Seriously, please help me here. There are people who are doing GOOD blogging that deserves attention, but I read very few liblogs any longer and can't be sure what they are. Please help? - David Rothman (☤)

Sarah Glassmeyer? Rachel Walden? I don't read many library blogs, or special ones, but those two come to mind - ~Courtney F

Both excellent suggestions- thanks! - David Rothman (☤)

and, of course, Kendra :) - ~Courtney F

Two good ones in the law firm library area: http://www.geeklawblog.com/ and http://www.slaw.ca/ - Elizabeth

Thank you! More? - David Rothman (☤)

I don't blog. THOUGH I MIGHT RIGHT NOW - kendrak

Aren't these bullshit awards anyway? And isn't giving them more attention (even if it's just for being bullshit awards) exactly what they want? - Meg V. Meg

What Meg said. no offense at all to the wonderful writers listed on the site, but I thought Salem Press made up this award thing 2 years ago just to drive traffic to their website? I've never paid any attention to it or taken it seriously at all. whenever I see it mentioned anywhere, my response is 'meh. publisher looking for attention. means nothing to me'. - Christa

And yet if David uses this "awards" program as a prompt to discover blogs that are new and interesting to him and/or to promote those blogs to other people, seems like a good thing, right? - Steele Lawman

Christa and Meg are both absolutely right. - David Rothman (☤)

If he (or someone else relevant) wanted to start/organize their own awards, I would be ecstatic. I don't care what Salem Press (or that other MASTERS GRADUATE DEGREES ONLINE FOR ONLINE EDUCATION site) says about pretty much anything, much less librarian bloggers, and I would prefer they not get attention for this. - Meg V. Meg

I did this 6 years in a row on LISNews. I took this year off because it didn't seem like much new was out there. http://lisnews.org/lisnews... - Blake

Meg raises one of my peeves: The remarkable job that the Massive Network of For-Profit Online Education Sites has done of getting links for "10 Ways to Whatever" or "50 Best This" lists. As for this year's Salem Press awards...no comment. - Walt Crawford

The Open Laboratory series of books is a great example of how to recognize good blogging. Basically, it's a collection of the year's best science blogging, published initially through Lulu and now with a mainstream publisher. http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/network... - John Dupuis

That! what Blake is doing on LISNews - that's what matters to me. not some publisher looking to get their name out there. I also look to the bloggers themselves to lead me to new people to follow - either with specific posts like the LISNews one, or just by looking thru the list of 'blogs i like/follow' on their site. - Christa

http://davidrothman.net/2012... - David Rothman (☤)

and there you have it. Salem Press Blog Awards are a load of crap. - Christa

At the risk of stepping into the traffic pattern here, I have written in favor of the awards as a means of recognizing good librarian and library blogging. In reading David's post here and on his blog and as someone who judged the awards last year, it does raise some questions. As a judge, I reviewed a ton of blogs that were clearly old and abandoned and wrote in my comments reflecting the same. What I do know is that to be considered you have to be nominated; it requires someone sending a one line email to them. Is this the best system? Probably not, considering the blogs that got overlooked. But in reading through the thread here it has the same vulnerabilities that any award has. The Oscars is the night for the MPAA to shine, even if that same group is the one trying to push through SOPA and other content bills. Salem Press is a library vendor and yes there is a business calculation in giving the award, but that same argument could be conceivably made for the Banned Books List or the Newbery or the Caldecott. It raises the organization profile and drives interest. If we were really applying a purity test that companies could only sponsor awards out of the kindness of their own heart, that awards page on the ALA site would be a mite bit shorter. The people who would otherwise get the award would go unrecognized, but there has long been a school of thought in libraryland that "work should be its own reward". We might as well start judging the worthiness of the recipients by whether they have advertising on their blog or talk about the "right" topics. Personally, there is a quid pro quo to it: I get to learn about blogs I should follow (just like Blake's list), there is some recognition from the profession in terms of voting, and they get some web traffic. That might not be your cup of tea, but it is a damn good cup of tea for others. - Andy

FWIW: In the past, they offered a cash prize. Now it's a plaque. Interesting that they would want to give you a physical object for a digital creation. - Andy

I nominate LISNews for a 2013 Salem Press Blog award. Any blog that has "RE: RE: Re: Re: Re: RE: Re: Re: RE: Re: Meebo" deserves an award! - Yo Joe. No, go slow.

