Kia ora all,

Our "library IT" consists of two people: I'm the "Head of Department Digital Services", and the other is the "Digital Services Analyst". We've tried other titles, and last time we were advertising I benchmarked against the other unis in the country, and couldn't think of anything more descriptive. I also revamped the job description: it is one of those "kitchen sink" JDs, but that's because that's literally what our job is, and I tried to make it clear that way more important than already knowing all the languages/systems listed (no such person exists except, well, at this point me) was the ability to learn on the job and the ability to rapidly switch from one task/system to another as someone walks in the door to tell you something else is broken/not working as desired.

I enjoy fixing things, yes... if I can make it a real lasting fix. I *hate* having to fix the same thing again and again. I do like making new things too but try to temper that with recognising the maintenance issues with doing so.... I do end up doing a fair amount of project management which is fine if it's a project that's making progress but if it gets bogged down with politics or bureaucracy or shall we say difficulties getting user buy-in, I just want to run away and write some javascript.

Back to the job titles thing, I've honestly never really been clear the nuance between different IT-style titles or what people think a 'systems librarian' does. Especially because this has evolved so much over the years, and it's different at different libraries. (At a bigger system they'll be more likely to want a specialist, at a smaller one more likely to want a generalist; some libraries will be committed to maintaining homegrown systems, others to using the cloud; some will be keen on open access and research data, others may have a heritage/digitisation focus, others teaching and learning, others....) So I don't know if too much should be read into job titles at all - you need to know the local environment.

Deborah

-----Original Message-----
From: Code for Libraries <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Salazar, Christina
Sent: Thursday, 27 September 2018 9:24 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [CODE4LIB] Are you a coder/programmer or a systems analyst or?

Hey Everyone,

I'm going to be so old skool about this and ask this question on the mailing list, but I'm curious to know if you believe your work is more coder/programmer or systems/applications analyst or project management type work? I'm also curious about what types of job titles you have that do/do not correlate to the work you do on a day to day. (I'm painting with broad strokes I guess.)

My job title has pretty much been systems librarian since 2001 and in that time have more closely identified with systems analyst type tasks. I can code but it's mostly in aid of fixing broken things, not creating new applications. I guess I also LIKE fixing broken things MORE than making new ones. I'm also sort of kind of a project manager since I've now assisted with implementation of perhaps a dozen or more library applications (including I think 4 ILSs).

I'm trying NOT to reignite that whole "imposter syndrome" conversation but focus more on our actual skills and experience (believe me, that previous paragraph, while empirically true makes me feel all wormy inside.) I'm contemplating all this in hopes of better marketing myself for future and current job possibilities (as in, maybe I should not apply for systems librarian jobs any more since I am not really a full time coder but more of a "fixer.")

Thoughts anyone?

Christina Salazar
Librarian About Town
California State University, Channel Islands John Spoor Broome Library
805-437-3198


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