The status of systems librarians
| Pages | 267-269 |
| Published date | 01 September 2003 |
| Date | 01 September 2003 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/07378830310494427 |
| Author | Michael Seadle |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
The status of systems
librarians
Michael Seadle
Introduction
It is the ``professional's professionals'' who are of
high statu (Abbott, 2001, p. 146).
In a recent article in D-Lib Magazine, Marcum
(2003) summarized the results of an essay
contest about the academic library in 2012:
The prevailing conviction revealed in the essays
was that technology serves as the driving force
determining change in academic libraries.
This probably surprises no one. Technology has
been changing academic libraries in very
obvious ways for a long time, as Crawford
(2003) noted recently in American Libraries.
This sustained dependence on technology has
created a systems librarian subspecies on whom
everyone depends, and that dependence should
make them, in Abbott's terms, the
professional's professional: colleagues to whom
the very best specialists turn without the least
shame for help and advice.
Yet, no one who has worked as a systems
librarian would recognize themselves as having
quite so exalted a status. The problem lies in
the dual nature of their work: they must be
computer professionals and librarians
simultaneously. And that is hard.
Computer professionals
Among computing professionals, systems
librarians are often regarded as quasi-amateurs:
more like power-users than fellow pros. Systems
librarians must work with university
information technology staff to accomplish a
variety of services, such as registering new
domain names, getting better bandwidth, or
establishing data feeds from administrative
systems. Some systems librarians have the
technical skills to do this work themselves, but
the chance rarely comes, since giving them
access to the right tools and data presents
security issues and coordination problems.
Within the library's own staff, systems
librarians may well supervise other computer
professionals, but this does not necessarily
enhance their status. Respect for them as
computer professionals will depend largely on
their technical expertise. Computing is a world
where success is obvious: things either work or
they do not. Those who can make more things
The author
Michael Seadle is Editor of
Library Hi Tech
.
Keywords
System monitoring, Librarians, Professional services,
Academic libraries, Academic staff
Abstract
Systems librarians are a subspecies on whom everyone in
the library world depends. Yet no one who has worked as a
systems librarian would recognize themselves as having an
exalted status. The problem lies in the dual nature of their
work: they must be computer professionals and librarians
simultaneously. And that is hard.
Electronic access
The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is
available at
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0737-8831.htm
Editorial
267
Library Hi Tech
Volume 21 .Number 3 .2003 .pp. 267-269
#MCB UP Limited .ISSN 0737-8831
DOI 10.1108/07378830310494427
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