Trying something new (to us)

When the Southern California Chapter first met to discuss how to proceed with redesigning the SLA-SCC web site in 2006, a lot of the conversation centered around how, or even if, to use blogging.

We discussed creating the entire site using MovableType and centering everything on the easy-to-use content publishing interface; even going so far as to explore, even if only nominally, whether a wiki would make more sense.

Ultimately, the executive board settled on a simple, traditional web site redesign, maintaining our brochure-like structure. With that decision made, however, we didn't give up on how we might incorporate blogging into the mix. This is the first attempt at seeing how a blog -- using the ever-so-friendly Google Blogger interface -- might work for us.

Each month, SLA-SCC will feature new content from the world of special libraries. We may also have a monthly sponsor for our posts -- please be patient with us as we work on incorporating these sponsor logos into the posts. Their generosity (the sponsors, that is) will help make our ongoing events successful, and featuring their lovely logos next to our posts is a new way that we hope to say Thanks.

Enough about how the blog works -- I'm familiar with blogs -- what's in it for me?

We're glad you asked. In the past, our PDF newsletters have provided you with calendar information, event recaps and other tid-bits from the SLA-SCC world on a 4 to 6-times per year basis. However, today, information moves much quicker than that. Also, because we have such a talented membership, some of the content we'd love to put into the newsletter simply doesn't make it, or, because of the schedule, seems like "old news" by the time we are able to deliver it to you via e-mail.

Our blog should help us be more timely, encourage more engagement from our extraordinary -- if geographically challenged -- membership, give us a great avenue through which to thank our sponsors, and help us keep you informed in a more comprehensive manner.

Here, we'll write about what's coming up, post brief event recaps, share pictures and link to our online galleries at www.sla-scc.org, and perhaps even get over the hump of that laborious newsletter publication schedule that our various Publication Chairs have so admirably contended with, lo these many years.

Also, thanks to a host of new widgets recently launched through this interface we can conduct surveys (see right), provide you up-to-date info on Library news from Google News (also at the right), and because you can post comments, we may even get to hear from all you folks in the Southland more often! (Not to mention potential Flickr photo streams, Picasa Web galleries, YouTube goodness and other hot topics we all care so much about.)

There are lots of blogs on the internet and we know we're woefully late to the party, but that doesn't make our arrival any less momentous... not in our eyes at least. So, click on that Comments (0) link (below) and let us know what you think. Drop us a line even! And, if you are interested in becoming a contributor to this blog, let us know. We have room for a few and would love to ramp up and make our presence felt in the biblioblogosphere.

Cheers!
The SLA-SCC Board