You have new Picture Mail!, originally uploaded by The Shifted Librarian.

I got to watch him write part of this (so did you if you followed his Flickr account), but now it's ready. Michael Stephens' issue of ALA's Library Technology Reports is about to hit the street!

I was lucky enough to be one of the first people to get my hands on it today. Dare I say, "It's hot?!" In the issue, Michael covers blogs, RSS, instant messaging, wikis, Flickr, and getting staff buy-in to implement Library 2.0 tools in your library. There are lots of examples, tips, best practices, and links for further information, all pulled together in layman's terms.

If you've ever heard Michael speak and marveled at his ability to explain Library 2.0, this LTR is like a print version of him, which means you can wave it around in meetings, cite it when you want to advocate for implementing a L2 tool, and hand it to your director for educational purposes. It's also going to become the de facto textbook for our Library Roadshow we've been doing across the country.

If you're already a subscriber, you'll be receiving your issue in the mail soon. If you're not a subscriber, you can order a copy (or lots of copies!) from the LTR site at http://www.techsource.ala.org/ltr/web-20-and-libraries-best-practices-for-social-software.html. I've heard that demand is already running higher than normal and that ALA Publishing is working overtime to keep up with the orders because there are so many of them!

Disclaimer: I started working for ALA last week, but I still would have written this exact same post when I got my copy; it just would have arrived later via snail mail.