Comments on: Social Media Savvy?

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:29:44 +0000

I really enjoy this blog because you do talk about issues faced by a new archivist at work. It makes this blog unique among the countless archives blogs that seem to exist nowadays. At the same time, I understand that it is important to protect yourself and your archives.

By: Katherine

Katherine — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:25:45 +0000

I think a lot of it depends on the type of place where you’re working. It seems like in your situation, your blog could easily be an asset to your archive. Since I work for a large company, they’re extraordinarily conscious of what is said by their employees and how it reflects on the company. In a place with a large number of employees, there’s simply a greater risk that one person will say something thoughtless that will reflect badly on the entire company. Essentially, it comes down to the fact that they could be sued if I say something stupid. They definitely appreciate social media and participate actively, but they’re very careful to make sure that this is through official channels.

I think that there is a lot of value that can come from discussing archives, records, and especially specific collections on blogs and in other web 2.0 venues. It’s extraordinarily important to find new ways to make collections more accessible to users. It seems like your blog could be a good way of doing that. Your dedication to your institution is admirable. Honestly, while I enjoy what I do, I’m not sure how many people would want to read about it.

I brought up the issue of social media policies because it was an issue that I never really considered when I was going to school. I heard several times about how prospective employers would check to see what was available about you online when you were applying for jobs, but not as much about requirements on what you could talk about after getting the job.

By: coveredwithpapers

coveredwithpapers — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:05:05 +0000

I don’t think my employer has a social media policy, but I did start my “covered with papers” blog to write specifically about my professional activities, including what I do at work. So this is something I’ll probably have to watch.

I started the blog on my own because I imagined that if I were to propose an official blog for my work unit, it would take a long time to get it started. I was maybe feeling a little envious of all the archivists out there who already are happily blogging away on their own. Plus, I thought: if this goes anywhere, I could then show it to my employer as an example of an outreach tool we could use. And if it goes nowhere, then I haven’t dragged the whole work unit into a waste of time. Virtuous self-sacrifice.

But I’ve wondered about how much to post on specific collections that I work on, personal opinions on certain things, and so on. One thing that came across my mind was using the blog to throw out drafts of articles and so on for public critique . . .

There are a lot of potential uses and many of them are disruptive of current standard operating procedure. I hope that official policies governing individual professionals’ use of these media don’t take too long in catching up to the reality.