It occurred to me one day not too long ago that creating annotated lists brings me great joy. It seems like everything I've enjoyed doing over the last decade involves some form of annotated list-making.
I loved studying history in school. One of the keys to writing good research is creating an annotated bibliography.
One of my favorite tasks as a librarian is collection development. To develop a collection I create an annotated list of works I think give a sound overview of a topic.
I'm a hobbyist blogger. A blog is really not much more than an annotated list in sequential date order.
A few months after I got a job as a librarian I began thinking more deeply about reference works. Someone has to write them, could I be one of those someone's? The task seemed daunting and beyond the scope of my skills. Still, I found the idea appealing.
In June 2011 it occurred to me that I might be able to combine my love of annotating lists with my interest in creating a reference work with my knowledge of blogging. This blog is the result and I consider it an experiment in drafting a reference work.
I chose progressive politics as a subject because it's a familiar topic. So far it's been working out well. If this process continues to work for me I can see using this strategy for drafting future reference works.
Once this blog is completed at the end of June 2012, I should have the raw material to put together a reference guide to works on progressive politics. We'll see how it all works out, but in the meantime I'll use this space for a few moments each day to point out books I hope you find interesting.
Thanks for reading! And if you have any recommendations for titles I should mention, leave a comment.
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