On Wed, Sep 24, 2008 at 20:05, Kevin M Kidd <kiddk_at_bc.edu> wrote:
> I'm not sure what exactly this means - it's a distinction
> without a difference. Why wouldn't a librarian who does
> IT work understand that he is doing IT work?
Alex Said:
"Libraries have been special for far too long, and that is why we're
now having this conversation and why the library world is in trouble.
An IT guy in a library is being told that he needs to make systems
that are special for the library, and every other librarian also
thinks the library is such a special place that software must be
custom made, that there are no alternatives."
I think you simplify the issue, but you are right to say that many librarians feel that there are no alternatives to specialized systems. This is the very reason that we need IT education that goes hand in hand with library education. We need some understanding of the alternatives - indeed, some sense of the myriad possibilities current technology provides - among trained librarians...
Received on Wed Sep 24 2008 - 13:14:02 EDT