What I wonder is … does it matter that librarians are writing more on blogs than in print? That by the time our ideas are in print, they are almost old news? Who is the audience for print library literature, anyway? Is it those of us in the biblioblogosphere? Is it those of us who want more detail than our old eyes can read online? Is it those of us who don't read library blogs but need (arguably) to keep up with what the young'uns (and I mean young-at-heart, creative, if you will, rather than age-young) are thinking and doing?

I imagine that the readership profiles are very similar for blogs and for the “print” literature, much of which is available online–at least for subscribers. Readers of blogs probably also read journals and readers of journals probably also read blogs. Rather than a question of print vs. blog, I think it is a question of edited and distributed by a third party compared to (not versus) the self published. Edited publications have a gatekeeper, either an editor or an editorial board and referees, and the gatekeeper decides what gets published. Bloggers themselves make those decisions about their own work. Either way, quality varies!

One difference is longevity. The tried-and-true print journal is archived by and in libraries. We don't yet have that sort of dependable system for archiving e-journals. However Portico and LOCKKS are addressing this problem. We do not yet, however, have the large scale system for preserving e-journals, blogs, and other born digital works equivalent to the widely distributed system we have for archiving print journals. Until we do, perhaps we should hope that authors who produce works that will stand the test of time will submit those to journals, especially those that still produce a print edition, and that their work will be published there. It may, of course, be hubris for an author to assume higher work should enjoy that sot of longevity. The print journals has shown considerable staying power, although that is waning in favor of electronic journals.

Will the journal, as has many have predicted, disaggregate and lose the value of journal title as brand and implicit indicator of authority? If so, the differences between blog posts and journal articles will diminish, with the role of the editor continuing to distinguish one from the other.

P.S.: Stephanie, I had to do some digging to find the line you attributed to me in your July 17, 2007 post. I finally found it on my laptop in my notes for my opening statement at the Candidates' Forum during the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Seattle. My notes include: “Today some librarians publish in blogs rather journals, create communities of interest on Yahoo, and produce specialized conferences on the Web.” I know that If you heard me at any of the 40 groups I visited during Midwinter, you may have heard me say it then. So, maybe I am the one who should be humbled when I “try to help patrons who don't remember where / when they read something.”