Librarians and Computer Programming: Understanding the role of programming within the profession of librarianship
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5931/djim.v12i1.6450Keywords:
Computer Programming, Web Programming, Data Proccessing, Digital Librarianship, Systems Librarianship, Metadata Librarianship, Web librarianshipAbstract
Computer programming is increasingly being discussed as a practice within librarianship. However, contemporary discussions about the role of code within librarianship often suggest that librarians should or should not learn code while failing to qualify how and why librarians are employing code in a professional capacity rather than IT professionals. By investigating case studies that describe librarians writing code, this paper qualifies popular discussions of code and librarianship with how and why programming is being used in practice by librarians. While these case studies reveal that programming solutions were developed in the context of lack of IT staff, librarians are not taking over roles or projects traditionally afforded to software and web developers, instead librarians are writing code for data processing and web services as extensions of their normal responsibilities. Further discussion explores software engineering as the primary concern of librarians who code professionally.
References
Abraham, S., Chapman, S., Flecker, D., Kreigsman, S., Marinus, J., McGath, G., & Wendler, R. (2005). Harvard‘s perspective on the archive ingest and handling test. D-Lib Magazine, 11(12), 1–1. http://doi.org/10.1045/december2005-abrams
An IT Person (2011). Comment posted to why not grow coders from the inside of libraries? By Kim, B. Retrieved 14th of December, 2015 from http://www.bohyunkim.net/blog/archives/1099
Banerjee, K., & Johnson, M. (2015). Improving access to archival collections with automated entity extraction. The Code4Lib Journal, (29). Retrieved from http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/10726
Bartle, L. (2000). Mounting a web-accessible database: a model for beginners. College & Undergraduate Libraries, 7(2), 111.
Belfiore, D. (2012). Case study: using perl and cgi scripts to automate a quality control workflow for scanned congressional documents. The Code4Lib Journal, (17). Retrieved from http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/6731
Bivens-Tatum, W. (2013). Why I ignore gurus, sherpas, ninjas, mavens, and other sages. Retrieved from https://blogs.princeton.edu/librarian/2013/03/why-i-ignore-gurus-sherpas-ninjas-mavens-and-other-sages/
Breeding, M. (2002). Expanding the systems librarian‘s toolkit. Information Today, 19(1), 36.
Choi, Y., & Rasmussen, E. (2006). What is needed to educate future digital librarians: a study of current practice and staffing patterns in academic and research libraries. D-Lib Magazine, 12(9). http://doi.org/10.1045/september2006-choi
Chudnov, D., Kerchner, D., Sharma, A., & Wrubel, L. (2014). Technical challenges in developing software to collect twitter data. Code4Lib Journal, (26), 1–1.
Computer Engineer & Librarian (2011). comment posted to why not grow coders from the inside of libraries? By Kim, B. Retrieved 14th of December, 2015 from http://www.bohyunkim.net/blog/archives/1099
Finch, M. (2013). The evolving metadata librarian: creating and managing data about data. In The New Academic Librarian: Essays on Changing Roles and Responsibilities. McFarland.
Frank, H. (2013). Augmenting the cataloger‘s bag of tricks”¯: using marcedit, python, and pymarc for batch-processing marc records generated from the archivists‘ toolkit. The Code4Lib Journal, (20). Retrieved from http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/8336#note1
Goddard, L. (2003). The integrated librarian: IT in the systems office. Library Hi Tech, 21(3), 280–288.
Godfrey, B., & Kenyon, J. (2015). ¬The geospatial metadata manager‘s toolbox: three techniques for maintaining records. The Code4Lib Journal, (29). Retrieved from http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/10601
Gordon, R. S. (2003). Overcoming the systems librarian imposter syndrome. Libres, 13(2). Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-3042638951&partnerID=40&md5=00c4b33783b9e7117db687e3657db647
Greene, A. (2008). Managing subject guides with SQL Server and ASP.Net. Library Hi Tech, 26(2), 213–231.
