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The Dean of the School of Library and Information Sciences at Indiana University, Blaise Cronin, maintains an open mind about blogging. [here]

One wonders for whom these hapless souls blog. Why do they choose to expose their unremarkable opinions, sententious drivel and unedifying private lives to the potential gaze of total strangers? What prompts this particular kind of digital exhibitionism? The present generation of bloggers seems to imagine that such crassly egotistical behavior is socially acceptable and that time-honored editorial and filtering functions have no place in cyberspace. Undoubtedly, these are the same individuals who believe that the free-for-all, communitarian approach of Wikipedia is the way forward. Librarians, of course, know better.

Books are great. I still love to handle a book or magazine. But almost everything I have learned in the last 2 years has come from the Web. I have learned more about Sales and Marketing through blogs than any MBA program. I have learned how to quickly and clearly communicate complex ideas by putting my ideas on the Web for commentary.

Libraries will always exist; attitudes like Dr. Cronin’s will not.

Via Kevin Briody