Farewell to LINT

A few of us started the group Libraries Interact ten years ago. LINT, as we’ve fondly called it.

I think LINT was one of the earliest Australian library group blogs. It was started by a group of library people from across Australia. We all blogged (or wanted to), and I think that’s how our connection started. I love how all the new Web 2.0 (the term seems slightly quaint now) technologies allowed us to connect.

Given that the last post on LINT was a little over a year ago (during last year’s blogjune), I think it’s fair to say that it’s time to call it quits. It was written by Kate Davis, asking the question Is there life left in the Australian biblioblogosphere?

Kate posed a few questions:

Where are the thinkers and tinkerers hanging out? Where are they sharing about what they’re doing? Am I just missing the good stuff? Is this extended professional discourse happening and I’m just not seeing it?

And more: Is blogging dead? Is there just nothing to write about? Am I overthinking this? Does anyone even care?

And still more: Is there a need for more professional discourse on blogs? If so, how can we nurture that?

Is the answer collaborative blogging? Should we kick off LINT again? If so, what form should it take? Who should contribute? How should it run?

I’m not going to try to answer all these questions tonight, but we won’t be renewing the hosting for LINT when it expires after 7 July, so I guess LINT is dead. But I don’t think blogging’s dead, necessarily. I think it’s just changed, given all the other tools we have for communication and connection these days.

Besides, our blog dying doesn’t mean blogging’s dying – our blog isn’t THAT powerful! – it just means the members have moved on. And we have, in many ways. Some group members have different jobs today to what they had ten years ago. We’ve gained qualifications, moved sectors, moved countries…

LINT has been archived by Pandora, and Kathryn Greenhill has kindly agreed to archive it too, so it won’t be completely gone. (I’ll post a link to this when it’s available) I personally will always think fondly of LINT. Setting it up taught me how to set up hosting for a website. It prompted me to learn more about blogging. It gave me opportunities to work with other great library professionals. I made many friends – most of whom I still count as friends and with whom I still stay in touch.

Vale, Libraries Interact.