Highsmith, A., Jordan, M., Llona, E., Murray, P. E., & Summers, E. (2002). MARC it your way: MARC.pm. Information Technology and Libraries, 21(1), 19–25.
Intner, S. S., & Lazinger, S. S. (2011). Afterword. In Conversations with catalogers in the 21st century. Santa Barbara, California: Libraries Unlimited.
Jenkins, K. (2009). Deciphering journal abbreviations with jabbr. The Code4Lib Journal, (7). Retrieved from http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/1758#fn7
Kane McElfresh, L. (2012). The year of coding, the future of catalogers. Technicalities, 32(4), 5–7.
Kelley, K. J. (2015). The Myth and Magic of Library Systems. Chandos Publishing.
Kim, B. (2011). Why not grow coders from the inside of libraries? Retrieved from http://www.bohyunkim.net/blog/archives/1099
Kim, B. (2012). effectively learning how to code: tips and resources. Retrieved from http://acrl.ala.org/techconnect/post/effectively-learning-how-to-code-tips-and-resources
Maceli, M. mmaceli@pratt.edu. (2015). What technology skills do developers need? a text analysis of job listings in library and information science (LIS) from Jobs.code4lib.org. Information Technology & Libraries, 34(3), 8–21.
McGlone, J. (2013). Looking under the hood: a view of the digital projects librarian in the academic library by jonathan mcglone. In The New Academic Librarian: Essays on Changing Roles and Responsibilities. McFarland.
McMullen, A., & Gray, B. (2012). From static to dynamic using the OPAC to generate real-time lists of departmental acquisitions for library current awareness service. Library Hi Tech, 30(4), 673–682. http://doi.org/10.1108/07378831211285121
Michel, J. P., & Ladd, M. (2015). “Snow Fall”-ing special collections and archives. Journal of Web Librarianship, 9(2-3), 121–131. http://doi.org/10.1080/19322909.2015.1044689
Miller-Francisco, E. (2010). Creating Dynamic Websites Using jQuery. Computers in Libraries, 30(6), 26–28.
Murray, P. E. (2102). The security implications of teaching librarians to program | disruptive library technology jester. Retrieved from http://dltj.org/article/security-implications-of-librarian-developers/
Nackerud, S. A. (1998). The potential of cgi: using pre-built cgi scripts to make interactive web pages. Information Technology and Libraries, 17(4), 222.
Neugebauer, T., Carson, P., & Krujelskis, S. (2015). Using SemanticScuttle for managing lists of recommended resources on a library website. The Code4Lib Journal, (27). Retrieved from http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/10269
Neugebauer, T. tomasz.neugebauer@concordia.ca, & Han, B. bin.han@concordia.ca. (2012). Batch ingesting into eprints digital repository software. Information Technology & Libraries, 31(1), 113–125.
Ogier, A. L., Sechler, M. W., & Aschmann, A. (2013). Teaching wild horses to sing: managing the deluge of electronic serials. Serials Librarian, 64(1-4), 99–104. http://doi.org/10.1080/0361526X.2013.760354
Orphanides, A. K. (2011). Lessons in public touchscreen development. The Code4Lib Journal, (15). Retrieved from http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/5832
Peacock, R., & Wurm, J. (2013). The New Academic Librarian: Essays on Changing Roles and Responsibilities. McFarland.
Putnam, L. (2013). Should librarians learn to code? | Next Libraries. Retrieved from http://www.nextlibraries.org/2013/12/should-librarians-learn-to-code/
Raju, J. (2014). Knowledge and skills for the digital era academic library. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 40(2), 163–170. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2014.02.007
Randtke, W. (2013). Automated metadata creation: possibilities and pitfalls. The Serials Librarian, 64(1-4), 267–284. http://doi.org/10.1080/0361526X.2013.760286
Ranti (2011). Comment posted to why not grow coders from the inside of libraries? By Kim, B. Retrieved 14th of December, 2015 from http://www.bohyunkim.net/blog/archives/1099
Rhyno, A. (2003). From library systems to mainstream software: How Web technologies are changing the role of the systems librarian. Library Hi Tech, 21(3), 289–296.
