Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Systems Librarianship (But Were Afraid to Ask)

Presentation given at New England Library Association Annual Conference October 27, 2015 by Emily Singley and Alison Thornton

Transcript

1. EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SYSTEMS LIBRARIANSHIP (BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK) Emily Singley, Boston College Alison Thornton, Harvard University NELA Conference October 27, 2015
2. What we are going to cover • What is a systems librarian? • What we do • What skills do you need? • And where can you get them • Questions
3. What is a Systems Librarian, anyway? (we have no idea…)
5. What Alison does all day “the hybrid systems librarian” • Technical configurations for batch loads (dataloads) • New technical service initiatives using automation • Vendor and staff training • Linked data project • Some additional responsibilities
6. Dataloads: MARC What are dataloads and why do we use them?
7. Dataloads: EDI So what is EDI anyway?
8. Vendor and staff training and communication
9. Linked data project • So what is linked data, anyway? • Nuremberg medical trials • Authority work • Data clean up using Google Refine • Creation of triples • Triplestore
10. Some additional responsibilities • Z39.50 technical configurations & troubleshooting • Cataloging tools management • Search & Discovery Education Working Group
11. What Emily does all day  ILS  discovery system  proxy server  link resolver  ILL system  website
12. manage ILS • III Millennium • Ex Libris Aleph • Ex Libris Alma
13. What I do in ILS • Set staff permissions • Configure loan rules • Run batch jobs • Run reports
14. manage discovery system • Ex Libris Primo • ProQuest Summon • III Encore
15. Discovery Layer (Primo) Catalog (Alma)
16. MARC XML Mapping data from ILS
17. Display
18.  Ex Libris SFX  ProQuest 360 Link  Innovative WebBridge (So what is a ‘link resolver’ anyway?)  A system that uses OpenURL protocol to parse metadata sent over the Web  Allows users to find all available copies of an electronic resource. link resolver
19. Metadata Full text http://alma.exlibrisgroup.com/view/uresolver/01BC_ INST/openurl?ctx_enc=info:ofi/enc:UTF- 8&ctx_id=10_1&ctx_tim=2015-10- 13T21%3A19%3A38IST&ctx_ver=Z39.88- 2004&url_ctx_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&url_ver= Z39.88- 2004&rfr_id=info:sid/primo.exlibrisgroup.com- gale_ofa&req_id=&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx: &rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=SFX%2C+information +needs%2C+the+academic+library%2C+and+its +user.%28SFX+bt+Ex+Libris+OpenURL+link+re solver%29%28Report%29&rft.jtitle=Library+Philos ophy+and+Practice&rft.btitle=&rft.aulast=&rft.auinit =&rft.auinit1=&rft.auinitm=&rft.ausuffix=&rft.au=Bar ner%2C+Keren&rft.aucorp=&rft.date=20120601&rf t.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.part=&rft.date=20120601 &rft.quarter=&rft.ssn=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.p ages=&rft.artnum=&rft.issn=1522-0222&rft.eissn OpenURL
20. (So what is a proxy server, anyway?)  Server that assigns external users a local IP that is recognized by e-resource vendors  Provides off-site users access to library resources  EZProxy  WAM proxy server
21. # EBSCOhost (OCLC 2015-04-10) Title EBSCOhost URL http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx HJ eds.a.ebscohost.com HJ eds.b.ebscohost.com HJ eds.c.ebscohost.com HJ eds.d.ebscohost.com HJ eds.e.ebscohost.com HJ ehis.ebscohost.com HJ eoncontent.ebscohost.com HJ m.ebscohost.com HJ openurl.ebscohost.com ProQuest (OCLC 2015-04-10) HTTPHeader X-Requested-With T ProQuest U http://search.proquest.com/ip NeverProxy flow.proquest.com NeverProxy order.proquest.com NeverProxy rss.proquest.com DJ proquest.com HJ proquest.umi.com HJ sanborn.umi.com DJ umi.com DJ conquest-leg-insight.com # SAGE Publications (OCLC 2013-10-28 with update) Title Sage Publications URL http://online.sagepub.com HJ online.sagepub.com HJ sagepub.com DJ sagepub.com Find url = "http:// Replace url = "http://^A Find url = document.location.protocol + "//" + document.location.host Replace url = "http://^Aonline.sagepub.com" # Project Muse (HJ muse.jhu.edu is discontinued on 5/1/2015) T Project Muse U http://muse.jhu.edu HJ muse.jhu.edu HJ https://muse.jhu.edu DJ muse.jhu.edu EZProxy stanzas
22. library website
23. So what do you need to know to be a systems librarian?
24. • Willingness to try new things • Ability to learn on the job • An interest in new technologies and tools • Flexibility and adaptability to a changing environment • Ability to work within a team environment and actively promote collaboration • And experience with some of the following:
25. • Library systems and tools • Web application development in a Unix/Linux environment • Web technologies including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, XML/XSLT • Web services such as SOAP, REST and other XML- based APIs • Structured programming languages such as PHP, Ruby, Python, Java • Library data formats and standards such as MARC, Dublin Core, METS, MODs • Proxy servers and/or authentication and authorization services
26. How (and where) can I learn new skills? • Lynda.com • Codecademy (free) • Library Juice Academy • Women’s Coding Collective (Boston area) • Freely available webinars & slides • Continuing Education classes • Social media • Learn from mentors, colleagues, and friends • Find a safe space and play! Most important—don’t be scared to try!
27. Questions? Thank you! Emily Singley Head Librarian, Systems & Applications Boston College emily.singley@bc.edu Alison Thornton Technical Services Systems Support Librarian Metadata Management Harvard Library alison_thornton@harvard.edu