Literary Tumblrs

I have been contemplating new formats of web based RA information.  Earlier this month I posted about vlogs.  Today, I want to talk about Tumblr for a few moments.

Tumblr is a free service where people can create "micro-blogs."  These have more information than a Twitter post, but less than a full blog.  Often, Tumblr accounts use a picture and caption format to pass on information.  Others use Tumblr as social networking platform.

Click here for more info.

With the increase in popularity of Tumblr, there has been a subset of its users who have chosen to use it for literary and bookish pursuits.  Some have used it to create long lists of favorite last lines of books, publishers are on there trying to sell books, and there are even some libraries giving Tumblr a try to some moderate success.

The best primer on literary Tumblrs is this article from early February in The Millions.  I waited to post it so that the comments could grow.  With the extra links listed in the comments, this is a great way to introduce yourself to all Tumblr can do. Conversely, it is also an excellent way to see the platform's limitations.  Some of these sights are awesome, while others are just plain bad.

In terms of using it as a resource for leisure readers, it may be limited.  But as a way for your library to connect with users, and as a way for you to stay informed quickly and easily it might work.  Like the vlogs discussion, I suggest you at least look into Tumblr and think about how you may use it.  Whether or not you do dive into Tumblr is less important.

I do have a colleague, Leah who has been on Tumblr for awhile and is a big proponent of it.  If you want more information, I would suggest you check her out on Tumblr here.

If there are other new formats or resources you would like me to blog about, please contact me.