Hello, World!

That's right, folks! We are hereby announcing the formation of a new blog. Not just any blog--a library blog. And not just any library blog--OUR library blog. ("Our", of course, means Mantor Library's. And by Mantor Library, we mean the library at the University of Maine at Farmington.)

But wait, you ask. Who are we, and what's a library blog? Read on!

Once it's fully operational, our blog will basically cover a different piece of library-related information every weekday. Here's the breakdown:

• Mondays will give you the ins and outs of everything that happened at Mantor Library the week before, as well as alert you to everything that will happen at the library in the week ahead.
• Tuesdays will focus on technology, talking about all the latest trends and news, particularly where those trends intersect with libraries. This won't just be cutting edge news for technophiles, however. We'll also be touching on older technology that some people might not be aware of, highlighting the way technology can be used to make your research and information finding and organization life easier. So for example, this would include a review of the iPad, an overview of eBooks as they apply to libraries, talk about how to use feed readers to stay on top of blogs--that sort of thing.
• Wednesdays will be our "Ask a Librarian" column, where we discuss the inner workings of what goes on in a library. How things get from the author to the publisher to the library to you, and everything in between. How do we catalog? Why do we? What's the difference between Dewey and LC? If you've got questions, we want to answer them! If you don't have questions, we'll come up with Other Stuff to Tell You. :-)
• Thursdays will be a look at the current events in Librarydom--the world of libraries beyond the limited scope of Mantor. Whether it's shrinking budgets, changing cataloging standards, cool new YouTube videos by librarians or anything else, look for it here!
• Fridays will be a sampling of reviews of books and movies that the library owns. Not just bestsellers or the latest and greatest--but old classics, tried and true workhorses and anything else. We'll highlight the best of our collection.

So there you have it--that's what a library blog is, or at least what our blog will be. We hope there's something here for everyone, whether you're just interested in what's going on at Mantor, or you're interested in staying on top of technology trends, or you just want to know more about libraries in general--you can find it here at Browsing Room.

As to who we are--there will be two of us blogging. I'm the 1337 Librarian, and I'll be taking care of you on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. My counterpart has yet to think of a name for herself, so we'll just call her She Who Must Not Be Named for now--she'll keep you entertained Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. We'll probably have a post in the coming days detailing more about who we are and where our interests trend, in the meantime, Hello! Welcome!

I'm not really sure how long it will take for us to get settled into our groove--I'd expect a fair bit of upheaval in the next month or so as we work out the kinks to this blogging thing. Give us a bit of patience--it'll pay off in the long run!

Thanks for reading, and see you soon!