Rimkus, K. R., & Hess, K. M. (2014). HathiTrust ingest of locally managed content: a case study from the university of illinois at urbana-champaign. Code4Lib Journal, (25), 7–7.
Roberts, G. (2005). Learning server-side scripting. Computers in Libraries, 25(8), 37–39.
Sanchez, E. (2011). Conversations with catalogers in the 21st century. Santa Barbara, California: Libraries Unlimited.
Schulkins, D. R., & Schulkins, J. (2015). Streamlining book requests with chrome. The Code4Lib Journal, (30). Retrieved from http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/10996
Schwartz, C. (2011). Changing mind-set, changing skill set: transition from cataloger to metadata librarian. In Conversations with catalogers in the 21st century. Santa Barbara, California: Libraries Unlimited.
Surratt, B. E., & Hill, D. (2004). ETD2MARC: a semiautomated workflow for cataloging electronic theses and dissertations. Library Collections Acquisitions & Technical Services, 28(2), 205–223. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.lcats.2004.02.014
Tennant, R. (1999). Skills for the new millennium. Library Journal, 124(1), 39.
Thomale, J. (2010). Interpreting MARC: where‘s the bibliographic data? The Code4Lib Journal, (11). Retrieved from http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/3832
Tidal, J. (2013). The evolving role of the web librarian. In The New Academic Librarian: Essays on Changing Roles and Responsibilities. McFarland.
Walker, D. (2007). Building custom metasearch interfaces and services using the MetaLib X-Server. Internet Reference Services Quarterly, 12(3/4), 325–339.
Watson, J., Hawthorne, D., & Wishnetsky, S. (2008). ERM on a shoestring: betting on an alternative solution. The Serials Librarian, 54(3-4), 245–252. http://doi.org/10.1080/03615260801974206
Wilkinson, L. (2013). Is coding an essential library skill? Retrieved from https://senseandreference.wordpress.com/2013/03/08/is-coding-an-essential-library-skill/
Will K (2011). Comment posted to why not grow coders from the inside of libraries? By Kim, B. Retrieved 14th of December, 2015 from http://www.bohyunkim.net/blog/archives/1099
Wisniewski, J. jeffw@pitt.edu. (2012). Parlez-Vous Code? Online, 36(6), 57–60.
Yelton, A., & ALA TechSource. (2015). Coding for librarians: learning by example (Library technology reports No. 51(3)) (p. 34).
-------(2013). Comment posted to is coding an essential library skill? By Wilkinson, L. Retrieved 14th of December, 2015 from
https://senseandreference.wordpress.com/2013/03/08/is-coding-an-essential-library-skill/
-------(2012). why should librarians learn python? (a better answer). Retrieved from http://andromedayelton.com/blog/2012/08/28/why-should-librarians-learn-python-a-better-answer/
Zou, Q. (2015). A novel open source approach to monitor ezproxy users‘ activities. The Code4Lib Journal, (29). Retrieved from http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/10589
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Papers published in the Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management must be the original, unpublished work of the author. Contributors are responsible for obtaining any copyright clearances required in relation to their work.
Authors submitting a paper to the Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management automatically agree to grant a limited license to DJIM if and when the manuscript is accepted for publication. This license gives permission for DJIM to publish the paper in a given issue and to maintain the work in the electronic journal archive. DJIM also submits issues to institutional repositories and Open Access repositories.
Contributors agree to each reader accessing, downloading, or printing one copy of their article for their own personal use or research. All other copyrights remain with the author, subject to the requirements that any republication of the work be accompanied by an acknowledgement that the work was first published in the Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management and that the DJIM Editorial Chair must be notified of any republication of a work first published in DJIM.
Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management
c/o School of Information Management
Faculty of Management
Dalhousie University
Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building
6100 University Avenue
Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 3J5
Canada
Email: djim@dal.ca
Authors should recognize that, because of the nature of the Internet, the publisher has no control over unauthorized copying or editing of protected works.
