Another Grade Already

I was quite happy to get a grade on my subject review paper for ILS655-Digital Libraries late this afternoon. I felt a bit confused about what the professor wanted (which have have been the result of me making it all too complicated – and being very nervous about taking a week off). I did fine – well, I think I did fine. There are often these bizarre grading systems that professors use. I mean they really do make sense if you read the syllabus carefully, but since every professors uses a different scheme, they are difficult to keep straight. Besides the actual grade, the professor had some thoughtful comments to make.

So, it is a big relief to have grades on the first assignments from both classes. As a student, it is so helpful to have the professor take the time to grade the first assignment quickly. Personally, it helps me feel grounded in the class, gives me a good sense of how things are going, and helps me feel more comfortable moving forward. I now have a very pleasant sense of relief that all is going as it should for this summer session. I’m excited about both classes – and looking forward to the rest of the semester.

Yeah!

GRRRRRRR!

My 4 mile commute home from work was fraught with heinosity. It was like trying to make it through an obstacle course where people were deliberately trying to make sure I didn’t finish. I’m not looking for sympathy – I’m just trying to get it off my chest.

The 12 Interview Questions Assignment

 Background:  

          For this assignment, I choose to base my interview questions on a job description for a systems librarian at the Community College of Baltimore County. I will be the Campus Head Librarian and the immediate supervisor of the Systems Librarian. The Cataloging Librarian, the Head of the Information Technology Department and the Head Reference Librarian will also sit in on the interview with the job applicant. 

Job Description:

            The following job description can be found by going to the Community College of Baltimore County’s Online Employement Site. Use the Search Postings link on the upper left-hand portion of the screen and then choose the Systems Librarian option from the Job Title drop down menu. Accessed on June 14, 2007.   

Questions: 

1. What is the most serious technical emergency that you have had to deal with? Can you give me specific and detailed information about how the problem was resolved?

   Asked by Campus Head of Library.

   Rationale:
   Part of the responsibility for systems staff is to maintain maximum availability for all library systems. However, problems, disasters or malfunctions do happen. The successful candidate must know how to deal with these types of situations. How staff respond to emergencies is critically important to smooth library operations. The Systems Librarian is ultimately the person responsible for maintaining these systems and fixing them when a problem occurs. The question is aimed at discovering how the candidate deals with crises that occur, how the candidate prioritizes systems when there is a problem and how the candidate would manage such an emergency. This is one of the main reasons why the successful candidate must have strong leadership abilities.
   

2. From your resume, I see you have worked with three different vendor-supplied integrated library systems, Ex-Libris’ Aleph, SirsiDynix’s Dynix and Innovative Interface’s Millennium. Based upon your personal experiences, can you give me a brief overview of each? Does any one stand out from the others in terms of strengths or weaknesses?

   Asked by Campus Head of Library

   Rationale:
   The integrated library system is the critical application for library business. The library cannot operate properly without the system. However, changes in the ILS marketplace happen frequently. ILS systems outlive their usefulness. Vendors discontinue support for older systems and switch to new applications. This often requires libraries to pay for new systems. The Systems Librarian needs to be aware of current trends and knowledgeable about the capabilities of different systems in order to be able to alert the director when it is time to upgrade, switch systems or start looking for new solutions. This candidate has worked with three different systems, so has a unique perspective on how different integrate library systems can be. This knowledge may be very valuable. Hopefully, by discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each system, we will get a sense of how well the candidate understand the integrated library system and how it works.
   

3. We currently use Innovative Interface’s Millennium ILS. Would you tell us more about your experience supporting this system? What do you like about Millennium, and conversely, won’t don’t you like about it?

   Asked by Cataloging Librarian

   Rationale:
   The ILS is the main application that most library staff on a daily basis. Problems happen and questions come up often. The Systems Librarian is the primary means of support for this extremely complicated system. Since the candidate has used the Millennium product before, it is essential to determine how comfortable he/she is with it.  Finding out what the candidate likes and dislike about the system should help to reveal how familiar he/she is with the different modules and applications that come with Millennium. The candidate must be extremely comfortable with III’s Millennium system in order to support the library’s day-to-day operations.
   

4. How did you become a systems librarian? What aspect of your work do you enjoy most? Least?

   Asked by Campus Head of Library

   Rationale:
   This is a more open ended question aimed at getting the candidate to talk a bit more about him/herself. Many people become accidental systems managers because of their talent or tolerance to computers and technology. Finding out how the candidate got into library systems would reveal a bit more about their background in libraries. Asking about which aspects of the job that he/she likes should reveal how comfortable the candidate is with the systems position. Ideally, we hope to get a sense of how confident the candidate is in his/her role as a systems librarian.
   

5. The Systems Librarian is expected to participate in the reference desk rotation. How much experience have you had at the reference desk? What do you learn from working at the reference desk that can help with your systems’ duties?

