Patron Blogs

This course is not my first foray into the world of blogging. I had set up a blog for our teen patrons and hoped that it would become a discussion board of sorts in which the kids could discuss books, movies, etc., and offer ideas for programs. This was not the case. Very little feedback was received and I have no way of even knowing if anyone was reading the blog. I knew I would probably not be able to update the blog more than about once a week but as time went on, frustrated because I felt no one was reading the blog, I posted less and less. I saw no point in posting only about upcoming events as that would be merely a duplication of our online events calendar. I had also created a blog for younger kids and their parents, with the same results. Not long ago we removed the links to the blogs from our web site, although the blogs themselves still exist.

Our library web site does not have either a children's page or a teen page, although I believe at some time in the future these will exist on a revamped web site. The problem is that the site is being redone by one of our reference librarians who has other projects to work on as well, so the new web site is not a top priority. I have seen library web sites that use blogs as their children's and teen pages and wonder if this is something I should do while waiting for our new site. Has anyone had experience doing this? Do you think this is an effective use of a blog? The old link on our web site just said, "Blogs," which may have contributed to the issue of non-use.