Now Blogging: Library of Congress

The Library of Congress launched its blog this morning. See: Library of Congress Blog.

In the first post, Matt Raymond, the Library’s new Director of Communications, says:

The Library has in its care more than 134 million items, with 22 million items online. That’s a lot of content, by any measure. More and more people online are looking to blogs to help them navigate and make sense of the content that’s “out there,” to say nothing of the world around them. With some 71 million blogs at last count (or so says Technorati), it’s a conversation an institution like the Library should be a part of.

The Library of Congress was producing electronic content long before the Web even existed, so it’s fitting today that we become one of a (surprisingly) small handful of federal agencies with a bona fide blog.

And more reasons for blogging:

Because the vast majority of visitors to the Library of Congress do so only virtually (via this Web site), I wanted to give readers the opportunity to see more of the institution, to give them the online version of a docent who can highlight many of the wonderful things that happen here.

And I will offer readers the chance to see it all through new eyes. I’ve been privileged to work at the Library now for just seven months now, and my sense of awe continues to grow. Some days, I have to admit, I’m even giddy at the history and knowledge housed here. I guess you could say I “drank the Kool-Aid.”

Link courtesy of Steven Cohen via Twitter.