Well said. Most librarians have the requisite intelligence to learn
the technical aspects, and it is frustrating for librarians who do
most everything else, such as web work, data management, and data
organization to not be considered for systems librarian positions when
more could be accomplished by having them partner with IT department
for systems training and to problem solve. After all, most legacy
systems librarians that built it did not have IT degrees, they knew
the data and utilized database and MARC record knowledge to start and
built it out as needed. Also, it is not something that can be taught
until you are working with the system in play.
Librarians deserve the opportunity to become system librarians,
especially when candidates are in short supply.
-----------------------------------------From: "Diane Hillmann"
To: CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG
Cc:
Sent: Friday February 17 2023 10:07:38AM
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Systems - to librarian or not to librarian?
I don't think it should be an either/or. I was a systems librarian
way
before such beasts were defined, much less recruited. I was trained
as a
bibliographic searcher supporting bibliographers ordering books (no
longer
do those folks exist, really) and transitioned to a cataloger some
years
later), so I always knew bib data really well. I started my technical
learning, in charge of loading tapes into a NOTIS system and then
supervising authorities work. I think some kind of library
certification
(maybe MLS or equivalent) plus experience in cataloging or
acquisitions (or
whatever they're called these days) should be sufficient. It's about
the
data, folks--the technical stuff is much easier to find in the wild
and can
effectively be teamed with a librarian that knows the data.
Diane Hillmann
Librarian (retired, but still sentient)
On Fri, Feb 17, 2023 at 9:41 AM Lynda Howell wrote:
> Our experience has been that Librarian payscales and expectations
are
> completely different from IT payscales/expectations. We had to
convert a
> position to a librarian position and drop a lot of the technical
> requirements in order to get applicants willing to take the job.
>
> Lynda.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Code for Libraries On Behalf Of Martin,
> Will
> Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2023 6:25 PM
> To: CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG
> Subject: [CODE4LIB] Systems - to librarian or not to librarian?
>
> All,
>
> We're considering taking our Systems Librarian position and
removing the
> requirement for a library degree, making it a technician position
instead.
> The job's primary focus is in working with Alma configuration and
> troubleshooting the perennial off-campus access issues. The hope is
that
> removing the library degree requirement will make recruiting
easier. In
> past we've had difficulty getting candidates who had both the
library
> degree and the requisite technical proficiency.
>
> I am curious to hear from other universities: do you require your
systems
> person to hold a library degree? Why or why not? If you do require
one,
> do you find you have to do extensive technical training with new
hires? If
> you don't, do you wind up having to train people on library-related
stuff?
> Either way, how has your approach worked out?
>
> Will Martin
>
> Head of Digital Initiatives, Systems and Services
> Chester Fritz Library
> University of North Dakota
> he/his/him
>
> 701.777.4638
>
