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The article offers suggestions for librarians seeking to develop a blog to add to a professional online portfolio. Discovering one's own voice and blogging style, selecting topics, and acquiring readers are examined. Increasing online visibility by commenting on topically similar blogs, linking to the posts of other blogs, and cross-posting entries through various social networking communities including Twitter, Facebook, and FriendFeed are also discussed.

In this article the author suggests that prospective librarians must establish a positive online identity and presence as part of the job search process. She proposes that individuals assess themselves as a brand to be marketed. She points to the influence of personal profiles on online social networks such as Facebook and Twitter on employer hiring decisions.

The article discusses the importance of a good online identity that will have an impact on young adults' future job prospects, as well as an organization's brand consciousness. It cites the efforts done by many librarians to teach the young adults on how to develop social networking sites and the importance of maintaining a good online identity. It presents the bad effects of having derogatory posts and other things such as compromising photographs. It also offers suggestions on what libraries can do when faced by bad publicity online.

The author reflects on the use of social media. She says that with more than 300 million active Facebook users, chances are that most of the people one knows uses social media in their lives. She adds that with this kind of networking, the line between the personal and professional life of an individual is blurred, which can create an impact for the organizations they work with. She suggests that organizations must create a standard on employee use of social media, which details the guidelines on the official or personal use of social media.

The author reflects on the use of social software to connect people around local interests and to collect local knowledge more effectively. According to the author, using social software to collect community knowledge fits in well with most library missions on many levels. She discusses wikis created by several libraries across the U.S. She suggests that when thinking about projects like wikis, it is important to consider the culture of the local population.

The article reports that many libraries are now phasing out their print journal collections as more and more become available online. However, database publishers still have not managed to recreate the experience of browsing journals in a reading room. The best journals in a specific subject area may be scattered across several databases, requiring time and effort to track them down. Information on emerging technologies to address this issue are presented.

The article explains how Really Simple Syndication (RSS) libraries can take control of their web presence without needing access to their server. RSS is a format for syndicating content on the Web. There are many types of content that come with RSS feeds, which include news sites, blogs and social book marking sites. Many libraries use a blog that is separate from their website to share library news. Using a tool that displays RSS feeds online would let the library display its blog content directly on the library site.

The article focuses on the social bookmarking site del.icio.us, which enables users to assign multiple descriptive terms, or tags, to each website so they are more easy to search for. The process of creating bookmarks and organizing them with del.icio.us. is discussed. It cites that the Menasha Public Library in Wisconsin has a link to its del.icio.us bookmarks on its front page under the title Recommended Websites.

The article reviews the web site of Ann Arbor District Library in Michigan, available at www.aadl.org.

The article offers tips for successfully implementing technologies in libraries. Librarians are asked to develop a risk-tolerant environment and should consider the population of the library. The article advises that the best way to get everyone committed to a new technology is to involve staff from all levels in planning. Librarians are also suggested to consider sustainability and maintenance issues. When it comes to marketing, librarians are also proposed to focus on the functionality.

The article presents information on wikis and how they could help libraries make a subject guide easier to update, searchable and collaborative. A wiki allows a group of people with no knowledge of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) to collaboratively develop a Web site. Anyone in the wiki community can add to or edit anyone else's writing.