The voice of academic librarianship...

...is finally here. Steven Bell notes the ACRLog that he will be contributing to. From the Why an ACRL Blog page:

ACRLog has its origins in an essay published at the Inside Higher Ed by Scott McLemee. Titled “Silence in the Stacks,” McLemee expressed his curiosity about the lack of a quintessential blog on academic librarianship. Certainly there were (are?) blogs by academic librarians on topics of interest to the academic and research library community, but nowhere in the blogosphere could one find a home for the full spectrum of issues facing academic and research libraries and those who work in them. Nor did any existing blog reflect on the higher education enterprise and how the library fits into that bigger picture.

That’s the void ACRLog will seek to fill. It’s a grand vision, and giving life to and sustaining any blog of this magnitude is work for more than one person. ACRLog is no exception. It will deliver content from a team of bloggers whose members are no strangers to voicing their opinions, tackling controversial issues, and writing about the value academic librarians bring to their academic communities. In short, they are passionate about the profession. The team approach also ensures coverage of the issues from a diversified set of perspectives.

My frustration at the narrow-minded wrong-headedness of the original McLemee article is undimmed, but I won't let that prevent me from wishing this new venture the best of luck and subscribing right away. I also hope that they expand the list of contributors to become a little more representative of the academic library experience, say including scitech, business and technical services representatives at least.

UPDATE: Scott McLemee has a profile of the new blog on InsideHigherEd.