How time flies when it’s nice outside and a new academic year is getting underway. As some of you know I’ve been reluctant to call this a blog. Somehow blogging or being a blogger just didn’t set well with me. But that’s what it really is. So, here goes: I haven’t blogged lately, not because there is nothing to say, but work and life and family and activities happen and the next thing you know our basement floods, we deal with a skateboard accident and lost teeth, and here on campus we’re a month into the semester. September has been busy!

Did you know that the word blog is a combination of two words – Web and log. As the name implies, a blog is a record of information posted on the Web. There are millions of blogs out there that cover millions of topics, including Looking out my window. I’d like to introduce you – if you aren’t following already, the blogs presented by our colleagues who write about what is going on in departments around the library and in the larger library community.

Cardinal Tales: The Blog of Special Collections and University Archives at Iowa State University covers all things SCUA including a look back at the 1975-76 Cyclones men’s basketball team, World Soil Day, popcorn hybridization, the 1900 Old Main fire and Stephens Auditorium. Not only is the auditorium an architectural icon, but many noteworthy names have performed there.

Scholarly Communication @ ISU Library is a blog on scholarly communication topics written by colleagues around the library. Posts cover all-things open access, copyright, fair use and open data, to name a few. Understanding Predatory Publishers is a recent post that, as the name implies, discusses predatory publishers, how to spot scams and how to avoid them.

Parks Library Preservation is a blog about the activities in the Preservation lab and department. Staff write about preservation techniques, digital initiatives, visitors to the lab and even RAGBRAI (Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa).

Follow these blogs and let the post writers know what you like.