Google Librarian Central is still not happening. I mentioned that there had been no postings since June 29th 2007 and the irony of the last post should not be lost of any of us. In part: "[our] blog team is taking a break to think about the best ways to communicate with you and keep you updated on what's happening with Google. We're not leaving you hanging, though."
LibraryStuff then asked the same question, Sarah, the Librarian in Black also wants to know, and Stephen Abram is also keen to know what the situation is. The general consensus (without putting words into anyone's mouths) is that Google is cynically trying to use librarians, and drip feeding us until they think we're no longer important, at which point we get dropped.
It's a cynical view, but an understandable one. Another viewpoint is that perhaps Google is rather less the 800 lb gorilla and rather more a 4 year old child at Xmas who is constantly running from one toy to another, playing with them for a bit and then dropping them and moving to something else.
It's going to be really interesting to see what happens next? My guess is either nothing, which pretty much will show that Google isn't that fussed, or they'll bounce back again briefly to try and reassure librarians. However, in the long term this is going to be a great example to use to illustrate that if you're going to start a weblog, if you're going to engage with a community, if you're going to send out positive signals and then you get bored and move on, it's going to have a really bad effect on public relations.
So, lets watch this space!
I can't believe Google did not respond / update Lib Central after your earlier post about it - your last paragraph on that post was hilarious btw. I thought your one voice would be enough (and if nothing else they would be embarassed and respond). Now it is really getting confounding (or have they updated now? i did not check today.
Posted by: Holly | February 01, 2008 at 04:12 AM