Tech People and Content People

Interestingly, Dr Tomer spoke about how librarians of the future need to have technology skills and I had a post idea about the same topic. It seems regular folk who are librarians and have a sense of content areas (etc) will have to develop technology skills in order to best serve libraries. Perhaps this is true. Maybe the hardcore tech folks will need to have an intermediary that speaks with both them and the library folks so things can get done. This is a common role in other industries where tech people have a hard time communicating with regular folk and regular folk have a hard time speaking tech language, so a project manager acts as the go-between.

I'm not advocating for another layer of work, rather that librarians need to be lifelong learners, especially with technology.

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March of the Librarians

The annual conference of the American Library Association (ALA) is in Washington, DC this weekend. I'm attending from Thursday to Tuesday and will spend most of my time with the Public Library Association (PLA). I'm looking forward to meeting new people and observing the conference in general.

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The Outlook for Librarians - (from Occupational Outlook Handbook - Bureau of Labor Statistics)

According to the latest Occupational Outlook Handbook, job prospects for librarians is expected to be favorable and growth is expected to be at least as good as the average of all fields. The outlook is based on a large number of librarians retiring in the next decade.

As I read the report, I feel better about my job prospects, but not as confident as I was in job opportunities the last time I was looking for a job in 2004. One adjustment I'll make this time around will be a willingness to volunteer. It seems the library profession offers volunteer opportunities, which will benefit me by putting my skills to use, acquiring new skills, and networking with other professionals.

For now, most of my effort is dedicated to getting the most out of my classwork, rather than job searching.

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos068.htm

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