08/20/09: Read/Listen to their story!

 

On Monday August 31st, I would like to propose a blogathon to raise funds on behalf of the Louisville Free Public Library. Earlier this month, the main library fell victim to a flood which put over four feet of water in their basement. As you can imagine, a lot of stuff got ruined. Steve Lawson, a member of Library Society of the World, was moved enough by their plight to set up a PayPal donation account so as to collect fund and write a check to the Library on September 1st. (Update to his post here.) I thought that, through a combined effort on the part of the library blogging community, we might push the fund raising campaign up a notch. And thus was born the idea of a blogathon.

 

What is a blogathon?

For this event, I am borrowing liberally from Bobbi Newman's "Day in the Life of a Librarian". Rather than ask people to write on a common account over a specified time period (typically 24 hours), I'm asking people to write an entry on a common theme and post it on their blog MONDAY AUGUST 31ST. (In looking around at the web, this would be a non-traditional blogathon.) These events are done to raise awareness, to engage in fundraising, and to bring the blogging community together around a single cause.

 

So, what do I do now?

A few things before the big day on MONDAY AUGUST 31ST:

(1) You can make a monetary donation directly to the Louisville Free Public Library Foundation. There is no such thing as a donation that is too small! Everything counts! In the alternative, if you are in the Louisville area, donations of time or materials work in lieu of money to help out the library.

(2) Register your name & blog at the bottom of this page.

(3) Advertise your participation and pass the word to other librarian bloggers of this event through your blog. Here are some graphics to help.

"Flood them with money!" as inspired by Steve Lawson.

A banner you can use to link to here. (Link to the picture in Flickr)

 

You can link back to this wiki or to the Louisville Free Public Library Foundation. Here are the links for that:

http://lfplblogathon.pbworks.com/

http://www.lfplfoundation.org/

 

A Twitter, Myspace, and/or Facebook icon. (Link to the picture in Flickr)

 

Share this wiki on Myspace and Facebook. Tweet about it on Twitter (hashtag: #lfplblogathon). Throw the icon in your sidebar with a link. Let it be a presence on your blog for the now.

 

(4) Between now and MONDAY AUGUST 31ST, please write a post for your blog on this carefully chosen theme:

 

"Why Libraries Kick Ass"

 

(Or the PG version: "Why Libraries Rock". Or the very G version: "Why Libraries are Awesome".)

 

I would request that the theme (whichever variation of it you have chosen) be the title of your post. Aside from that, interpret the theme as you will. Since this is about raising money on the behalf of a library, it bears saying why libraries are so important to our society as a whole. So, give it your all! Because the next library that you are soliciting support for might be your own.

 

Also, be sure to include links to the Louisville Free Public Library Foundation (http://www.lfplfoundation.org/) in your post so your readers can donate!

 

(5) On Monday August 31st, place your carefully crafted post on your blog! Tweet it, share it on social media, and email it to your friends/colleagues!

 

That's it!

 

The Louisville Free Public Library gets a donation, you get a fun post to write (to train yourself for future advocacy), and the library blogger community unites for a good cause! It's a win-win-win situation!

 

Can't wait to read them all on the 31st!

 

 

Participating Bloggers:

(1) Andy Woodworth, Agnostic, Maybe

(2) Bryant Durrell, Population: One

(3) Buffy Hamilton, The Unquiet Librarian

(4) Nancy Mattoon, Book Patrol

(5) Melissa Fortson, meLISsa BLOG

(6) Rebecca Goldman (Dee Dee), Derangement and Description

(7) Beth Tribe (mlibrarianus), Tech From the Non-Techie

(8) Amy J. Kearns, MLIS, Library Garden

(9) Mary Beth Sancomb-Moran, Impromptu Librarian

(10) Stephanie Zimmerman, LSLCTraining

(11) Central Jersey Regional Library Cooperative, CJRLC Blog

(12) Steve Lawson, See Also...

(13) Valerie Forrestal, Ridiculously Digitally Ubiquitous

(14) Fifth Period Media 21 Students, Our Netvibes Page of Student Blogs

(15) Seventh Period Media 21 Students, Our Netvibes Page of Student Blogs

(25) the.effing.librarian

(26) Yvonne M @ MissCybrarian

(27) Anna Van Scoyoc, first conclusions

(28) Chris Bourg Why (academic) libraries rock

(29) Luke Rosenberger, Any Hexagon

(30) Friends of the Rosewell Library (Roswell, GA)

(31) BCR Marketing & Advocacy Get Used

(32) Nikki Dettmar, Eagle Dawg Blog

(33) amy buckland in forming thoughts