   Asked by Head Reference Librarian

   Rationale:
   All library faculty are expected to participate in the reference desk rotation. Sometimes, people don’t care for this aspect of the job. However, it is an important way for librarians to connect with each other and with the library patrons. Without this contact, the Systems Librarian may lose a sense of the patron and of what they need from the library. This practice is not intended solely as a means to cover the reference desk, but also as a way to keep people in contact with the public. This question is intended to get a sense of how the candidate feels about the reference duties.
   

6. New technology can be a difficult sell to long-time library staff members and faculty. People often become overwhelmed at the pace of change. What strategies have you employed in the past to help implement major changes and help weary staff get on board?

   Asked by Head of IT

   Rationale:
   Library staff may have difficulty dealing with constant technological change. This is a real problem when it happens, especially in cases where staff are required to make changes quickly and without warning. This question is intended to get the candidate talking about ways to ease into change. More importantly, there is a need to find out how the candidate will deal with staff who may be resistant or even hostile. Technology and technological changes seem to be here to stay. We need to find ways to deal with this type of change and how it affects people. This responsibility falls to the Systems Librarian. We want to be confident that the new Systems Librarian feels comfortable working with library staff and providing technical support to people with varied skill levels.
   

7. Recently, MARC records and library OPACs have come under fire for not being able to meet the needs to today’s library patrons. Do you think that RDA and FRBR are the answer? What role should folksonomy, ie. social classification and/or tagging, play in library catalogs?

   Asked by Cataloging Librarian

   Rationale:
   The ILS is based upon a database that contains bibliographic records in MARC format. All indexing rules for record retrieval are based upon MARC fields (author, title, subject, etc). Many problems that occur with searching have to do with problems in the MARC fields. Troubleshooting such problems requires a deep understanding of MARC fields and their meanings. This is important for the successful candidate to know and understand. If a user does a search for an author, but nothing is found, the Systems Librarians needs to understand the MARC record in order to fix the problem and to understand if it is a simple mistake or if there is a larger indexing problem with the system. We also hope to get a sense of how well rounded the candidate’s knowledge is of emerging technologies and standards such as RDA, FRBR, social classification, etc. We would expect the successful candidate to have knowledge of these types of systems.
   

8. At CCBC, all major technology decisions and purchases must be made in conjunction with the college’s IT department. There can often be tension between the needs of the library and the mission of the IT department. How do you bridge the gap between such potential discordance?

   Asked by Head of IT

   Rationale:
   The library is one of the biggest users of technology on campus. Hence, the need for a systems staff. However, all technology purchases and decisions come from IT in order to ensure consistency in platforms, to eliminate redundancy and to help provide some level of standardized technical support. This can lead to tension between the needs of the library which generally tries to meet as many needs of patrons as possible and the IT department which often needs to protect its equipment from its users. A positive relationship between IT and the library systems department is essential to helping to facilitate positive outcomes for both constituents. The point of the question is to find out how the candidate would deal with the IT department.
   

9. Lab management and pc maintenance can be difficult in a public setting. What methods would you employ in order to ensure maximum uptime for public computer equipment?

   Asked by Head of IT

   Rationale:
   Although lab management generally falls within the responsibility of the IT department, the library has one computer lab for its students. Library staff maintain the computers in the lab and offer technical support for both hardware and software questions to the students. Knowledge of lab management software and methods for maintaining computers would be incredibly helpful.
   

10. The Systems Librarian is responsible for managing a department and a small staff of library technicians. What are the biggest personnel challenges you have had to deal with? How did you resolve them? Did the problems ever interfere with the operations of the department?

    Asked by Campus Head of Library

    Rationale:
    One of the biggest responsibilities of this job is the management of the systems department. The new hire will have several people reporting to them. Good management skills are essential in order for the smooth operation of the systems department. In the systems department, there is a current staff that maintains the office and does the hands-on work with computer deployment, technical support and maintenance. The Systems Librarian needs to make sure that this work continues in order to provide for maximum uptime for all library services and equipment by providing strong leadership. Personnel problems can cripple a department. This cannot happen in the systems department, despite the fact that many systems personnel are required to be on call during nights, weekends and holidays.
    

11. If you had the opportunity to work on the design a new library building, what would it look like with respect to networking design, computer layout, and software deployment?

    Asked by Campus Head of Library

    Rationale:
    The Systems Librarian needs to be familiar with basic networking concepts like IP addresses, NAT (network address translation), DHCP (dynamic IP addressing), network topologies, etc. The point of this question is to get the candidate to discuss how he/she would lay out an internal network, design space for servers, etc., plan for computer deployment and think about software needs. These things are part of the responsibilities of the Systems Librarian.
    

