Hiring Librarians

[Elisabeth Roche]

Adam Gaffin posted a recent message concerning Intranets. 

He says, "Intranet is the current buzz-word for client/server." 

He goes on to discuss the search for cross-platform capabilities and
standard interfaces that has been on-going for years.

Then he thanks Marc Andresson.

Considering the astonishing pace of the development of the computers and the
extremely new software supporting networking of systems of pc's, mainframes,
high speed data lines, peripherals, security, the WWW(and all the rest), I
am surprised there are so many people, from so many disciplines, who *can*
manage to keep things running.

There are the highly trained CIS and MIS professionals, and the engineers as
referred to. And there are the Librarians, a word I use to encompass all the
highly trained professionals and specialists involved in the entire profession.

IMO, the CIS and MIS training was not geared towards the outcome we are
experiencing right now, in large part.

This is why a certified NT technician can make $70,000. (Straight from my
mentor's budget, he said he paid his NT techs $70,000. [He had 5.] A degree
in CIS or MIS was not the criteria.)

Pressures on CIS/MIS and LIS have been working their way into curriculums,
but there has hardly been time for programs to be adopted by the traditional
disciplines, or for them to be transfigured. (Some are ahead of others, I
realize. Did I hear someone whisper "Berkeley" ???) [smile]

We don't even know where we are really going yet, but we know we're going
there fast! It's really exciting and difficult and challenging and IMO the
greatest opportunity of anyone's lifetime.

IMO, the fact that there are so many systems librarians and people doing the
systems jobs successfully, most without the formal CIS/MIS training to
start, is more revealing of the current attitudes and future desires of LIS
professionals than the truth that there are professionals and departments as
you describe who are also caught in this moment of change.

We're all in the thick of it, and we all have our roles. 

I could look at it this way. I want to maintain my old system alongside my
new one while testing the new design to make sure it works. After running
parallel systems for a reasonable period of time, then I can feel confident
enough to run the conversion.

Elisabeth Roche ace at opus1.com
serendipity RULES!

  

>On Sat, 24 Aug 1996 guthery at austin.sar.slb.com wrote:
>
>> I've been on the otherside of trying to hire librarians.  We've realized that
>> we need library science people to do technology watch and to organize our
>> Intranet.
>> 1) I've been greeted with a very, very cold shoulder by many library
>>    science departments when I've come calling 
>> 
>> 2) many library science people don't see that "net books" are just
>>    like real books and need the same care and attention ... even more so
>>    and maybe with fresh approaches
>> 
>> 3) many library science people want to "bunkerize" classical libraries
>>    rather than mix them in with the web
>> 
>> 4) many library science people shy away from jobs with a high
>>    communication component
>> 
>> 5) there are few courses in "off the shelf" library science curriculums
>>    which deal with serving from and organizing web-based information
>> 
>> It shouldn't surprise people that the going rate for even the best buggy whip
>> maker isn't what it used to be.
>> 
>> Cheers, Scott
>>   

At 03:48 PM 8/24/96 -0700, Martin Cohen wrote:
>I agree. I think what you're suggesting (and why this thread belongs on 
>this list) is that there is an open question about what responsibilities 
>(and consequently what skills) are involved in running a library-based 
>Web site. 
>
>Should Webmasters know about system security? (and does that not require 
>some understanding of system administration?)
>
>Should Webmasters have the ability to bring people together in common 
>enterprise (management, public relations)?
>
>Should Webmasters have good eyes for design and graphics (even if they 
>are not themselves artists)?
>
>Should Webmasters be knowledgeable about user interface design? 
>
>Should Webmasters be able to organize information and create effective 
>new patterns of organization (not just following established rules)?
>
>These _might_ be part of the skills one could hope for in a librarian. But 
>at present are certainly anything one can expect. Yet I believe that 
>"library science" is possibly the discipline closest to bringing these 
>together. It certainly has not yet. 
>

>
>