>It is, but this is not a new problem. Most librarians' understanding
>of the catalog (i.e. their primary access mechanism) is nothing to
>write home about. To anyone looking to pick up the skills they need,
>they are far better just getting involved in projects that interest
>them than hoping they'll learn from a program.
Your solution - simply encouraging librarians to get involved in technology projects that interest them - is the de facto way things are done now.
Clearly this is not working.
The point of making technical education part of the curriculum at a library school is that we instill in students the fact that technology and librarianship go hand-in-hand. This is the undeniable reality of librarianship today. I don't care if you want to be an archivist, a reference librarian or a systems librarians, you need to understand this stuff.
I would also disagree with the implication that taking courses in technology is inadequate for teaching the skills librarians need. Are computer science degrees handed-out to people based upon how many projects they dabble in?
Of course, librarians should - and do - involve themselves in technology projects. But the learning curve is very often steep. With a deeper classroom-acquired practical and theoretical knowledge of technology/computer science, librarians will be better prepared to learn new technologies and - more importantly - better equipped to imagine creative ways that such technologies can be effectively applied in the library.
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Kevin M. Kidd, MA, MLIS
Library Applications & Systems Manager
Boston College Libraries
Phone: 617-552-1359
Fax: 617-552-1089
e-Mail: kevin.kidd_at_bc.edu
Blog: http://datadrivenlibrary.blogspot.com/
Received on Sun Sep 21 2008 - 09:56:22 EDT