12. Although we do not have a large population of distance students, the library web site is a critical part of the service that we provide to our patrons. Can you discuss your thoughts on library web site design discussing major design flaws and commenting on any success stories that you have seen or heard about?

    Asked by Head Reference Librarian

    Rationale:
    The library web site, including all external systems – ILS, web-based e-reserves system, full-text journal locator, etc., is the primary way in which the library presents its services to its patrons. The Systems Librarian will be responsible for maintaining the current site and working on future redesign projects. Library web sites are often designed without adequate knowledge of web design, information architecture and usability studies. This question is intended to get the candidate discussing problems that he/she has encountered or sees. Technical knowledge of things like HTML, XML, content management systems, etc is important. However, knowledge of successful library web site redesign processes (and conversely, knowledge of unsuccessful ones) is more important.

Will We Ever Get Passed This?

In honor of the fact that I have been feeling whiny of late, I really would like to take a minute to wonder about (and possibly rant a little about) why we still feel the need to debate the future of books – and of libraries. Steven Cohen from Library Stuff pointed me to an article by Zach Sims – titled Books? What Books? The article itself is fairly interesting – and the author makes some good points. He writes:

Is America, as a society, finished reading books? The format itself is more alive than ever. The printed word, however, may very well be on its way out. Newspapers and magazines are finding it increasingly important to build a web presence. Titans of “Old Media,” such as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., are building web presences. Books, too, are finding more of a home on the Internet. Sony’s helping to digitize books and reading materials with their innovative Sony Reader. Google and Amazon have showed off Google Books and “Search Inside the Book,” two services that make it ever easier for users to both read, and analyze books.

Sims makes a great point that the internet has helped bring books closer to people in several ways. I even agree that the web is shifting our need for print materials. Many things were published in print because that was the best medium at the time. However, shorter, “newsy” items and opinion pieces (like this one in question) are perfect for the web. So really, the web is a new medium – and we are still figuring out what fits best where. I’m good with that.

Then Sims moves on to discuss LibraryThing – as a service that makes reading books easier. I’m not so sure how it makes reading them easier. I would say that it makes the discovery process easier and possibly even more fun – and that it makes sharing opinions and information easier. But is it true that LibraryThing and other “. . . new services also seek to replace librarians”? He seems to base this assumption on his doubt that librarians keep track of the reading likes and dislikes of their patrons. Doubt this no more Mr. Sims. Librarians don’t really keep mental tallies of how people react to the books they borrow and read. I seriously doubt that most people would want them to do this either. I would hope not. But really, is this what people think librarians should be doing? And is this really why so many people seem to believe that libraries are obsolete?

Maybe because it is because I am in school, and we seem to discuss these types of questions in every class. Maybe it is because I’ve been grouchy. Maybe it is because these questions come up so often that I find myself getting defensive. However, is anybody else tired of these questions – of these debates? Everytime I hear someone ask about the death of books, the obsolescence of libraries, the supremacy of the internet and the World Wide Web, etc., I really want to scream. I get extremely truculent when we have to discuss these subjects in my MLS program. I want to shout “IF I THOUGHT LIBRARIES WERE NO LONGER RELEVANT, I WOULDN’T BE IN LIBRARY SCHOOL.” Can we move beyond these things to have debates about issues that will be more important for practicing librarianship?

Digitization is certainly changing our relationships to books, to all printed material. It is certainly changing the role of libraries and the work of librarians. But, libraries and librarians are adapting – and even thriving. Let’s get over this already.

I’m going to go read a book or two.

I’m Definitely Feeling Better

Yesterday, I received my first grade for this semester – on my assignment for ILS566-Library Personnel Management to pick a current library job description, write up 12 interview questions as the supervisor of the job and explain the rationale behind the questions. I had a lot of fun doing the assignment. I picked a job description for a systems librarian at a small community college. I agonized a bit over the choice of job: should I pick a job description for a job that I am intimately acquainted with? would it be a better learning experience if I used another job? would it matter to the professor? Despite these questions, I’m happy with the job that I choose for the assignment. It really made me take a look at what I do, what I would hope for in hiring someone to replace me and what I would need in hiring someone to work for me. I have had four people work for me over the past 7 years – which means that I have hired four times. I like to think this is a skill that I am getting better at, but I still feel that this is one of my personal weak spots. 

I honestly felt that this assignment made me think about hiring from a more philosophical standpoint. I was amazed to discover that I really don’t think enough about hiring. I only think about it when I need to do it – and at that point, it is critical to get someone hired. I find it uncomfortable, so I just try and get through it. Of course, hiring the right person is critical, and I need to better prepared for the entire process – before I need to go through it. When I started the assignment last week, I wouldn’t have thought that it would actually mean something to me – but it has. I haven’t had one of these a-ha, breakthrough moments in school for a while and I think that I really needed it. To top it all off, I did well on the assignment – and got some excellent feedback from the professor.

Life and school are looking better!