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[Apparently, this post violates the rules of the PLA Blog, so we gotta put it here instead.]

Here are a few things from the exhibit hall, dumped out of a smelly-inked bag this morning:

1. A Fodor's button that says GO AWAY (Random House, booth 915). Just the thing to wear at the ref desk.
   
2. A leather beverage coaster (Centurion Technologies, booth 113 -- coincidentally located next to JCR Leather at booth 117).
3. Shellie, the plush toy oyster w/pearl (BWI, booth 2201). When we get home: "Hey, sweetie! I visited the New England Aquarium, and I got this for you!"***
4. A retractable ID clip which could also be used as a garotte (SirsiDynix, booth 2213). But don't do that, okay?

We didn't perform a complete survey of the hall, but we didn't notice much dark chocolate in the candy dishes. You'd think vendors would be more in touch with librarians' desires by now. And wouldn't a swag index be a valuable addition to the exhibitors directory in the conference program?

*** We actually did go to the aquarium on Wednesday morning. Great place, and we were lucky enough to have been there when the amazing cuttlefish were being fed peel-and-eat shrimp, which did not get peeled before they were eaten. The jellyfish special exhibit is also fascinating.

(Post deleted. A revised version is on the PLA Blog.)

(Post deleted. A revised version is on the PLA Blog.)

Over at Libraryola, our pal Chris (who has just been admitted to library school ... congrats!) recently posted a nice list o' links to selected readings about Library 2.0, and followed up with his take on the meme.

Our take is that the time/effort/energy/bandwidth devoted to talking about what "Library 2.0" is or isn't could be better used on something, uh, useful. "Library 2.0" is just a marketing buzzword. And, as further evidence that librarians suck at marketing, people pushing ideas which may or may not fall under anyone's personal Library 2.0 umbrella don't seem to realize that they hinder the reception of the concepts when they use the "Library 2.0" label. We suspect that a lot of folks see or hear the "Library 2.0" label (made even worse if "so-and-so gets it" is also part of the spiel), instantly turn their thoughts elsewhere, and the meat of the message turns to "blah-blah-blah."

So, we propose a new label: Ideas Worth Stealing. That's what everyone's actually talking about with this Library 2.0 crap, right? Ideas others might want to steal and use. Possibly. Depending on the library's situation. YMMV.

(n.b.: "Ideas Worth Stealing" is the short version. The full-length label is: "Ideas Worth Stealing, and Cool Shit Which Won't Happen Until Vendors and Content Suppliers Get Their Heads Out of Their Asscracks.")

Talk about "Library 2.0" (an idea stolen from the "Web 2.0" label, BTW), and you trigger the mental Off switch for a chunk of your audience. But talk about Ideas Worth Stealing, and folks will pay attention. Librarians may suck at marketing, but we're not too shabby at stealing ideas. (As long as they're not marketing ideas.)

If you're still paying attention to this blog post, you're now reading an announcement of a new song in BibDitties: a recording by Bildungsroman called, er, Library 2.0. Perhaps you'll think it's worth stealing. YMMV.

We predict that today's Zits comic strip will make it onto hundreds of librarians' bulletin boards and doors, and into at least one PowerPoint at PLA or CiL next week.

Be sure to grab the strip today (Friday, March 17), because it'll be gone tomorrow, and the King Features Syndicate appears to be run by dicks.