Technical Skills & the Librarian « Life as I Know It What type of technical skills do you need to be a librarian? A tough question to answer. Specific skills will vary depending on type of library one works in, will vary by departments within a library, will also vary from library to library – and will most definitely change rapidly. Most libraries do not have a tech support person in the building during all hours they are open – many do not have one in the building at all. This often requires that everyone have a good sense of basic computer troubleshooting skills. Some technical skills that I think everyone who works in a library should have are as follows: Ultimately, it is extremely important for everyone to have enough technical knowledge to know when to escalate a problem and to whom to escalate the problem. Other blog post on technology requirements for librarians: Like this: Like Loading...
digital digs: The challenge of information literacy? the faculty I've been at this blogging thing for a few years now, so I'm bound to revisit issues. It just seems lately I've been returning to old topics. No different today. There's a lot of talk about students and information literacy. I continue to be concerned that the real stumbling block on the path to this goal does not have to do with students but rather with faculty. So I'm just going to lay out a handful of basic technical and rhetorical skills I think you'd want students to have. Make simple audio and video recordings (we're not talking Spielberg here; just cruise around on YouTube for a while and you'll get the idea) Make a basic, static website using a simple application like iWeb. I think it would be generous to say that 10% of any campus faculty have all these skills. Now I'm not suggesting that you'd need 100% of faculty to have all these skills, but maybe 40%? The task of building this literacy is nearly overwhelming.
A revised manifesto Thank you all for the kind feedback you offered for my rant a few days back. As I wrote that response, in the back of my mind I considered a few realities: 1. Some administrators have never seen a vibrant library program. 2. In tough times moving forward is more challenging. 3. 4. 5. It is critical that we demonstrate and share. Back in October, I revised the little Manifesto I worked on a couple of years ago for my VOYA column. Please share, add, or pull it apart in your comments. Manifesto for 21st Century School Librarians My prompt: A couple of summers back a young school librarian, fresh out of library school, asked a very honest question at one of our state retreats: We’re all doing different stuff. Well into the 21st century, it is clear that the concept of modern teacher librarian practice is not clear. In the past few years many of us have re-imagined school library for learners using the array of new tools and abilities in front of us today. Reading Information Landscape 1. 2.
Programming skills could transform librarians' roles - LIBRARIAN SKILLS To keep pace with information changes and the needs of users, librarians need some programming skills, argues David Stuart Recent ICT innovations have led to the reappraisal of our understanding of library and information services. The traditional vision of the library as a provider of physical documents has been superseded by the library as a provider of access to information – virtual and physical. However, until now the focus has still primarily been on the concept of the document. While the traditional role of the librarian continues to be important, it would be naïve not to recognise changes in how today’s information is being made available, as well as changes in user expectations, and user perceptions of the librarian. Although librarians have taken the time to learn the intricacies of the advanced search features and the subtleties of Boolean algebra, most users will type two or three words into Google’s query box and find that the simple search is ‘good enough’. The role of APIs
Eduquer à l’information En pédagogie, l’approche "instructiviste" place l’apprenant dans la situation d’apprendre en écoutant. Cette approche fonctionne lorsque l’apprenant connaît l’émetteur d’information et a confiance en lui. L’approche "constructiviste", propre à l’éducation populaire, propose à l’apprenant de se construire un savoir à partir de ressources qu’il gère lui-même. C’est le but de l’éducation à l’information [1], dont l’importance est reconnue par tous sans pour autant que de réels moyens lui soient consacrés dans l’éducation et la formation. De nouveaux outils de communication (blogs, wikis, podcasts…) ajoutés aux sites Internet "traditionnels" produisent aujourd’hui une masse d’informations de moins en moins hiérarchisées et identifiables par leurs émetteurs ou par leur niveau de validité. On peut devenir soi-même, en quelques clics, émetteur de contenus sur Internet. C’est pourquoi il est nécessaire de se construire ses propres outils et compétences de traitement de l’information.
The Shifted Librarian: 20 Technology Skills Every Librarian Should Have « My Alma Mater Is Blogging! | Main | PDAs or Tablet PCs for Wireless Reference Work? » Thursday, July 21, 2005 20 Technology Skills Every Librarian Should Have Last month, T.H.E. Word Processing Skills Spreadsheets Skills Database Skills Electronic Presentation Skills Web Navigation Skills Web Site Design Skills E-Mail Management Skills Digital Cameras Computer Network Knowledge Applicable to your School System File Management & Windows Explorer Skills Downloading Software From the Web (Knowledge including eBooks) Installing Computer Software onto a Computer System WebCT or Blackboard Teaching Skills Videoconferencing skills Computer-Related Storage Devices (Knowledge: disks, CDs, USB drives, zip disks, DVDs, etc.) Of course, for librarians I would make it a top 25 list and add blogs, RSS, IM, wikis, and audio ebooks right from the beginning. I'd like to see MLS do a series of workshops, either online or f2f, that would help librarians learn all 25 skills.
caitri: Information Literacy and School Librarianship At first I was really pissed off at this article in The Post and now I just think it's kind of funny. The short short version of the article is that the writer, a DC school librarian, fiercely resents that school librarians have to teach Information Literacy. Y'know, how to pick out good information and not cite Wikipedia in research papers. That sort of thing. Instead he would much prefer to foster a love of reading and have high schoolers blissfully lost in Dickens tomes. To which I reply: Buddy. Yes, love of reading is a beautiful thing. Also, you HAVE to teach IL. It struck me this afternoon that the author, Thomas Washington, has shot himself in the foot if his boss ever figures out that he really wrote that article. Mostly I think "Thomas" should just go back to teaching English.
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Information Literacy meets Web 2.0