Thanks Joe! (You'll like the new slogan better) - Blake

Andy, these awards are obviously Bullshit. I implore you to stop lending them whatever credibility they get from your endorsement and participation because it erodes YOUR credibility. - David Rothman (☤) from Android

Additional followup: http://davidrothman.net/2012... - David Rothman (☤)

Note to self: Don't send David Rothman an award. - Steele Lawman

Not a meaningless one, anyway. - David Rothman (☤) from Android

I was not too keen on these blog awards when they were first announced, and this is what I had to say: http://bit.ly/KKqmlm Lesson learned: When you do protest this sort of stuff or call it out for what you see it as, then your're perceived as a library killjoy - what have you got against anything that celebrates the accomplishments of librarians. I have always appreciated Blake's top lists of library blogs and I said so in this post from a ftwo years ago. His lists are more thoughtful, and there's nothing commercial behind it. All that said, if the awards are making some librarians feel good about their work - and based on what I'm seeing elsewhere there is a good deal of backslapping taking place which will no doubt be followed by medallion (is that what you call it) posting on sites - that's not such a bad thing. Let's just keep it in perspective. - steven bell

David, I think if I'm going to get pre-judged on the basis of an award, people will do it over the Mover & Shaker nod (another bullshit award, depending on your social circle) than the Salem Press Award. It's ironic because I don't really hold my state's Librarian of the Year award in high regard because I've heard it described as a "wait your turn" accolade; where is the merit in an award when it is based on whoever's turn it is? It falls into the trap of who you know, a common award issue. Stephen, I don't think the library killjoy is unwarranted because for every award there is someone who will crap on it for whatever reason. There is some magical purity test that is applied that the award isn't valid or worthwhile or important because it's not the product of unbiased evaluation by isolated impartial unconnected librarian monks who are held in the highest esteem for their selfless unrewarded uncompensated service. Perhaps it would be easier to remove all of the awards so we can universally complain about a lack of recognition rather than when people we find undeserving get it. - Andy

On further thoughts, what this threads tells me is that there needs to be an LSW blog recognition thing, just like Makers & Shovers did for Movers & Shakers. Because there really are a good number of librarian and library blogs that should get recognition of some sort. - Andy

Shovers and Makers was partly a feel-good way for people to take a moment to think about what they do well and acknowledge themselves publicly. But it was also intended to skewer *all* awards. The only person who can really give you an award is you. - Steele Lawman

Steve, you might want to look at Jasper Fforde's recent book, "The Last Dragonslayer". The culture of magicians plays a role in this, and it is explained that magicians have ranks, which are skill based, and honorifics, which they give themselves. And they are very scrupulous about downgrading their honorifics when the circumstances warrant it. It was kind of interesting. - DJF

Thanks, DJF. I'm preparing for a belt test in karate, so I had that example in mind. - Steele Lawman

I hope I'm not the only person who can give me an award. I'm not inclined to do that.</facetious> I'm pretty much where Andy is. I *do* think there ought to be *some* ways we can recognize and celebrate each other, toot a horn that isn't our own. Maybe we currently do it badly. I shouldn't argue that either way, having been the recipient of (ill-deserved, quite possibly) accolades and therefore having a dog in the hunt. But if we do it badly, I'd like to argue for doing it better, rather than giving up on it. - RepoRat

(As for Movers and Shakers, I damn well got to sit at a lunch table with Griffey, John Blyberg, and this dude who was singlehandedly building a Drupal ILS for a school system that couldn't afford anything not homegrown. That will NEVER not be awesome.) - RepoRat

OK, so maybe "the only person who can give you an award is you" is too Bodhidharma/Mr. Rogers for the real world. But awards lead to drama and dissent in a way that "award yourself" does not. - Steele Lawman

