[11937] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
golden computer science degrees
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Robert Sullivan)
Tue Jan 20 20:17:17 1998
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 16:10:40 -0600
From: Robert Sullivan <SCP_SULLI@sals.edu>
To: PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Joyce Latham wrote:
>Sure, if you want to be a tech head, go become one. If you want to have
>an applications-based background, study applications. Get an
>undergraduate degree in Computer Science (useless) and then go get a
>library degree and proclaim yourself an information professional. That'll
>work ... for awhile.
I would respectfully disagree with the proposition that a computer science
degree is useless. If what you mean is that having the degrees without a real
world understanding of libraries is useless, and that you don't need a
computer degree to be a successful techie, I won't argue that.
>Libraries need librarians that understand how technology serves their
>profession. What librarians do not understand is that you cannot study
>technology -- you use it; you figure out how to use it; you experiment
>with it; you fail with it before, probably, you succeed with it.
This will serve you in small-scale projects, and if you're in a small or one-
person library, anything you can learn is useful. However, don't discount the
value of understanding say, the theory of database design, especially in view
of this comment...
>I learned dbase programming by reading books and playing with it at home
>-- many years ago. I remember waiting for hours while Clipper compiled an
>application on my 8088. Technology expertise comes from thinking it's cool
>and it can make life better and I can use it over here to solve this
>little problem, and then this little bigger problem, and then bigger yet.
Ah, dBASE II with CP/M and 126K disks...what memories. :-) The great thing
about dBASE/Clipper/FoxBase and descendants is that people without computer
degrees could create some very useful systems.
Unfortunately, that's also the bad thing - some people who didn't understand
the principles of database design created some real horrors. This will
probably become more common with the rise of databases aimed at regular users
(e.g., Access) rather than developers.
A librarian friend who recently left for a programming job is taking a database
course and now realizes how much there is to know about the design process.
>Libraries need tehnology managers, in fact, librarians that are
>technology managers. Web pages are one small piece of the pie. Web heads
>are not qualified to manage large installations, with multiple platforms
>and competing development demands. If the industry moguls haven't
>discovered that, they will.
Absolutely.
Bob Sullivan scp_sulli@sals.edu
Schenectady County Public Library (NY) http://www.scpl.org
