Abstract
Online learning, while broadening opportunities for many, has the unfortunate effect of isolating or even alienating students who crave interaction and/or are uncomfortable with information technology. Weblogs (blogs) are an easy to- use, informal means of online interaction that have become widely popular in recent years; their potential value as community-building and learning tools in higher education has only just begun to be explored. We report on our use of blogs as a supplement to face-to-face information literacy instruction and as a sole means of library outreach to graduate distance learners. We also explore the current uses of blogs in libraries nationwide.

Priscilla is the Information Literacy Coordinator/Life Sciences Research Librarian at Stephen F. Austin State University. She has over three years of experience as an instructional librarian, dealing in part with distance education students. She has one and a half years experience as Information Literacy Coordinator. She is a certified online instructor through her institution’s Office of Instructional Technology and a 2004 graduate of an M.L.S. program offered almost entirely online. In addition she is an ACRL Immersion ‘05, Program Track, alumnus.

Lani is Librarian of Distance Education and a Web Content Specialist at Stephen F. Austin University. She has worked as an academic librarian for four years in various capacities. She started as a Reference and Instructional Librarian mentoring to be the Distance Education Librarian and then moved to the Web Development Office focusing on content development as well as helping with the maintenance of the university and library Web sites. A new administration provided more opportunities for all librarians to be librarians and thus she started participating in reference and instruction, as well as being one of two librarians focusing on distance education.

Stephen F. Austin University has 11,287 students.