[11911] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Re: All is not golden...
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Public-Access Computer Systems For)
Thu Jan 8 20:02:26 1998
Date: Thu, 08 Jan 1998 14:58:27 -0600
From: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <LIBPACS@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
To: PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU>
3 Messages, 110 Lines
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From: Thom Gillespie <thom@copper.ucs.indiana.edu>
I have received some pretty interesting 'rants.' One of the more
interesting ones is below. No attribution for obvious reasons.
> I have to say I'm really tired of looking at position announcements for
> one person with an MLS, who has significant (even if they don't say
> that) experience with NT, AND Novell, AND UNIX, Networking technologies,
> WWW, CD-ROMs, troubleshooting, desktop support
> About half of the academic positions I see also want this person to work
> one evening per week and one weekend
> day per month at the reference desk (when are they supposed to do
> systems work?). Oh, yeah, and in your spare time, you can earn tenure.
> For $20-30K.
This is the $$$$ problem which is going to get much worse as <quote> full
employment continues in the US </Quote> If it is a sellers market than the
buy must pay more.
> With no support staff.
Folks at universities have support even if it looks like they are alone.
They are on a campus with lots of other folks with problems. My guess is
it is reaching nightmare proportions at the public library level where
often '1' person is expected to solve all the problems.
> Many places never seem want to pay for or provide training, such as CNE
> or MSCE, even though it's very expensive and is not taught in library
> school. Yet this training is often as important as the MLS, familiarity
> with MARC records and resource sharing issues, etc.
This I thought was a most interesting point. The continued obsession with
the MLS as the capstone degree. Are there any MLS programs which prepare
grads at the masters level to be webmasters with the skills to actually
pass the MSCE? I don't know of any. But if the issue is systems work,
database design and management and webmastery then the MLS is a marginal
degree to solve this problem. Of course there is the lurking problem
called salary where the techies command the wages and the MLS folks don't.
This is a big one. I know it first hand. My wife is a working reference
librarian. The problem is that both sides are right, one side is getting
screwed and the screens still freeze!
I appreciate all the responses I've received today but would love to hear
from folks working in public libraries. I'm sure their problems and
solutions are similar and the different at the same time. Email me
directly rather than posting if that works better for you.
Thom
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From: "Peter Graham, RUL" <psgraham@rci.rutgers.edu>
Thom writes,
>I am not looking for sysop or the webmaster or the sysadmin only
but would like to talk to front line librarians who have to deal with
problem technology and patron problems at the same time.<
Sounds like a systems-bashing article to me. Why not get both sides?
Technology is sufficiently oversold by vendors and our own expectations that
the difficulties are not often well understood. --pg
NEW ZIP: Peter Graham psgraham@rci.rutgers.edu Rutgers University Libraries
169 College Ave., New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1163 phone: (732)445-5908
fax (732)445-5888 <URL:http://aultnis.rutgers.edu/pghome.html>
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From: "Burt, David" <DBurt@ci.oswego.or.us>
> Thom Gillespie writes, i.a.,
> >The major problems at this particular library is an inability to get
> their
> CD-ROMS up in a timely fashion, integrating the web with the opac,
> keeping
> NT from crashing on a regular basis, and getting the printers to work
> at
> local stations. The type of service which would get folks in private
> industry canned but public libraries are civil service so the problem
> of
> evaluation is compounded.<
>
A big part of the problem is low salaries. When computer
professionals need a good laugh, they can turn to the back pages of
American Libraries and see howlers like this: "5 years exp. Unix, CNE
certification, knowledge of Java programming, BS in computer science and
MLS required. Knowledge of a foreign language and second masters's
preferred. Salary: $25,0000/year".
You do usually get what you pay for.
David Burt, Information Technology Librarian
Lake Oswego Public Library, Lake Oswego, Oregon
e-mail: dburt@ci.oswego.or.us
phone: (503) 675-2537
fax: (503) 635-4171