It doesn't? Oh.</notreallyfacetious> To some extent, drama and dissent are part of the game -- look at literary awards, next to which Movers and Shakers drama looks like a bunch of baby kittens vying to reach the milk saucer. I do also think, however, that as a profession we are for some reason deeply unwilling to approve of, much less celebrate, each other -- though always willing and eager to cut one another down. This makes me sad (much though I sometimes resemble my own remark here), and it also makes me think "the fault is not in our [awards] but in ourselves." The LSW tends to be different -- look at us celebrating Derrick's graduation! -- and I wish the way LSW approaches these things were the profession's norm. - RepoRat

That makes sense. - Steele Lawman

There's certainly a fair bit of tall poppy syndrome in libraryland, that's for sure. We're intensely suspicious of people who market themselves too much or seem to want to be famous. I'm as guilty of it as anyone, sometimes. On the one hand, I've never been given any sort of formal award and at this stage of my life/career I don't think it would interest me that much. On the other hand, occasions like when I was approached to join ScienceBlogs (yeah, different world...) or when I was named Google Blog of the Day or whatever its called, I've really been pleased and proud. I'm human, I can't help it enjoying praise. The problem is I can't tell in my own case whether it's deserved or if I'm acting in bad faith when I self-promote or bask in the glow. - John Dupuis

I don't know about "tall poppy syndrome" exactly. We certainly talk up people who actually DO stuff. Nobody's trying to cut down Griffey, for example, but he's doing stuff. We definitely do like to take the piss out of people who seem to be famous for being well known, or advancing themselves primarily by talking about the things that other people are doing. - DJF

The thought occurs that at least some other award systems have very clear (if rather rigid) norms about how awardees are supposed to behave. (Think Oscars, for perhaps the most extreme example.) If we have those in librarianship, I TOTALLY missed the memo. - RepoRat

DJF, sure, there are plenty of people that are well-known for doing stuff that are not cut down. But there are also people that do stuff but are maybe a bit too showy about it that do tend to get taken down. Look at the Salem Press awards, I think there might be some of those in the lists over the years. - John Dupuis

Dorothea, I think what makes people a little batty is the lack of norms for making the award in the first place. Movers and Shakers, as far as I can tell, has no criteria, which is why I think of it more as a feature than an award. Awards where people or libraries have to apply or submit something, or awards for long service seem much less dramatical. - Steele Lawman

Yep, I can see that. I've always kinda wondered about the Libn of Year awards at MfPOW, because again, the criteria are pure bafflegab and the committee meetings are sooper seekrit. - RepoRat

Steve, I don't know if there can be an objective set of criteria for an award. If we were both judges in that award, how would we measure a public librarian's children literacy outreach program versus an academic librarian's campus-wide administrative? Versus a medical librarian who devised a better and more efficient system for providing research and data to doctors? Versus a school librarian who found a novel way to introduce technology skills and promote literacy? I don't know if you can have a criteria aside from "people who are making a difference or changing the library landscape". It's not something that be measured. And let's not forget that for our M&S nods, we were nominated by someone else. Other people submitted a form that said, "Hey, look at what Andy/Steve is doing! I think that's pretty awesome and noteworthy." - Andy

I just really really REALLY hate this spectre that shows up when it comes to library awards about whether or not the person Deserves it. Not that there aren't people who get awards when they really shouldn't (take a moment, I'm sure you can think of a few), but this idea that you have to put in a magical undefined amount of professional time and labor before you are eligible to get an award. It's as if I discovered how to split the atom as a graduate student and was then told, "Your accomplishment is noteworthy, but you don't deserve the award since you're not a PhD yet." Fuck you, I split the atom, that's important *now*, not when you think I've done enough academic work to 'deserve' it. - Andy

Andy, I think I wasn't clear earlier. My point in the comment about the "lack of norms for making the award" (in which I really meant "giving or receiving" the award) was meant to say that I think the kind of thing you are asking me to consider, where the kids' literacy program is up against the medlibrarian's service to doctors--I think that kind of award is fundamentally flawed from the get-go. - Steele Lawman

