Hiring Librarians

[lbickham at stem.com]

     Not all librarians are tied to books and shelves, but these still have 
     a very essential and vital place in making information available to 
     people.  I'm a corporate librarian who also runs my small company's 
     intranet.  Others on my staff handle the collection and maintenance of 
     books and journals, but I use these resources the same as I use 
     databases and web resources -- to meet the needs of my users.  I'd 
     like to think I'm not "tied" to any media, print or Web based.  
     
     The *first* person I'd like to see organizing content on the Web is someone 
     who can listen to and identify user needs, learn from and build on existing 
     frameworks for organizing information,  not be afraid to try innovative 
     approaches, and ultimately measure their success by how they improve the 
     ability of users to get the information they need.  Pretty much the same 
     person I'd like to see running a library.  I think there are a lot of 
     librarians and information specialists out there who are doing all of this 
     in their organizations now.   
     
     Scott:  I don't know where you've been looking for librarians, or why you 
     are getting the response you detailed in your message.  I hope you'll learn 
     from the replies you get that my profession is not turning a cold shoulder 
     to what many of us see as a tremendous opportunity to use our skills in a 
     new setting with the potential to vastly improve people's access to 
     information.
     
     Linda Bickham
     Manager, Library Services
     SyStemix
     lbickham at stem.com
     
     ______________________________ Reply Separator 
     _________________________________
     Subject: Hiring Librarians
     Author:  guthery at austin.sar.slb.com at INTERNET
     Date:    8/24/96 3:22 PM
     
     
     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