I’ve been blogging for some time. In December of 2005 I decided to stop my political, hobby, and personal blog posts and began focusing on my new interest: libraries. I had just finished my first semester of library school, and realized I had posted more library posts than anything, and I wasn’t sure how my personal blogging would impact the inevitable job search.
So now you see just that: my library posts. I named my blog “Lauren’s Library Blog” largely because I felt it was too early to specialize and I knew I’d be writing about whatever courses I’d be taking. My subtitle changed fairly regularly, but I stayed with “Lauren’s Library Blog.” Now I’m trying to decide if I should keep that title, or move to something more subject specific (and a little less self-centric).
The problem, for me, is that I don’t know how to specialize. I love technology. I am really interested in virtual participation. My job title is “Instructional Design Librarian” and I truly believe that instructional design principles could help the field in major ways. Communication (particularly electronic) is another area I’m interested in. I’m endlessly fascinated by social epistemology. I collect in Women’s and Gender Studies and would collect in Philosophy if I could. I tend to be more theoretical, but I make my mark with innovation, and I tend to write more practical blog posts.
So, for those of you further into the field… how did you decide what to specialize in? Was it something you were doing in your day-to-day job? Something of immense interest to you? Some other determining factor?
After all, I need to get a better name for this place than, “Lauren’s Library Blog.” 
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Comments 6
There’s a reason why I went with “eclectic” in my blog title. Don’t feel like you have to specialize just because some (or many) have done so. If you’re unhappy with your blog title, change it, but don’t feel like it has to also be your mission statement.
Posted 14 Feb 2008 at 4:55 pm ¶Gah! Would like an edit button, please. “Don’t feel like” in successive sentences… I can has grammer? kthxbye!
Posted 14 Feb 2008 at 4:56 pm ¶I think that if you just focus on projects that interest you (and that you can get support for in your organization) you’ll just sort of fall into a niche — however narrow or broad. My title — Librarian for Digital Technology and Learning — is so broad I get to justify doing almost anything with it. Very cool. It also means I get pulled into all sorts of task forces — gotta watch that! I think you’ve got the same covered with “Instructional Design” librarian. With all your interests, that’s a great first job to have! So expansive!
No need to change your blog title, imo…or go with something expansive rather than specialized.
Posted 14 Feb 2008 at 6:59 pm ¶Thanks for your comments… and reassurance! I guess I get so used to the conversations about specialization that I begin to see that as the One True Path. Eclectic and expansive interests and titles do have quite a few desirable qualities. Thanks for reminding me.
Posted 16 Feb 2008 at 3:07 pm ¶I’d not worry about using your name. It is your weblog. Weblogs reflect the person behind them. Nothing egocentric about putting your name up front. On a community weblog, like LISnews, it is different. It is also different on a work sponsored weblog.
I’d think twice about changing the name. Will you confuse your readers? Prehaps lose some? What is to be gained by a name change?
Posted 19 Feb 2008 at 7:13 pm ¶Thanks David. I like that nuance; it makes sense.
Posted 22 Feb 2008 at 9:12 pm ¶Post a Comment