Jambina, I'm down with the critical discourse. I have enjoyed this thread. However, I think that David went a bit far in his effort to shame and embarrass people connected to the Salem Press award. I am in favor of publishing private emails that seek to intimidate or coerce someone--I'm not in favor of that tactic when someone is just trying to give you an award, no matter how bogus you think it is or how many strings you think come attached to it. - Steele Lawman

fair enough. i nuked things cuz i thought this was going a bit off the rails. to be frank, i would have called salem out similarly. i love you fuckers and want more critical debate. stoopid awards are awarded in all industries and of the three i've worked in so far, only librarians dissect them this way. if you hate the award - say that. if you love it - use it to pimp out libraries. if you're neutral - pimp out libraries. if you don't know, have fruitful conversation. and pimp out libraries. ; ) - jambina

Aside: Mr. 10 asked me over dinner what "pimp" (v.) meant. I told him "to sell or to make fancy. But it comes from the word for men who... control women... who are... renting.. themselves out as a girlfriend for the night? KNOW WHAT I MEAN? *studiously not looking at Mr. 7*" He was all "...oh." - Steele Lawman

According to the recognized pimpin' expert Big Daddy Kane, pimpin' ain't easy. Based on my experience pimpin' the library, I find this holds true. - Andy

It's hard out here for a pimp. - Steele Lawman

yeesh, people. - jambina

Reading this thread, I think David's original complaint has gotten lost in all this. Salem Press gave the 'best special library blog' to a blog from someone who has no longer worked in libraries for a year and with only five posts in 12 months. Clearly this isn't an "award" - it's a marketing strategy to have blogs with large readerships link back to Salem Press. As such, I think it's worthy of some disgust and anger. - copystar

I think that's the step I miss, though, copystar. I get that it's a marketing strategy, but it seems clear to me that they are doing a lousy job with that strategy if they are awarding near-dormant blogs. It seems worthy of some mockery, but I don't understand where the anger comes from. - Steele Lawman

The rage comes from where ever rage comes from on the Internet. Everybody has different things they get incredibly angry about but the joy of platforms like FF & Twitter is that we all get to experience each others' flip-out moments. - John Dupuis

On the presumption that the judging criteria was the same this year as it was last year, as a judge you get a series of partial lists of blogs to evaluate. You get a blog title, a url, and a category. Other judges are given the same lists as well but you are not judging every single nomination that they receive. Some of the judging is very easy; the blog is clearly out of date or a link or image dump. Some of it is harder; looking at an up-to-date blog it becomes a matter of looking through the content to get a sense of the caliber of writing and what kind of issues that they tackle. Looking at David's blog in this light, I can see that he hadn't posted much in last year. There's nothing that indicates to me that he hasn't worked in libraries in a year so I'd presume that he still does. Based on personal knowledge I can remember that hubbub about the Annoyed Librarian and professionalism. (Boy, those were good times.) I'd give the blog a favorable impression and move on to the next. I hope this gives people an insight into how the judging works. To me, the top 4 blogs for voting represent the best 4 nominations they got and evaluated. It doesnt mean Rachel's or Sara's blog is not worthy of recognition, but that it wasn't nominated. (Hell, I was nominated and a finalist and didn't know I was either till I went to do see the nominated blogs.) Beyond that, there is nothing to control who votes for what but I'm guessing that they saw David Rothman and thought, "Hey, I think I know that guy" and tapped on your bubble. - Andy

@Copystar- Thank you, yes. @Andy, the blog EXPLICITLY says I don't work in a library. The blurb from my ABOUT page that Salem put on their awards page says what I do for a living. If the awards have ANY meaning, is it okay for judges to say "Oh, I recognize that guy," and stop there? If it really is that casual, you're supporting my assertion that the award is meaningless. - David Rothman (☤)

Above, Steve Lawson wrote: "However, I think that David went a bit far in his effort to shame and embarrass people connected to the Salem Press award." 1. Steve, *you're* not allowed to fault anyone else for going too far. Neither am I. 2. You yourself have criticized others for ascribing motive- stop projecting. I didn't shame anyone. The award is obviously a marketing ploy and is obviously messed up if it awards a near-dormant blog. I thought this should be pointed out. That's it. I'm very, very tired of being hypocritically judged by you, Lawson. - David Rothman (☤)

