Collaborative Electronic Reviews
Department of Library Science and Instructional Technology
Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven CT
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LSC 551-70
Reviews by: |
Reviewed by Robert MurphyThe article I selected was Skills for the New Millennium, by Roy Tennant, Library Journal, Jan. 1999 v124 il p39. This article deals with the problems of hiring staff for digital libraries as these new libraries require non-traditional librarian skills. The most interesting conclusion of this article is that "no one is likely to have [all the necessary] skills and experience . . . [s]ome skills may be taught in library schools, while others must be learned elsewhere or on the job." The fact that education for future librarians will be a continuing process is a very interesting and daunting idea to consider to both the librarian and to the managers and educators of librarians. Digital librarians are described by Tennant as not having to be computer programmers yet "they should know their way around a programming language or two" in order to be have an appreciation of changes in technology. Similarly, digital librarians "must understand the various ways in which metadata can be captured, organized and used" without needing the in-depth knowledge of a digital cataloguer. The only skill that Tennant describes as being necessary in terms of being very proficient in is "web technology" which "may mean everything from HTML codes to CGI programming." Tennant also stresses the fact that digital librarians must be good "project managers." Tennant refers to the need of digital librarians to be able to organize the differently skilled individuals who together can construct a digital library. Therefore, I conclude that this article envisions the digital librarian as being a new type of renaissance type of professional who must be multi-talented yet not to engrossed in the small details of her or his profession as to loose the larger perspective necessary for this new form of librarianship. Threaded discussion question:[none]titled The Rush to Technology: A View from the Humanist, Library Trends, Spring 1999 v47 p620, Virginia Massey-Burzio.Reviewed by Robert MurphyOne aspect of digital libraries that has become extremely interesting to me is the manner of interaction between patrons and the digital library. The article that I reviewed for this assignment dealt with the different types of patrons who use digital libraries and the different problems they encounter. This article was titled The Rush to Technology: A View from the Humanist, Library Trends, Spring 1999 v47 p620, Virginia Massey-Burzio. The article The Rush to Technology, was based upon a study of faculty members in various hummanities departments from John Hopkins University and how this segment of faculty interacts with digital libraries. The methodology of this study used a focus group and attempted to determine how the members of this group used different technologies in their work. The conclusion of this article was that nearly all the faculty used email and word processing regularly but there was a wide range of use of the university¹s online catalog and other electronic resources. This diverse range of use of electronic resources was explained in part to be the result of a disparity in the resources available to the different departments. The various department of John Hopkins were determined to have different levels of access to the library¹s web-based catalogue and databases. A certain amount of prejudice was found to exist between the hummanities departments and the rest of the university as far as resources such as new computers and technical support. Also there was no cohesive plan to educate users in the electronic sources. Therefore, bias towards those not in the sciences appears to be one of the barriers to the incorporation of these same individuals in the new digital academic world. Threaded discussion question:[none]
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Last Modified
Tuesday September 21 1999