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Librarians and Techies - A NEXUS


 

Librarians and Techies - A NEXUS
(Similarities, Differences, Dependencies, The Important Other, etc.)  

A reading list by  Dr. Mohamed Taher
To comment on this subject go to my article on: InfoVis:Wiki



 

Bridging the Gap Between Techies and Non-Techies, by Jill Witty, Vault.com Staff, 10/16/2000
Techies are a part of the daily lives of more and more of the workforce. Since the Internet revolution, all industries have become increasingly dependent on the use of complex technology, and to make sure all that technology is functioning properly, we rely on our techies. But while companies have successfully integrated technology into their businesses, the integration of techies and non-techies has proceeded with more difficulty.  
The truth is, a divide exists in many offices between the IT department and the rest of the staff. And the number of differing explanations for this divide may be as high as the number of bytes in a standard hard drive.

Who link here

  • library role in e-research infrastructure
  • LookSmart's Furl - The yukawa Archive

      "We've got to ask some questions. It may be cool...but how does it fit into the plan of the library?" (The video iPod, for now at least, falls under this "drooling" category!) Optimizing Technology in Libraries, Michael says: Control Your Technolust

      Would the librarians keep up with the techies? Jenny, Steve Cohen and others of their generation tend not to be programmers, but more and more of them can understand exactly what the programmers need to do--which is even more important. [Fame for Jenny]

      Look, Google is not the only means to search for info, nor should it be used that way. But it can be another device at your disposal to reach certain information. Learn to use it in conjuction with other library search devices, and teach it that way to your patrons. "When searching for transcripts from magazines, E-Library is best; for a book about xyz, try the OPAC; for city maps, try Google Maps." Get it? I say, "promote Google as simply another useful tool within your arsenal - don't be a useless tool stuck up your own arsehole" which is really all some of these  cling-to-tradition-all-that-is-new-is-evil librarians are being in their attitude. Rant Mode: Oogling the Googling

      Very real technological accomplishments have tended to become invisible because they have been so successful. If you had told people a decade ago that card catalogs would virtually disappear within ten years and would be replaced by our current information-management systems, they would not have believed you. Librarians have been the real heroes of the digital revolution in higher education. They are the ones who have seen the farthest, done the most, accepted the hardest challenges, and demonstrated most clearly the benefits of digital information. In the process, they have turned their own field upside down and have revolutionized their professional training. It is testimony to their success that we take their achievement�and their information-management systems�for granted - in The Academic Culture and the IT Culture: Their Effect on Teaching & Scholarship, by Edward A. Ayers [the full text is in PDF] EDUCAUSE REVIEW, Vol. 39#6, Nov/Dec 2004. p48-62

      Some observers have pointed out similarities between computing professionals and librarians. At least one study of librarians' personality types, using Myers Briggs indicators and other data, found that computer professionals, electrical engineers, and librarians shared prominent personality types.(114) Tom Davenport, of the University of Texas business school, suggests that the two groups also may have common problems: "Many [librarians] like books more than people, just as some of us prefer computers to humans. Studies... suggest that bosses of corporate librarians don't have a good understanding of what librarians do. IS types also have that problem. Both librarians and IS people are somewhat passive, waiting for someone to ask for the information they provide Redefining a Profession, by Richard A. Danner

       

      The New Information Professional, Sue Myburgh

      REVIEW: Don’t end up on the TIP

      Sue Myburgh warns that traditional information professionals (TIPs) have become an endangered species, By Tracey Caldwell 21 Dec 2005
      Book Cover 
      Product Details:
      ISBN: 1843340879
      Format: Paperback, 260pp
      Pub. Date: May 2005
      Publisher: Chandos Publishing (Oxford) Ltd.
      Barnes & Noble Sales Rank: 463,052

       

      Building Partnerships: Computing and Library ProfessionalsBuilding Partnerships: Computing and Library Professionals.

      Proceedings of Library Solutions Institute No. 3, Chicago, May 12-14, 1994.
      Edited by Anne G. Lipow and Sheila D. Creth
      ISBN 1-882208-18-8
      $29.00

      Out of print. Purchasers will receive a velo-bound photocopied edition.       more info

      05/03/2006

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