For me, the bottom line is that they are using librarians as a means to an end, that unlike the Movers and Shakers has nothing to do with promoting librarians really. At least with Library Journal, you know there's a basic interest in stories that involve librarians. With a publisher like Salem, it's basically stroking so librarians will buy their books. M&S at least has a modicum of sincerity behind it. I don't really see the sincerity here. - ɥsıuɐʎɹ

Also, I'm cranky because I've been getting an increase of people stroking my ego for what can best be described as spammy purposes. - ɥsıuɐʎɹ

I think it's fine to point this out. I even think your original post was fine, even if I don't understand the anger. I thought your follow-up post was gratuitous, and it seemed reasonable to me to point that out when jambina was talking about "critical discourse." You don't need my permission to criticize me whenever you think I deserve it and I don't need yours to do likewise. - Steele Lawman

Again, Steve- you're ascribing anger where there is none. I wish I'd seen Jambina's comments. I didn't, so I can't comment further on that. Of course neither of us needs the other's permission, Steve. I'm trying to appeal to the most rational, reasonable parts of yourself. Your constant, hypocritical judging (and not just of me) is the reason why I rarely contribute anything here any more ...and I think many here know others you've driven off. Please consider changing this behavior. Again, you're not a fit judge of what is or isn't gratuitous. You don't like it when I link to examples that support this assertion. Would you like me to invite others to assemble examples? - David Rothman (☤)

David. Do whatever you need to do in order to make this interesting discussion that you sparked into a thing about how I'm a bad guy. I'm not sure what that has to do with what's under discussion now, but if you'd like to get into it, please link, invite, do whatever you gotta do. - Steele Lawman

You're not a bad guy, Steve- you're hypocritical and judgmental and I'm not the only one who feels like I can't say anything without taking shit from you. I'm imploring you to re-examine your behavior and consider a change. - David Rothman (☤)

LSW, remember when this was about cultivating a positive, supportive environment? Take care, folks. - David Rothman (☤)

You are absolutely right that I'm hypocritical and judgmental. I have been so in the past, and I'm sure I will be in the future, and I'll do what I can to improve. I appreciate your concern for my well-being David, and the well-being of the LSW. - Steele Lawman

I don't even see why "anger" keeps coming up. David's posts didn't read to me at all as "anger" - they read to me as "I think this is bunk, and here's why." It seems inappropriate to tell him what his emotions are, and then criticize him for them (other than telling him why you read it as anger), when he's explicitly saying it's not anger. I don't actually see how what he posted is any more shaming than the actual handling of the awards themselves, except for the personal judgment of whether one would have gone so far as to post the actual email - but again, that person's involvement was in no way a secret. - Rachel Walden

The wannabe anthropologist/sociologist/psychologist in me is very curious about why some people (myself included) thought the posts (especially the second post) sounded angry and aggressive while other people (like Rachel) didn't get that vibe at all. People are complicated. - lris

Maybe disdain is a better word than anger? Anyways, personally I think the first post was completely justifiable, hitting the appropriate level of disdain for what is pretty clearly a marketing ploy disguised as an award. The second post? Piling on a bit too much in my opinion and to me more angry than sarcastic or disdainful. Clearly the person involved sees herself as a bit of a drive-by victim and was probably hoping to discuss how she felt in private. - John Dupuis

David, the name recognition factor is one that comes in with any award. Whether it is an Oscar or employee of the year, people will go with names (and for that matter, terms) that they recognize over ones that they don't. It's the known vs the unknown. Even in this contest, I voted for blogs that I had heard over over ones I had not. If I was acting in an objective manner, I would have gone to each blog and evaluated each. Instead, I did what many many other people did: I voted for the ones I knew. As maddening as that is, it is not completely unfamiliar. I don't think it's an uncommon experience at all and it comes into play with everything from elections to grocery shopping to picking out conference talks to attend. If casual knowledge makes an award meaningless, then there are a ton of awards (including the Nobel ones, I'd argue) that would be meaningless. - Andy

Hey guys and gals, look at these cute kittens! http://bit.ly/N9ueHz - Yo Joe. No, go slow.

I didn't mean to be a thread killer. I just wanted to lighten the mood a little bit. - Yo Joe. No, go slow.