As LexBlog gears up in its work in backing the Open Legal Blog Archive Project, we’re looking for help.
Help with the work we know we have to get done – identify and enter credible legal blogs in the Archive – as well insight on the organization and retrieval of legal information.
We’re pretty good when it comes to publishing platforms for blogging and knowing how to blog to build a reputation. But archiving what will be five to ten thousand blogs and a hundred thousand bloggers, that’s a another story.
I have started reaching out to university library programs and university law libraries, both for feedback on the archive project and for the skills we’ll need for someone – full time or as an intern.
I have even asked a few to circulate a job posting for interns.
Legal blogs are often dismissed by universities and law schools, but the law librarians I talk to see great value in legal blogs – and an archive to store them.
Legal blogs are, after all, kicking out as much, if not more, timely insight on legal niches than any form of publishing.
We need to elevate this form of legal publishing and archive the blogs being published for an effective research and citation system. We need to have library science programs discussing blogs and their archival and citation.
If you know of the better schools with library science – knowledge management programs with a legal bent, let me know.
If you’re part of a library science or knowledge management program and want to discuss the role of blogs in professional publishing, I’d welcome talking.
I see the Archive project as another way to harness the passion and innovation of library professionals of today.