[WEB4LIB] "systems librarians"

[Dan Lester]

At 03:58 PM 5/4/99 -0700, Tami-Jo Eckley wrote:
>My job right now consists of Web Page
>Design/Management, Reference, Media, etc.  and Electronic Resources
>(databases).  My job began as a new position here last October.  I would
>like to learn more about that myterious role of the "systems librarian"
>because it will benefit me tremendously here to take on a little bit of
>that role.  Where do I start?  I was thinking - a computer science class of
>an "introduction to computer systems."  ???

Don't worry about what you're called.  Many of us would consider the term 
"Systems Librarian" to be antiquated, much like "electronic data processing 
machines".  I was indeed a "Systems and Procedures Librarian" in the late 
sixties, and an "Associate Director for Systems" in the early seventies, 
but that word hasn't appeared since.  NOTE:  This is not criticizing in any 
way the folks who still have it in their title...just not what you'd want 
now if you could choose.
If you want to be trendy, get "knowledge management" or at least 
"knowledge" into it.  o-)

As to what to learn, and how to learn it, I'd say it depends on two things:
1) your learning style...do you prefer formal classes, or learning on your 
own from books, manuals, experimentation, hands-on, etc?  Also, if you take 
a class, find out what it really includes.  Many "intro computer classes" 
are beginning programming.  Some are "computer appreciation" and may be 
beneath you.  Others may be "how to use Word, Excel, and Access" with a few 
principles thrown in.  You may well find more useful classes in the 
"business school" instead of the "computer science department", again 
depending on what you want and need to learn.
2) what things do you NEED to learn to become more proficient in your 
current environment?  If your campus is committed to NT, don't bother 
studying Novell.  And vice versa, of course.  You can NEVER know it all, so 
concentrate on the principles rather than the details of exactly how you do 
something in a particular system, except as those specific things are 
useful to you.

If you want to follow up on or off list, you know where I am.

cheers

dan

--
Good, Fast, and Cheap: Which two of the three would you like?
Dan Lester, 3577 East Pecan, Boise, ID 83716 USA 208-383-0165
dan at 84.com   http://www.84.com/  http://www.idaholibraries.org/
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