We're #100, We're #100!!!

A web site called BachelorsDegreesOnline.com has posted a list of 100 Best Blogs for Librarians of the Future and guess who's #100?  Yep, that's me!  I guess if I'm not #1, #100 isn't a bad spot to be in terms of where you'll get noticed – especially in a list that long. 

They gave me a head's up that they'd be linking to me and I have to admit I thought it was just another piece of blog spam – a trend I've noticed lately, both in people linking to me and also from those who are posting comments is that they'll take a moment to personalize their e-mail just a wee bit (I just deleted a comment in my John Hughes post that talked about how much “Breakfast Club meant to them” then linked back to a Runescape-related site ) rather than being completely blatant about being a desperate attempt for Pagerank. 

The fact that the site doesn't actually mention library degree programs on its front page – when you select “Masters” programs or when you browse through their list of Degrees by Subject – makes me think my initial assessment isn't far off.  Maybe not 100% spam but definitely not a totally altruistic link either. 

Oh well, it's all about the reputation/attention economy so why not let them link to me and I'll link back to them and maybe we all get to bask in each other's Google-enhanced glow?

Plus that page
with the list of the “100 Best Blogs for Future Librarians” is titled
“Learn-gasm” and has a picture of a saucy-looking librarian-type with
glasses pictured so what could possibly be suspect about that! 

[Edit: Jessamyn did a post on why we shouldn't link to these types of sites because of how it undermines Google's search algorithms.  I don't tend
to think of my site as having a lot of weight in the biblioblogosphere
and therefore, the link I made to this site as being relatively harmless in the grand scheme of things.  Plus, in my post, I said the site was spammy and that it was a dumb site overall (“Learn-gasm”?  Seriously?)  but it's true that Google's robots don't understand that sort of context…yet.  So I do realise that my linking to them is a vote for their site in some way – even if I do it in a somewhat tonque-in-cheek manner. But I guess, even if they're a thinly veiled attempt to get eyeballs to their off-shore degree programs or whatever, the list they've come up with is still useful so, after some internal debate, I think I'm going to let my link stand and maintain my belief that people who do end up on this site will know it's crap or follow the links to sites that are actually helpful.  I'll also continue with my hope that soon Skynet Google will even figure out how to tell the crap from the good stuff even better than they already do!]   


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