Blogs and Microblogs for Academic Research

The traditional scholarly publishing cycle can take years to get information out to an audience. Newer platforms for scholarly communication, such as blogs, Twitter, and Facebook, virtually eliminate this lag time and facilitate warp-speed sharing of ideas.

·         What social media sources have you found relevant to your own or your patrons’ research?

·         Is there a type of research that lends itself better to using social media sources?

·         What tools and strategies can librarians use help students and faculty find high quality social media sources that are relevant to their research?

·         How can librarians help students and faculty evaluate the quality of social media sources? What considerations make them similar to traditional sources? What differentiates them?

·         How can librarians promote social media sources to faculty members? Are there examples of high-quality research using social media sources that can serve as a model to skeptical faculty members?

Proposed by Dawn Emsellem & Laura Kohl