If you enter the word "*blog*" in our Internet Public Access Catalog or iPAC you find 66 titles that match "*blog*". I added an asterisk before and after the word because I wanted to search words starting with "blog" like "blogs" and "blogging" and words ending with "blog" like "weblog". If I had typed "blog" alone, I wouldn't have retrieved any subjects containing the word becasue the subject is "Blogs" or "Weblogs". I would have had exactly 27 hits or results amongst them Road Side Crosses, a new novel with a summary that mentions 'a troubled teenager whose role in a fatal car accident has inspired vicious attacks against him on a popular blog.' Thirty books come up under a title keyword search. Many of these books like iMuslums:rewiring the house of Islam by Gary R. Hunt will be captured because of a contents note that reads "The Islamic Blogosphere" or in the case of The way we will be 50 years from today, edited by Mike Wallace, an article entitled "Blogging from the future" by Wanda Jones is listed in it's contents note. You may want to take a look at this if you are interested in the future of blogging. A children's book, Danny's blog or El blog de Daniel is a part of a series called Let's read in Spanish and English. Even in the 200s or religious section we have, Jesus in an age of terror: scholarly projects for a new American century with an appendix titled, "Selected unedited excerpts from the now defunct Dr. Cathey's blog for purposes of reference". This all goes to show how pervasive the practice of blogging is and how many variants of the word blog there are.

When you search the initial screen of our database or iPAC for a word you are doing a general keyword search and checking all the major fields in the bibliographic record. I like to put in 2 words for instance 'blog*' and 'future' but without the 'and' which is unecessary in this case. I did that and found 7 books, 4 of which seem to speak to the future of blogging.

Choosing a title keyword search from the search tab screen, you tap into the title fields and contents notes fields sometimes including summaries. "Blog:" retrieved 12 titles and "*blog*", thirty-two. Most of the 12 had the word blog in the title but 2 were only in the notes. The nice thing is you can see the word you typed highlighted. That helps you to narrow down the list of books you are interested in more quickly.

In order to see books with the subject "blog" you would do a subject keyword search from the same page. This would lead you to books that focus on the topic of blogs and blogging, the history and future of it and DIY. The thing to remember when doing this type of search is that the library uses Library of Congress Subject headings so you won't find "blog." But you will find subjects that include "blogs" or "weblogs". Here are all the subjects that will come up and the number of results:

Weblogs. (6), Blogger -- Handbooks, manuals, etc. (1), Weblogs -- Computer programs -- Handbooks, manuals, etc. (1), Weblogs -- Fiction (4), Lawyers -- Blogs -- Fiction (14), Blogs (10),
Riverbend -- Blogs. (1), Iraq War, 2003- -- Blogs. (1), Blogs -- Fiction -- Sound recordings (1), Blogs -- Fiction -- Audiocassettes (10), Blogs -- Design. (2), Blogs -- Mamagement (2), Blogs -- Comic books, strips, etc. (1), Books and reading -- Blogs.(1), Book industries and trade -- Blogs. (1), Muslims -- Blogs. (1), Blogs -- Social aspects. (1), Weblogs -- Social aspects. (1).

Advancing to Advanced keyword opens up a whole new world of searching. You can search just contents notes. This would alow you to find songs with your search words in them because we have song titles in a contents note. Performers and directors notes can be searched. If you have the ISBN or International Standard Book Number of your book you can search by that. And you can limit your seach to one format such as DVDs, Video, Music CDs, Audiobooks, Large Print books, New Arrivals, Paperbacks, Ficiton, Non-Fiction or Biography. Computer books, Parent Shelf Books, Non-English books, Teen materials, Children's Room materials, Music Art and Media media or magazine. Limiting your search to just one of these can be helpful with broad topics or to find a specific material.

My initial search for blog books brought me these books that were on the shelf:

Blog on : The essential guide to building dynamic weblogs by Stauffer.
Who let the blogs out by Biz Stone
Blog : understanding the information reformation by Hewitt
Publishing a blog with blogger by Castro.
Bagdad burning II ; more girl blog from Iraq by Riverbend
Blogging in a snap by Meloni
No one cares what you had for lunch by Mason

We librarians have been blogging since 2006. And all the blogs are still available to view from links on this page. To paraphrase Major Mud, "I'll be blogging you!"