2013

Python Preconference at ALA Annual: Attendee Perspective

*** This post has been originally published on ACRL TechConnect Blog on July 29, 2013. ***

I attended the Library Code Year Interest Group‘s preconference on Python, sponsored by LITA (Library Information Technology Association) and ALCTS (Association for Library Collections and Technical Services), at the American Library Association’s conference in Chicago this year. The workshop was taught and staffed by IG members Andromeda Yelton, Becky Yoose, Bohyun Kim, Carli Spina, Eric Phetteplace, Jen Young, and Shana McDanold. It was based on work done by the Boston Python Workshop group, and with tools developed there and by Coding Bat. The preconference was designed to provide a basic introduction to the Python programming language, and succeeded admirably.

Here’s why I think it’s important for librarians to learn to code: it provides options in lots of conversations where librarians have traditionally not had many. One of the lightning talks (by Heidi Frank at NYU) concerned using Python to manipulate MARC records. The tools to do that kind of thing have tended to be either a) the property of vendors who provide the features the majority of their customers want or b) the province of overworked library systems staff. Both scenarios tend to lead to tools which are limiting or aggravating for the individual needs of almost every individual user. Ever try to change a graphic in your OPAC? Export a report in the file format *you* need? Learning to code is one way to solve those kinds of problems. Code empowers.

The preconference was very self-directed. There were a set of introductory tutorials before a late-morning lecture, then a lovely lunch (provided by the Python Foundation), then the option of spending more time on the morning’s activities or using the morning’s skills to work on one of two projects. The first project, ColorWall, used Python to create a bunch of very pretty cascading displays of color. The second, Wordplay, used it to answer crossword puzzle questions–“How many words fit the pattern E*G****R?” “How many words have all five vowels in order?”. My table opted to stick with the morning exercises, and learned an important lesson about what kinds of things Python can infer and what kinds it can’t. Python and your computer are very fast and systematic, but also very literal-minded. I suspect that they’d much rather be doing math than whatever you’re asking them to do for you.

My own background is moderately technical. I remember writing BASIC programs for my Commodore 128. I’ve done web design and systems work for a couple of libraries, and I have a lot of experience working with software of various kinds. I used this set of directions to install Linux on the Chromebook I brought to the preconference. I have installed new Linux operating systems on computers dozens of times. This doesn’t scare me:

And I still had the feeling of 8th-grade-math-class dread when I got stuck, as I frequently did, during the second part of the guided introduction. Did I miss something? Am I just not smart enough to do this? The whole litany of self-doubt. I got completely stuck on when to use loops and when not to use them. Loops are one of the most basic Python functions, a way of telling Python to systematically go down a list of things and do something to them. Utterly baffling, because it requires you to ask the question like a computer would, rather than like a human. Totally normal for me and anyone else starting out. Or, in fact, for anyone who programs. Programming is failure. The trick is learning to treat failure as part of the process, rather than as a calamity.

What’s powerful about the approach the IG used is that there were lots of people available to help, about seven teaching assistants to forty attendees. The accompanying documentation was cheerful and clear, and the attitude was “let’s figure this out together”. This is the polar opposite of a common approach to teaching programming, of which the polite paraphrase is “Read The Fine Manual”. My experience with music lessons as an adult and with the programming instruction I’ve looked at is that the (usually) well-meaning people doing the teaching tend to be people who learn best by trying things until they work. Lots of people learn best that way; lots of people do not. And librarians tend more often to be in the second category: wanting a bit of a sense of the forest before dealing with all of the trees individually. There is also a genderedness to the traditional approach. The Boston Python group’s approach (self-directed, with vast amounts of personal help available) was specifically designed to be welcoming to women and newcomers. Used here, it definitely worked. Attendees were 60% female, which is striking for a programming event, even at a library conference.

For me, learning Python is an investment in supporting the digital humanities work I will be increasingly involved in. I’m looking forward to learning how to use it to manipulate and analyze text. As I look more closely, I see that Python has modules for manipulating CSV files. One of my ongoing projects involves mapping indexes like MLA Bibliography to our full-text coverage so my students and faculty know what to expect when they use them. I’ve been using complicated Excel spreadsheets to do this, with only marginally satisfying results. I think that Python will give me better results, and hopefully results I can share with others.

The immediate takeaways for me are more about relationships and affiliation than code, though I do have a structure, in the form of the documentation for the workshop, which I will use to follow-up (you can use it, too!). I am lucky enough to be in the Boston area, so I will take advantage of the active Boston Python Meetup group, which has frequent workshops and events for programmers at all levels. Most importantly, I am clear from the workshop that Python is not inherently more complicated to learn than MARC formatting or old-style DIALOG searching. I wouldn’t say the workshop demystified Python for me–there’s still a lot of work for me to do–, but I will say that learning a useful amount of Python now seems entirely doable and worthwhile.

Computer code is crucial to the present and future of librarianship. Librarians have a unique facility with explaining the technical to non-technical people. Librarians learning to code together is an investment in ourselves and our profession.

About our guest author:

Chris Strauber is Humanities Research and Instruction Librarian and Coordinator of Instructional Design at Tufts University’s Tisch Library.