There is now a READ Mini Poster creation tool on the American Library Association web site which lets you upload a photo into one of four templates.  This is a neat offering, with a couple of caveats:

1. The positioning tool for the picture is very limited.  I was only able to use my facebook profile picture in two of the templates, and each still didn’t look quite right.  I have been spoiled by Web 2.0 tools such as Facebook’s Pieces of Flair (note that there is a piece of Libology flair, if you are feeling desperate for library-related buttons) and expect such niceties as mouse-controlled positioning.
2. In addition, there are no terms of use listed for these creations.  Knowing that ALA limits the use of other versions of the Read posters, I assume that they would make a specific statement regarding this on the creation page.  I wasn’t even able to load their copyright statement page, so I feel forced to go with default copyright.

These reasons are why I don’t have my newly-minted READ Mini Poster shown here.  This is a great promotional idea, if they can work out how to let us use it effectively.

thanks to Karen R. Schneiderman for posting a link to the Lex Scripta blog on Facebook!

=================================

Update: Jenny Levine, Internet Development Specialist & Strategy Guide for the ALA (and also known as The Shifted Librarian) wrote an e-mail assuring me that “these images can be used by the person generating them for use on personal or library blogs, personal profiles, or other social networking sites.”  When the ALA updates their site next week, this will be clearly spelled out, she says.

I suspect that criticism can easily sound snarky in this medium, so I will re-iterate the dominant point from above:  this is a great promotional idea for the ALA, libraries, social media, and readers.  Check it out!

Michael Gorman, former president of ALA, has riled up some people with his posts on Britannica Blog titled Web 2.0 : The Sleep of Reason (part I) and (part II).

He makes some excellent points about scholarship and the perils that accompany a lack of authority, but wastes his efforts by railing against the internet as a whole, and against those who participate in generating content (ironic, given that he is making these points in blog entries).

These posts are well worth reading, though, as they do make excellent points and raise valid issues. Unfortunately, you have to wade through the “traditional publishers good” vs. “web publishers bad” chaff to get to the wheat of his argument.

The goal is high quality information, no matter how it is created or accessed.

found on Free Range Librarian, also: good commentary on Librarian.net

Update:  Free Range Librarian has a follow-up post with an announcement from Britannica Blog….

The first segment of “ALA In Focus”, an online video detailing the inner workings of various areas of the American Library Association, features Gwendolyn Prellwitz, Program Officer for the ALA Office of Diversity & Spectrum.

The video is fantastic to watch, but what has really caught my attention is the interviewer.  His name is John Chrastka, and I had the pleasure to work with him when I was the webmaster for Reaching Forward South.

John was (still is?) involved with the $39 support staff membership for ALA, which is directly tied with their efforts to recruit library-folk who happen to not-be-librarians.  This is still one of the best deals that ALA has offered, and John is a really pleasant and friendly presence.  His personality and enthusiasm really shows in the video segment.

As an additional note, videos like this are much more interesting to me than the polished, professional productions that organizations usually craft to show off their projects and people.  This truly feels like a casual conversation between two people who enjoy what they do.

found on The Shifted Librarian

Through Karen Schneider’s blog, I have been pseudo-assigned to post 5 non-library blogs that I read.

Here they are, in alphabetical order (hey, I work in a library… feel lucky I didn’t classify them via LC or Dewey):

1. A List Apart – even though the initials spell ALA, this is a great non-library blog with web design information.
2. Damn Interesting – essays about odds and ends throughout society and history that all seem to be, well, damn interesting.
3. MetaFilter – as unpredictable as the internet itself, but usually a glimpse into the fascination du jour.
4. NewsForge – dispatches from the Open Source world.
5. Robert Reich’s Blog – fascinating commentary on politics and economics, plus his video blogs contain tidbits about his date with Hilary Rodham back in the day.

If you are a library blogger and are reading this, you are now on assignment… give me 5!

p.s. This meme was started by The Liminal Librarian, btw.