This is How To Library Blog

I found this beautiful library blog this morning, from Adelaide City Council:

Charlotte's Blog

It's gorgeous! It looks good, great colours and layouts, is chatty and informal yet informative, clearly tells you that it's part of Adelaide City Council without "badging" all over the place and going corporate, and draws you right to the library website all over the place, without leaving you feeling spammed or harrassed.

This is what I would love to do for us. Get rid of all the marketing rubbish that is imposed on us, keep it simple and attractive and yet draw your readers to the places that you want them to see.

I think a lot of Web2.0 technology has excellent applications for libraries. Twitter, Facebook, blogging, Flickr, you name it - we could be using all of these to create a presence in the online world, without being formal or contrived in any way. But I think one of the thing that holds us back is the fact that everything has to be "branded". It just makes it look false and boring. Marketing strategies are great for printed matter, formal information websites and the physical appearance of branches and venues, but when it comes to the online environment, formality just kills it.

I hope to see a lot more push to allow public organisations go in this direction, as ACC are showing it can be done and done really successfully.