This is a great question - I really appreciate you asking it!

Many years ago I stumbled upon Max Eckard's Making Your Tools Work for You<https://mysaa.archivists.org/productdetails?id=a1B5a00000heMFvEAM#:~:text=Whether%20designing%20integration%20from%20the,and%20digital%20libraries%20for%20success.> published by the Society of American Archivists. It's not specific to systems librarianship per se but touches on a lot of activities that I imagine could be part of a systems librarian role. Its focus is on getting various disparate systems talk to one another, mainly through application programming interfaces (APIs). One of the first projects I worked on in a systems-adjacent role involved getting a custom system to "talk" to an ILS via an API and it kind of made a lot of other things I learned later on click into place.

Granted, the book is more than 10+ years old but the content hasn't felt outdated to me when I've revisited - many of the concepts still hold true!

Mary

Mary Kidd (she/her)
Technical Lead, Archival Systems
Yale Library IT – Client Services and IT Operations
________________________________
From: Code for Libraries <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Erica Findley (she/her) <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2025 5:39 PM
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Professional development books and articles

Thank you Snowden for this book reccomendation and for both of the tips.
Also, yes I can update this thread once I have gathered the replies. I
appreciate the encouragement.

*Erica Findley (she/her)*
*Systems & Metadata Specialist*
*x80591*
Multnomah County Library
Teleworking: M - F: 8 am - 5 pm
The Gallery <https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgallery.multcolib.org%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cmary.kidd%40YALE.EDU%7C45a3ce9397eb4562f17a08ddd07adb4f%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638895948271328136%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=JE%2FlLyq9kKTDBHybxrr7UnL94i8Z1odIJIyXluSrJUQ%3D&reserved=0<https://gallery.multcolib.org/>>
My pronouns are she/her/hers


On Thu, Jul 31, 2025 at 11:06 AM Snowden Becker <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> Hi Erica! Brighid Gonzales's "Systems Librarianship: A Practical Guide for
> Librarians" (2020) is part of Bloomsbury's Practical Guides for Librarians
> series, and might be the best source for this info in one
> place--particularly the interviews,
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> Hi Erica!
>
> Brighid Gonzales's "Systems Librarianship: A Practical Guide for Librarians" (2020) is part of Bloomsbury's Practical Guides for Librarians series, and might be the best source for this info in one place--particularly the interviews, where people tend to share more about the kinds of soft and practical skills that they actually draw on daily: https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.com%2Fv3%2F__https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bloomsbury.com%2Fus%2Fsystems-librarianship-9781538107133%2F__%3B!!Mz3y04SuVKn4zVb91lY!gfcSTuq4Hhej8ZR5jKDW03IM4drx5lhfNIWuo4Vbu1wOEXxFFxIPIl4dpgQ36Ybe9QuvJZgcxU5a1DZw6dAHEgc%24&data=05%7C02%7Cmary.kidd%40YALE.EDU%7C45a3ce9397eb4562f17a08ddd07adb4f%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638895948271354457%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=2mW3EmxrFZPyy4xVdvKeF5LWK7ly64%2BoGNl1ffRmrxQ%3D&reserved=0<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/systems-librarianship-9781538107133/__;!!Mz3y04SuVKn4zVb91lY!gfcSTuq4Hhej8ZR5jKDW03IM4drx5lhfNIWuo4Vbu1wOEXxFFxIPIl4dpgQ36Ybe9QuvJZgcxU5a1DZw6dAHEgc$>
>
> Speaking personally, one of sources I rely on for professional development frameworks is just looking at current job listings and noting which skills are listed as nice to haves/need to haves, and what the marketplace seems to be prioritizing that I don't already have, or could stand to brush up on. That's definitely given me some direction for personal goal-setting, and on a couple of occasions has motivated me to finally take that "intro to ____" class so that I can add "familiarity with ____" to my qualifications...
>
> Also, I don't know if you have the luxury of an engaged and supportive supervisor who includes professional development in your annual review process, but if you do--or if you have other people you can draw on as peer mentors--consider them a resource as well! Part of your supervisor's job should be to help you grow within your role and in the ways you need to in order to be effective and happy in your work. If you let them know you're looking to skill up or add competencies, but need some guidance, they may have some insights into what would be helpful in the broader context of your workplace. They might also be aware of programs or sources of available funding to support those professional development goals.
>
> I hope you'll come back and share with us what you find, and what ends up working for you--and big kudos for taking charge of your professional growth and advancement!
>
> Cheers,
> Snowden
>
> Snowden Becker (she/her)
> LOCKSS Program Community Managerhttps://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.com%2Fv3%2F__https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lockss.org%2F__%3B!!Mz3y04SuVKn4zVb91lY!gfcSTuq4Hhej8ZR5jKDW03IM4drx5lhfNIWuo4Vbu1wOEXxFFxIPIl4dpgQ36Ybe9QuvJZgcxU5a1DZwy5B_Y3M%24snowdenb%40stanford.edu&data=05%7C02%7Cmary.kidd%40YALE.EDU%7C45a3ce9397eb4562f17a08ddd07adb4f%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638895948271371749%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=7OsuVfvXvFRU026qUCDOIql%2FIapX8jkn0cj6U4aJzEk%3D&reserved=0
> (323) 365-9263 m
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Code for Libraries <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Erica Findley (she/her)
> Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2025 10:17 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [CODE4LIB] Professional development books and articles
>
> All,
>
> I'm looking for any literature about competencies related to being a Systems Librarian. Something that would provide ideas for professional development in this area. Both soft skills and technical skills.
>
> My responsibilities are mostly ILS administration and batch updates.
>
> I have been doing this work for many years, but have not had a lot of formal training. So, I am trying to gather ideas for skills and areas that I can improve in.
>
> The literature I have found so far is mostly around improving the ILS, project management, or is more than 10 years old.
>
> I look forward to your recommendations,
>
> Erica
>
> *Erica Findley (she/her)*
> *Systems & Metadata Specialist*
> *x80591*
> Multnomah County Library
> Teleworking: M - F: 8 am - 5 pm
> The Gallery <https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgallery.multcolib.org%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cmary.kidd%40YALE.EDU%7C45a3ce9397eb4562f17a08ddd07adb4f%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638895948271386660%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=IljZ8wb66TZCB1U9xcPu6lEUl3y8PSly3d3BgXsNwBA%3D&reserved=0 > My pronouns are she/her/hers
>
>