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.”

Here goes, five things you don't know about me.

1. Several years ago the engine went on the 1984 Pontiac Sunbird I inherited from a dear aunt who died in 1999 at age 92. In fifteen years she had put 22,000 miles on that car. It died on me a few miles short of the north end of the Blue Ridge Parkway, a bit more than 100 miles from home. It happened late afternoon on a Friday in September. At first I thought it had just overheated. But after a while it became clear that the engine would never run again. I was able to get a faint signal on my cell phone up there. But it turned out that it was also dying. I managed to complete two calls on it–one to AAA and the other to my wife telling her I didn't know when I would get home, nor how. The sun set. Fortunately I had been away for a few days so I had clothes in addition to the ones I was wearing. As the sun set, the temperature dropped, probably into the upper 50s. Good thing I was able to add clothing. After getting permission from the US Park Police to bring a tow truck onto the Blue Ridge Parkway (cars only, no commercial vehicles permitted) the guy AAA sent arrived to rescue me. It was nearly 9:00 when we got to his garage in Waynesboro, VA. He took dropped me off at a mom and pop motel and I was able to get an inexpensive room. I was also able to squeeze one last call out of my cell phone, to arrange for my wife to pick me up in the morning so we could rush home, change clothes, and then backtrack 50 miles to get to a wedding in which our oldest was a bridesmaid. We now have AAA Plus (towing up to 100 miles), I have had several new cell phones since then (have you found the one I lost in April 2002?), and the ancient Sunbird, with a rebuilt engine, never strays more than about 60 miles from home–within the AAA covered towing distance!

2. My tonsils were removed when I was thirty years old. I used to get several step infections a year; since then I have one at most every few years. So it worked. Nevertheless, if you have to have that done, I recommend that you do it when you are younger.

3. I have appeared (I wouldn't say performed) in the center ring of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus. A guy who lived down the street when I was a kid and with whom I was in school from kindergarten through high school ended up working as an accountant and manager for the circus. He traveled with it and lived on the circus train. When we lived in Chicago and it came to town he got us complimentary tickets. Some years later after we moved to Williamsburg and the circus came nearby, he got us complimentary tickets–third row, center ring. Traffic getting there was bad and we arrived a little late. I had barely taken my seat when a clown bounded up the stairs, took me by the wrist and dragged me into the center ring. Thousands of people watched him try to pose me in various one-footed ways that required more balance than I could muster. I don't know if the act was finished or if the clown (a big international star, featured on the cover of the program) despaired over his choice for a straight man; but after briefly amusing thousands with my inability to do what he wanted me to do, he gave me a lollipop and sent me back to my seat. There I found four people who were pretended as much as they could that they had never seen me in their lives. My wife muttered, “I hope nobody we know is here.” It could have been worse. I think the next clown and the things he did with a guy he dragged from the audience made my family grateful that I was picked first. He got much bigger laughs, but was also placed in a much more embarrassing situation. There but for the grace of God go I…

4. When I was about twelve that same neighbor who years later gave my family circus tickets invited me to a Boy Scouts meeting. I haven't been to one since–just not my thing. I fit in better in the circus, actually.

5. I have a bachelor's degree in English, a master's degree in English, and a master's degree in library science. These make me the family slacker in the formal education department. My brother earned his MD at Harvard and my sister earned her PhD at Berkeley. I'm a middle child; I even earned my degrees in the middle of the country.

Rather than frequent adjustments to the iTunes list of items to download to the mini and unwilling to allow the iTunes software to make such decisions for me, I purchased a new 60GB iPod. I am a long way from filling it with music, photos, podcasts, and video podcasts. I installed iTunes on my employer-owned laptop and use it to subscribe to podcasts. Alas, recent events have given me numerous opportunities to switch from NPR to the iPod mini.
There is no music on my iPod mini. Even if it could accommodate them it would have no photographs. It does, however, have those podcasts. They include several from the SirsiDynix Institute and many of the ALA Library 2.0 podcasts released between March and June 2006. They also include some for my amusement, e.g., some of NPR's driveway moments, an Animal Planet program about cats and humans, and Travel Channel vignettes.