Do librarians need basic HTML capabilities?

[Vivienne Cuff]

> I don't really beelive that HTML mark-up is the skill that librarians need
> to be conentrating on, especially for the creation of content resource pages
> for their libraries.  The skill that they should bring to their corner of
> the web is what they have been doing for their libraries all along -
> evaluating the resources and determining what resources belong in 'their'
> collection of links. 
> 

Bill - you've hit the nail on the head. I entirely agree with you. 
Librarians should stick to their knitting and do what they do best.

I guess what happens is  all the new technologies come along and a lot of 
energy goes into trying to understand them at the expense of 
understanding what the business/client needs are. I suppose because 
it is all shiny and new. I guess it's because understanding business/client
needs are really hard work and it is easier relatively to get your head around how something works - 
the technology.

On the other hand,  how to do you get people to understand the 
concept of hypertext without actually writing HTML per se? 
Maybe we should use something like Storyspace and get them to write 
hyperfiction or get people to participate in something like Waxweb?

Vivienne
Vivienne Cuff
World Wide Web
National Library of New Zealand
Molesworth Street (or PO Box 1467)
Wellington
Phone: 4743086 Int'l prefix: 644
EMAIL: Vivienne.Cuff at natlib.govt.nz
WWW: http://www.natlib.govt.nz/
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These are my views, and they do not 
necessarily reflect National Library
of New Zealand policy.