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As someone who works in an academic library (which has very different needs from a public library), while I would disagree that libraries need "disruption" (whi

As someone who works in an academic library (which has very different needs from a public library), while I would disagree that libraries need "disruption" (which conjures up imagery of a librarian shushing me in the stacks for talking), there is a real need for tech talent. Most techies are lured away from programming for libraries by the private sector, which leaves us with an overabundance of clunky, expensive software with high technical debt.

neuromantik8086 8y ago
Another problem is that librarians themselves sometimes don't have the technical (in the sense of computing literacy; "technical" is a bit of loaded term in libraries because it can refer to collection maintenance [0]) skills necessary to do well in their jobs. Sometimes this is due to the era the librarian started in (a lot of librarians got their MLIS degree before computing was as prominent as it is now and haven't adapted to changes brought about by technology), other times this is due to curricular shortcomings in library schools (anecdotally, the University of Michigan, University of Washington and University of Indiana-Bloomington library schools seem to be exceptions to this). [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_technical_services https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_technical_services
- tingletech 8y ago
  Interesting, on the other hand I've worked with a lot of technically sophisticated librarians and archivists.
tingletech 8y ago
The academic library is a weird environment to be a programmer in. Tenured/tenured tracked (or quasi-academic, as the case may be) librarians think of you as a para-professional librarian rather than a professional in your own right (and call you "techie"). On the one hand you have MARC21 (originally designed for printing catalog cards), and on the other hand MARC is supposedly being phased in favor of many competing flavors of RDF. The academic library fetishizes standards built on esoteric technology. There are a lot of fun projects though, and as a programmer I get the feeling that I'm really making an impact. (I'm not on a campus any more, more of an academic library consortium). I do think (hope) that Open Access initiatives will eventually disrupt the high costs of licensing academic publishing (the academy pays for the research in the first place, and then pays a second time to get access to it again). If research products were open, then there would not be a demand for something like Sci-Hub. Even when you consider ILS and OPAC migration projects, the on-line collections budget dwarfs the technology budget in libraries.
mmirate 8y ago
Simple supply and demand, really. The same skills that can provide software which - if the right people tell the right politicians the right things about it - could save some amount of librarians' labor ... can also provide software that will wow a VC enough to throw enough money to far outweigh the librarians' labor. On the other hand, if enough people tell enough of the right politicians the right things, then the number of librarians nationwide using the software just might become high enough to swing the comparison the other way. But until then, nobody in their right mind should be paying a programmer enough to convince them to work for a library (presuming that the programmer is also in their right mind, which is generally required in order for the resulting software to not be dogshit).

neuromantik8086 8y ago

Another problem is that librarians themselves sometimes don't have the technical (in the sense of computing literacy; "technical" is a bit of loaded term in libraries because it can refer to collection maintenance [0]) skills necessary to do well in their jobs. Sometimes this is due to the era the librarian started in (a lot of librarians got their MLIS degree before computing was as prominent as it is now and haven't adapted to changes brought about by technology), other times this is due to curricular shortcomings in library schools (anecdotally, the University of Michigan, University of Washington and University of Indiana-Bloomington library schools seem to be exceptions to this). [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_technical_services https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_technical_services

tingletech 8y ago
Interesting, on the other hand I've worked with a lot of technically sophisticated librarians and archivists.

tingletech 8y ago

The academic library is a weird environment to be a programmer in. Tenured/tenured tracked (or quasi-academic, as the case may be) librarians think of you as a para-professional librarian rather than a professional in your own right (and call you "techie"). On the one hand you have MARC21 (originally designed for printing catalog cards), and on the other hand MARC is supposedly being phased in favor of many competing flavors of RDF. The academic library fetishizes standards built on esoteric technology. There are a lot of fun projects though, and as a programmer I get the feeling that I'm really making an impact. (I'm not on a campus any more, more of an academic library consortium). I do think (hope) that Open Access initiatives will eventually disrupt the high costs of licensing academic publishing (the academy pays for the research in the first place, and then pays a second time to get access to it again). If research products were open, then there would not be a demand for something like Sci-Hub. Even when you consider ILS and OPAC migration projects, the on-line collections budget dwarfs the technology budget in libraries.

mmirate 8y ago

Simple supply and demand, really. The same skills that can provide software which - if the right people tell the right politicians the right things about it - could save some amount of librarians' labor ... can also provide software that will wow a VC enough to throw enough money to far outweigh the librarians' labor. On the other hand, if enough people tell enough of the right politicians the right things, then the number of librarians nationwide using the software just might become high enough to swing the comparison the other way. But until then, nobody in their right mind should be paying a programmer enough to convince them to work for a library (presuming that the programmer is also in their right mind, which is generally required in order for the resulting software to not be dogshit).