Social Networking as Ethical Discourse: Blogging a Practical and Normative Library Ethic

Reflective practice in the library and information sector

“…This response concurs with Powers (2008), who highlighted the function of library blogs in conducting professional debates; and with Sanders and McKeown (2007), who found that virtual communities of practice were beneficial to personal and social reflection.…”

“…The immediacy of online debates, conducted via library blogs, makes them more useful than published codes and scholarly literature in addressing contemporary ethical issues arising from practice (Powers, 2008) .…”

Negotiating Self-presentation, Identity, Ethics, Readership and Privacy in the LIS Blogosphere: A Review of the Literature

“…It is for these reasons that academic librarian bloggers were selected as a priority for this review. Kjellberg (2010) and Powers (2008) are in agreement that people turn to blogging, with its capacity to generate informal networks, as a more efficient way to discuss ideas than traditional publishing modes, which take so much longer. Blogs have opened up publishing opportunities to librarians in a significant way, as bloggers are able to test out ideas with colleagues before taking them further along traditional publishing pathways (Pankl and Ryan 2006).…”

“…They are an important communication channel for the profession that allows for the creation of networks and collaborations to emerge between peers (Luzón 2008). Powers (2008) concurs, adding that librarians are able to be "in conversations" without the limitations of distance, time or media through the avid librarian blogger community. Librarian blogs are situated within a 218…”

“…She postulated that academic libraries, in particular, are highly supportive of their staff becoming published and that blogs are well-documented as being a place in which bloggers can practice their writing skills (Farkas 2007). Academic librarian bloggers in the United States have reported motivations for publishing their blogs as including engaging with a community of librarian colleagues, debating LIS issues and technologies, and discussing and reflecting on the LIS profession (Powers 2008;Stephens 2008). It is for these reasons that academic librarian bloggers were selected as a priority for this review.…”