I think there are a handful of reasons we don't see more programmer librarians: 1) The marxist perspective -- folks who can write decent software can get paid better doing something other than librarianship and don't have to get another degree first. The fact that we have more librarian-programmers than a few years ago may have to do with the fact that writing code alone no longer guarantees employment. Librarianship is a second career for a lot of people; but most of our feeder-careers aren't in programming... 2) As others have mentioned, programming is not part of the standard LIS curriculum. I went to U of Michigan 5 or 6 years ago, which was really gearing up for the world of information beyond libraries, and there was very little software development on the curriculum. There was some Java, but I didn't know then why I might want it. There was a 4-day Perl class taught by a student who thought we all ought to know some Perl. That class is essentially the basis for all the work I've done since. 3) Time: developing decent software demands that we have the time to do the job. Anything I can write in straightforward Perl and PHP may get written, but I don't really have the time to learn much beyond that or tinker with it. Having said that, if I go on sabbatical (crossing fingers) I'll be working on a regular collections-evaluation project, but it may turn into a programming project. Maybe something useful will come out of it. I'm not really a programmer-librarian. I'm a reference librarian who knows enough about a few scripting languages to build some tools that make information more accessible. I lack a lot of the organization and forethought and good coding practice that it would take to develop serious tools. Ken >Eric Lease Morgan wrote: > >>To what degree do y'all think computer programming should be skill aspects >>of librarianship? >> >>Since the charter of this mailing lists states it purpose as "...to provide >>a forum for discussion of computer programming in the area of libraries and >>information science...", and since the code4lib mailing list now includes >>about seventy-five (75) subscribers, I thought I try to get things started. >> >>Computers are great tools for storing vast amounts of data/information. >>Combined with a network, computers are also great tools for >>sharing/communicating this information with other computers, and therefore >>people. >> >>Librarianship is (partially) about collecting, organizing, archiving, >>disseminating, and sometimes evaluating data/information/knowledge. These >>processes seem very similar to the sorts of processes computers can >>facilitate. >> >>Why is it then that more librarians do not know how to create computer >>software? >> >>-- >>Eric Lease Morgan >>Head, Digital Access and Information Architecture Department >>University Libraries of Notre Dame >> >>(574) 631-8604 >> Ken Irwin [log in to unmask] Reference/Electronic Resources Librarian (937) 327-7594 Thomas Library, Wittenberg University