[Web4lib] Skillset for new librarians

[Eric Phetteplace]

Chiming in a bit late here...

While pretty much everything listed in this thread would be great to learn,
an intro to tech course cannot cover everything and runs the risk (noted
earlier) of being spread thin and disjointed if it tries. I would say that
the more in-depth topics (network management, HTML/CSS especially 5/3, all
programming, relational databases) could be, at best, summarized but not
really worked with in a substantive way. Trying to teach any programming
language in one or two session is a recipe for disaster. If students want to
learn about these subjects, they should take a databases, programming, or
web design class, but it's better to get that all in one place than as many
pieces of another course.

As a current MLIS student about to graduate, the things I missed most
tech-wise were hands-on work with the ILS, CMS, ILLiad, link resolvers,
proxy servers, and general computer troubleshooting techniques, i.e.
anything a systems librarian handles. These are fairly library-specific
topics and no CS class could substitute an LIS one which covers them. I
myself managed to get some familiarity with all of them, but only because of
my job and extracurricular activities. It's a shame that students can
graduate without ever seeing the administrative side of an ILS.

Also, the course where you build and install an ILS sounds amazing. But
that's definitely a course unto itself.

-Eric Phetteplace