[Web4lib] Skillset for new librarians

[Shannon Pritting]

I just thought that I'd add something I haven't seen in this thread, and
that is some familiarity with usability testing.  Either as a a creator or
"end user" this should be one of the core skills LIS students with which
Librarians are familiar.  Even if they aren't conducting usability studies,
knowing what to consider to make systems, technologies, or anything else
user friendly is important.
Shannon

On Fri, Jan 7, 2011 at 12:40 AM, Susan Kane <adarconsulting at gmail.com>wrote:

> 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.
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>


-- 
Shannon Pritting
Special Instruction and Programming Librarian
205 Penfield Library, SUNY Oswego