[Maa-l] Knowlege Base

[Robert Garrett]

Mark Harvey has established an online "knowledge base" for the Archives
of Michigan.  It uses a blog format and contains the Archives'
"reference notes."  You can see this here:  
http://archivesofmichigan.wordpress.com/  (Note that this is still a
work in progress, and some information still needs to be uploaded.)  

I'll explain those reference notes, a little.  In the 1960's, archivist
Geneva Wiskeman created reference notes on index cards.  Leroy Barnett
maintained and expanded these when he took over as reference archivist. 
The cards cited available information on certain subjects, such as
capital punishment and the Underground Railroad.  The cards are still
often helpful.  Putting the information online allows staff to perform
keyword searches.  

Just out of curiousity, has anyone else done anything like this?

What does everyone think of blogs in general?  Can they be useful
research and reference tools, or are they a waste of time?  (Personally,
I think that there's often good information in blogs, but researchers do
sometimes have to be careful in evaluating it.)  

Again, here's the url of the Archives of Michigan knowledge base: 
http://archivesofmichigan.wordpress.com/     

Bob Garrett
Archives of Michigan
Telephone: (517) 241-1382
E-mail: garrettr1 at michigan.gov

Plan a Pure Michigan vacation filled with Michigan history when you
discover your connections at www.michiganhistory.org.