That’s a way to rain on someone’s parade. Thanks for reinforcing the attitudes & roadblocks that prevent people from exploring topics like programming, server admin, and xml. We librarians use this stuff everyday and usually we have more specialized folks backing us up to help out with the difficult parts. I don’t think this post is misleading readers at all. In fact, this post has been a good list for librarians and like minded people to run through and assess our strengths, weaknesses, & what to read up on in the future as we move our collections from an analog to a digital world. As our systems demand more of this technology, we need to be just as aware of these tools as the programmers and administrators that we deal with every day. That way we can talk to our IT people and they don’t turn into aloof know-it-alls that poo-pooh every suggestion that we might have & try and scare us with the complexity and difficulty of the things that they have specialized training in.

Best,

Jason

im a software developer and former network administrator. just wanted to say i think you’re misleading your readers a bit.

while the basic concepts of programming are not overly difficult to pick up, the nuts and bolts and quirks of a language are; programming requires constant education, (time consuming with books, expensive with courses and workshops) practice and learning. programming is becoming more technical, not easier.

xml is a good skill to know, altho i might point out that the easy part to learn you refer to is not “syntax” but “format”. format is the architecture, or specification, of the language; syntax refers to the specific wording of commands in each implementation of the format.

you’re a bit off on databases as well. a database is simply a collection of data and can just as easily be contained in flat files, spreadsheets, documents or relational databases. a database management system (dbms) such as Access, MySql, Oracle, and Microsoft SqlServer provide ways to manipulate the data, including free text search (e.g., oracle, sqlserver).

finally, careful about saying that setting up a web server is really easy. acquiring proper hardware with appropriate warranties and technical support, installing and configuring web server software, progeramming it for all those nice things you talk about, providing for security, patching, updating and upgrading, system redundancy, and data recovery and backup (to name a few little chores) require knowledge and experience to do well.

some people have a knack for these technical aspects, some dont. better take that into account if you want to learn this stuff.

to get your feet wet, check out http://www.xmlsoftware.com/.

j

I suppose the reality is that some people enter library school expecting the standard curriculum of cataloging, reference, and collection development (with some professional practice material tossed in) and may become petrified by the idea of learning anything related to technology. The fear is understandable, but the fear also puts you at a disadvantage. I will save this list and add as many as I am able of these abilities that I don’t already have to my skill set. Thanks again.

On the same topic, here’s another excellent recent post on acquiring tech skills:

http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/index.php/2005/07/21/the-kept-up-distance-learning-librarian/

But now I want some advice on: How do I find a job as a systems librarian? I’m not even sure where such jobs are listed—most of the general listings of librarian jobs I’ve been looking at don’t seem to have many systems librarian postings.

What is the field like for systems librarians? What sort of libraries even hire systems librarians? Do public libraries have systems librarians? (No such postings can be found on most public library web pages, although they all seem to continually accept applications for user service librarians). What are systems librarian jobs actually like (I’d guess they are not all the same).

So… if you wrote a little post about that someday, or if you have any resources to suggest to me, they would be welcome.