[Web4lib] Skillset for new librarians

[Susan Kane]

Chiming in late, as well ...

A good exercise might be to print out entry level job descriptions of
varying types and ask a group of students to analyze the technical skills
required.

Can they (themselves) identify what they will need to know to get the job
they want?  It would be great to have that list of technologies in hand
during your first semester of library school ...

Four ideas in addition to what's already been listed -- items (1) and (3)
could be useful additions to the intro course ... items (2) and (4) are too
big and could be goals over the length of an MILS program.

(1) Technical analysis

Librarians do a lot of tech analysis and tech support even if they are not
completely responsible for a system.

For an exercise, give them some real-world bug report or real-world request
from your own academic library system and have them analyze it given access
to the system and its documentation.

Does the problem really exist or is it user error?  If user error, do they
think the error is common?  How could it have been avoided?  If the problem
exists, can it be fixed in the system or does the system lack this option?

If it can be fixed, how hard do they think the fix would be -- technically
and politically?  If the system lacks the option, what immediate
work-arounds would help?

If you can, take it all the way through the loop -- bring in your local
system librarian, submit a bug report or an enhancement request to the
vendor, find out what they say, ask the students to create a help document,
etc.

(2) Basic UNIX and basic SQL

I'm sure many would disagree but IMHO everyone who works with databases
should have this.  You can't go very far technically without running into
some form of UNIX or SQL.  I've been surprised by how many web content
management systems require an underlying understanding of UNIX commands to
use correctly.

Even if your librarians never type a UNIX or SQL command, they will probably
speak to someone who uses them daily.  And being able to look over someone's
shoulder at their command line and understand the absolute basics of what
they are typing will help you have a better conversation with them.  Which
leads me to ....

(3)  Geek Culture / Technical Communication

Technical conversations often begin with some kind of mutual testing.  This
is partially friendly -- if I am more competent than you, I should adjust my
language, watch for signs of confusion, etc.  And it's partially aggressive
-- if you are alpha, I should listen and learn.  If I am alpha, I may have
to forcefully prove that to you before you will listen to me.

In any event, all of this is entirely foreign (culturally) to most American
women, who make up the majority of library science students.  What feels
friendly and fun to a lot of geeks can feel negative and aggresive to those
outside that culture.

I'm not sure how one teaches this.  Maybe simply identifying some of the
norms of technical conversation and geek bonding would help those outside
the culture learn the ropes.

(4) Practical knowledge of at least one system of various types (ILS, link
resolver, proxy server, ILL, reference databases, CMS, Access (or MySQL),
ERM, IR, webserver .....)

Once upon a time, in the distant past of my own library school days (1996),
I was told that my program would not teach me any specific software because
it would soon be outdated.

<cut ranting and raving from masses of humanities and social sciences grads
here>

Have you ever noticed how difficult it is to become proficient in anything
without concrete experience?

It does not matter that the software is going away.  They don't need the
software -- it's just a concrete example of that type of system.

Library students need to learn how to master new systems quickly.  They will
be helped in this if they have concrete mental reference points about "Blah"
when they go to learn the mocha flavor of "Blah" instead of the chocolate
flavor they used before.

A student who can list basic familiarity with major classes of software used
in most libraries will be considered more favorably than someone who can't.

Most libraries want to see a long list of technical skills -- but not
because they are needed or used.  Rather, a long list of technical skills
says that the candidate is a technical person -- a person who can and will
learn anything, a person who is not afraid to jump in and figure it out, a
person who is confident enough to master new technologies as they arise.

That is what we need from library graduates.  A specific skillset is nice
but every student should also leave library school excited about what
technology can do for libraries and -- most importantly -- confident that
they *personally* can and will learn whatever it takes to use technology to
achieve their goals.