able to complete my coursework. I am a bookkeeper, so I understand that budgeting is critical. I know that I can't afford any extra expenses.
I believe that all students should seriously consider moving their blogs from WordPress, and that Blogger is the best choice. It has the best useability and SEO. I think that faculty should also be steering students away from WordPress because of this new policy. Whether they want to steer students toward Blogger will be up to the university. They may want students to decide themselves. That would certainly be a valid policy. For me, the choice is clear. There are no drawbacks to this decision. I think that other students will realize this for themselves.
I believe that all students should seriously consider moving their blogs from WordPress, and that Blogger is the best choice. It has the best useability and SEO. I think that faculty should also be steering students away from WordPress because of this new policy. Whether they want to steer students toward Blogger will be up to the university. They may want students to decide themselves. That would certainly be a valid policy. For me, the choice is clear. There are no drawbacks to this decision. I think that other students will realize this for themselves.
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