Contact: Kathleen Hughes

PLA

312-280-4028

 

For Immediate Release

January 11, 2005

 

PLA blogs ALA Midwinter Meeting

 

CHICAGO - PLA's first official Weblog will make its debut at the ALA Midwinter Meeting. Librarian, consultant and blogger Steven M. Cohen, who is best known as the proprietor of LibraryStuff.net and also serves as the Internet Spotlight columnist for Public Libraries magazine, began the PLA blog effort. PLA will test the Weblog by sending out a "posse" of volunteer librarian/bloggers to report on PLA-related meetings and events at ALA's Midwinter Meeting in Boston, January 14-19, 2005.

 

Cohen made the announcement in a December 8, 2004 post on Library Stuff by saying, "We're going to blog it and we're going to blog hard," adding "and we're going to do it right." Approximately a dozen bloggers, many long-time practitioners and a few newcomers, will fan out to cover meetings, exhibits, programs, networking functions and events, such as the President's Programs and receptions. In addition to text posts, bloggers will share pictures of their experiences as well.

 

According to Cohen, the mission of the PLA blog in general, and the Midwinter effort in particular, is twofold: 1) To get the national library associations in the United States excited about blogging. 2) Equally, if not more important, to use the blog to make the conference more immediate and accessible to those unable to attend who want to "play along at home." 

 

The announcement was met with enthusiasm by several long-time bloggers, including Jenny Levine of ShiftedLibrarian.com and Karen Schneider of FreeRangeLibrarian.com. (Schneider will be lending her talents to the Midwinter blogfest.)   Levine predicted in a January 8, 2005, ShiftedLibrarian post that "this will be the start of something big."  

 

The blog is at http://www.plablog.org/. PLA is a division of the American Library Association.