Job title

[Louise Alcorn]

Nina makes an excellent point.  My job title was very new in libraries in 1995.  I had a very forward-thinking boss at the time, who realized her public services dept would need someone to liaise with IT and vendors of electronic (online and (gasp!) CD-ROM) resources, with the ability to make these resources viable in our library environment.  Although my title has not changed (a point of very minor contention), my job has changed drastically in many ways.  That said, I still believe my job is primarily a public services function for the library.  If my job included more systems type work, I would argue that it should be under a different heading.  I see jobs like that a lot now, coming over this list.  I think there is still space for both - a public services-focused and sysadmin-focused positions (the latter of which might be outsourced to City IT or a company) - esp. in mid-size libraries and library systems.  But they have to be able to work together - that's key.

Louise E. Alcorn
Reference Technology Librarian
West Des Moines Public Library
4000 Mills Civic Pkwy
West Des Moines IA 50265
(515) 222-3573      louise.alcorn at wdm.iowa.gov<mailto:louise.alcorn at wdm.iowa.gov>
(note new email domain as of July, 2011)
http://www.wdmlibrary.org<http://www.wdmlibrary.org/>



From: Web technologies in libraries [mailto:WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Nina Mchale
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2012 2:06 PM
To: WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [WEB4LIB] Job title

William and all,

I think this is becoming more commonplace--supplanting "traditional" titles with more tech-themed ones--and is a natural evolution as new user needs and service opportunities develop. Very, very few libraries actually have the resources to support the types of online environments we're shooting to build, maintain, and sustain to stay relevant in our users' eyes, and it's natural to shift positions and titles like this. Heck, my own career is a product of it; three jobs ago, I was Reference/Head of Instruction. Now=sysadmin for web. This isn't to say that public services roles are less important; we just need to provide the full infrastructure for our online selves. :)

--
Nina

Nina McHale, MA/MSLS
milehighbrarian.net<http://milehighbrarian.net/>
Facebook & Twitter: @ninermac


On Fri, Jul 6, 2012 at 12:00 PM, William Stein <guillermost2003 at yahoo.com<mailto:guillermost2003 at yahoo.com>> wrote:
Thanks everyone for responding to our request for input on a job title for our newly created position. Oddly enough we are phasing out a "traditional" job title (Adult Service Librarian) to be replaced by this newly minted "Information Services" position. We have a candidate fresh out of library school who is currently working as a part-time Reference Librarian waiting to be elevated to her new job (as soon as we figure out what that will be).

Once again, our thanks.
Will Stein, Reference Librarian
Washington County Public Library
Abingdon, Va.
============================

To unsubscribe: http://bit.ly/web4lib

Web4Lib Web Site: http://web4lib.org/

2012-07-06




============================

To unsubscribe: http://bit.ly/web4lib

Web4Lib Web Site: http://web4lib.org/

2012-07-06

============================

To unsubscribe: http://bit.ly/web4lib

Web4Lib Web Site: http://web4lib.org/

2012-07-06
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.nd.edu/pipermail/web4lib/attachments/20120706/87dc1d56/attachment.htm>