Another aspect to this is that there is great variance among programming
skills. A great java coder might not be that wonderful at Perl, someone who
excels at text munging might reek at database design (and based on my own
experience, I am beginning to think that procedural programmers are
possibly the worst stylesheet creators to draw breath). The intersection
between librarianship and technology may be a mix of problem-solving and
flexibility. It's possible in a large enough library to work in a very
specialized area, but it's a great environment for diversity, and unlike a
lot of technology-specific workplaces, you are often close to the
front-lines of the results of your technological creations and tinkering.
I'm not even that sure that a top-notch classically-trained computer
scientist is really more useful in a library then someone with some
proficiency with several scripting languages.

Still, I do think there would be some value in at least one programming
course that covered the major scripting languages (say PHP, Perl, and
Python) in library school, and possibly one on the issues of public
computing. I am also convinced that more Computer Science students would be
interested pursuing library degrees if they understood the commonality
between the problems that libraries try to solve and other areas where
technology is heavily used. And let's not forget that the ability to cover
wires with duct tape sometimes trumps all the other skills combined, maybe
we need a "Red Green" course as well.

art