CARIB LIN's Goals for 2012

2007-2011

This month marks the 4th year since the launch of this blog. It has not been easy to keep it operational. Many blogs start and die pretty quickly, and keeping CARIBLIN alive, without any partner, was not easy.

Nevertheless, the commitment to having the voice in the LIS blogosphere to report on LIS news about the Caribbean is one of the driving ideal that keeps me going. I also dream of the day, when this initiative will be collaborative, where many other young Caribbean LIS professionals and students will take over this initiative and truly apply blogging to keep each other up-to-date with what is going on in the region's libraries.

Such sharing is important, because there are so many valuable and practical information that this blog provides:

• a source of research ideas and inspiration. Students who are considering research ideas, could use the news articles here to help them launch into research on what is currently taking place in the region's libraries.

• a source for locating possible sponsors, donors and organisations that would give support to Caribbean libraries. News contained here could assist in the development of a donor database for libraries, that will indicate companies in the past that have donated to Caribbean libraries or the cause of libraries. 

• a source of case studies in the regions libraries, for LIS education that wants to provide some global context (of comparative library studies) to their LIS curriculum

These are few of the ideas for which I see this blog as being extremely valuable.

For 2011, my goals were to

• maintain the blog entries on the English-speaking Caribbean library and information environment to at least 3 entries per month.
• maintain grammatically and error free entries, while ensuring that this blog is accurate, trustworthy and reliable.

• provide a voice in the blogosphere for issues in Caribbean library and information service environment
• and to report developments that are of interest to and affect librarians and information professionals who have an interest in the region.

For 2012, the latter 3 goals remain. Also for 2012, I want to maintain the survival of this blog through:

1. At least one blog posting per month on news relevant to the region
2. Trying to enlist at least one other partner blogger to post

I however want to publicly acknowledge  Emerson Bryan, one of my Caribbean LIS person that keeps sending me LIS news from the region so that I can post it here and else where. Thanks Emerson for keeping me informed. To CARIB LIN readers, I wish you a prosperous 2012 and further great reading.

Mark-Shane Scale
Blog Editor and Chief Contributor