 |
 |
What I don't understand is that many large and mid-sized libraries also make very extensive use of LibGuides. These are libraries that usually have a few dozen librarians and twice as many staff. You'd think that with 90+% of library resources being in electronic format now that these libraries would have a whole team of people with very good IT skills for managing technology and servers and online resources, but most libraries are lucky to have even *one* of those people. I do definitely see the appeal of using LibGuides in an environment where campus IT has very strict policies, but that seems like taking the lesser of two evils. At least being locked into a campus IT system provides a consistent look and feel (if little else). Josh Welker Information Technology Librarian James C. Kirkpatrick Library University of Central Missouri Warrensburg, MO 64093 JCKL 2260 660.543.8022 -----Original Message----- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ross Singer Sent: Sunday, August 11, 2013 9:00 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] LibGuides: I don't get it I don't think the remedy to a lack of technology skills is to make librarians into shade tree sysadmins. *That's* the expense that gets swept under the rug in the open source argument. Most advocates have systems administrators and infrastructure to support implementing things themselves and grossly underestimate the cost when that environment doesn't exist. -Ross. On Sunday, August 11, 2013, Cornel Darden Jr. wrote: > Hi, > > Lack of technology skills seems to be a recurring theme here. 21st > century Librarians shouldn't lack any technology skills. Those that do > need to get them or look for another career.; or they are just hurting > the patrons and institutions they serve. > > Thanks, > > Cornel Darden Jr. > MSLIS > Librarian > Kennedy-King College > City Colleges of Chicago > Work 773-602-5449 > Cell 708-705-2945 > > > On Aug 11, 2013, at 8:10 PM, stuart yeates > > <[log in to unmask]<javascript:;>> > wrote: > > > >> On 12/08/13 12:20, Andrew Darby wrote: > >> I don't get this argument at all. Why is it "counter productive to > >> try > to > >> look at open source alternatives" if the vendor's option is > >> relatively cheap? Why wouldn't you investigate all options? > > > > If you have no in-house technical capability, the cost of looking at > > an > open source alternative can easily outweigh the multi-year licensing fee. > > > > cheers > > stuart > > -- > > Stuart Yeates > > Library Technology Services http://www.victoria.ac.nz/library/ >