A guide for the perplexed

What is this?

Very few people plan to have a career in library technology. Maybe you have a background in traditional librarianship, but you'd like to be a systems librarian. Maybe you're an experienced programmer, but you're having trouble learning about library specific standards. This guide is a starting point for you. It will not attempt to be a replacement for university-level education in either library studies or computer science, but it will give you a general sense of the areas of technology that are used by libraries, background knowledge you'll need in order to work effectively in these areas, and advice and ideas on how to acquire necessary skills.

Advice in this guide should focus on concrete, immediately applicable skills whenever possible. This document should be a curriculum guide, not a textbook, so before attempting to write an article on a broadly applicable subject, check to see if wikipedia has one to which you could link and contribute.

Samples of Curriculums:

Who is this for?

People with a background in libraries / archives / museums

Learning about technology can be intimidating, especially when it is a departure from the areas you're used to studying. You may have been put into a situation where you are responsible for managing or completing a technology project, but you don't understand the technology involved, and you're having a hard time finding information about it. Don't worry, this is surprisingly common and you are not alone. Many of the members of the code4lib community are self-taught, and we're here to help.

Here's a good blog post aimed at people in this category: Advice to a Library School Student by Dan Chudnov

People with a background in technology / computer science

Why is it necessary?

Broad areas of library technology

Data Formats

Working with MaRC

Integrated Library Systems

Discovery Interfaces

Blacklight http://projectblacklight.org
Vufind

Article Databases

Institutional Repositories

EAD / Archival Finding Aids

Web Archiving

Specific Technologies

A Guide for the Perplexed