DMGWho's Michael Gorman?
He says:
A blog is a species of interactive electronic diary by means of which the unpublishable, untrammeled by editors or the rules of grammar, can communicate their thoughts via the web.
And he just goes on from there, mouth foaming, eyes rolling, putting bloggers in their place. It seems he's upset because the unwashed masses are going and, and... writing! And they're doing it without professional supervision!
Hell, handcart, blah, blah, blah, etc.
The church said the same thing about the printing press, and they were just as wrong. Welcome to democracy, Mr. Gorman.
Michael Gorman comes across as a small man, hurt and angry that an ugly, populist movement is overtaking his beloved libraries, cathedrals of learning, that were never properly appreciated to begin with. An angry anti-blog op-ed piece doesn't warrant much attention on its own merrits. Only Gorman's post as the head of the ALA makes this worth mentioning. The online community shares too many goals with the ALA to let a rift open between us.
Denying blogs their due respect is myopic at best. The heart of writing is communication. Where there is connection, there is value, no matter how poorly spelled. Just ask any parent with their child's finger painting on the refrigerator.