[11329] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
How to manage librarians as programmers?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Mark Huppert)
Tue May 27 20:03:57 1997
Date: Tue, 27 May 1997 15:11:10 -0500
From: Mark Huppert <mhuppert@library.uwa.edu.au>
To: PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Dear Colleagues
As librarians and other non-IT library staff
get involved in Web publishing,
their related IT skills grow. They may acquire these
skills out of personal interest (it's fun), out of a
fear of becoming marginalised. Or maybe both.
Inevitably, they learn how to use unix, perhaps moving
on to C or Bourne shell and cgi scripting, picking up some
skills in perl, JAVA and perhaps C and C++. Some may
study formally; others may teach themselves.
This is bound to alarm some IT managers,
in part for legitimate security reasons. How do other
libraries manage this situation? Do you ban
non-IT staff from cgi and JAVA programming? Do you allow it in
protected environments? If non-IT staff are allowed
to get involved in programming, do they go through
a registration process to ensure competance?
My opinion is that this is a natural extension
of a librarian's work, reflecting how the skills
that define a librarian are changing. Policies that
ban non-IT staff from doing this kind of work altogether
will stifle libraries' ability to improve client services.
It should be possible to maintain system security while
allowing innovation from the people who know best
what services library clients need and want. A bit of risk
should be an acceptable cost of 'doing business.' Failure
to take sone risks would more expensive in the long run.
-Mark
....................................................
Mark Huppert (mhuppert@library.uwa.edu.au)
ph +61 (8) 9380 2338 fax 1128
Senior Reference Librarian, Scholars' Centre
The U. of Western Australia Library, NEDLANDS WA 6907
http://www.library.uwa.edu.au/sublibs/sch
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