Librarian in Black Blog Review

It may seem odd to recommend a blog like the Librarian in Black on this site, since it focuses solely on libraries. However, the discussion of technology within the library setting has proved insightful. The benefits of reading about technology used in a particular setting are great. Too often, technology writing, even my own, is divorced from a particular context. It may sound silly, but how a person uses something as mundane as Excel in an accounting office may look very different from the way a library may use it. It is not the library part that interests me as much as how technologies are implemented and the often creative ways they are used.

Often, LIB discusses something about a technology that is often overlooked on other blogs. Since the blog deals directly with practical application in a real setting, there is very little theory or fluff. For LIB, the question always is “Will it work in a library context?”

We need to ask that question regarding are our given contexts. Technology should be contextualized. Too often technology is generalized. When that happens, I think it loses some of its power.

I would like to see more blogs of this nature. Is there someone out there that works for a city government who is head of IT? or someone who is involved in IT for a large retail chain? etc., etc., etc.