Who Needs Swag?

Seth Godin wrote recently that “if you’re remarkable, amazing or just plain spectacular, you probably shouldn’t have a resume at all.” The idea being that you market yourself by doing good work, not by writing lists of bulleted declarative phrases, formatting them in professional-looking typefaces, and printing them out on quality paper.

I just walked by the LibraryThing booth, which is located at the far end of the exhibit room in the ALA equivalent of the nosebleed seats. The booth is decorated with a small sign, a single table, an inflatable rhino (natch), and nothing else, just a laptop, pointed at the aisle, and Tim Spalding, with his back to the aisle, typing and mousing away. Oh yeah, it has one more thing: a bunch of librarians surrounding Tim, peering over his shoulder at the screen. Maybe that LibraryThing’s onto something.