Here's a quick, rough-and-ready survey--two questions, addressed to any
librarian who received an MLS in the past five years from an accredited
program. To get your degree, were you required to acquire or
demonstrate basic microcomputer competency (beyond typing/keyboard
skill)? Was the computer knowledge you graduated with adequate for the
library job(s) you subsequently found yourself doing?
Quick, rough-and-ready answers (yes/no) to those questions would be
fine. I'm leaving the questions deliberately imprecise -- what is
"basic competency", after all -- hoping to stimulate not only answers to
the questions as posed but also an interesting range of opinions on what
comprises basic microcomputer competency for librarians, how central it
should be to librarianship, whether shortcomings (are there any?) are
matters of training (require more computer training in MLS curriculum?)
or of management (hire more technical support staff, organize them more
efficiently?).
I am cross-posting this question to several specialized lists as well as
PACS-L and LIBREF-L, and I apologize for clogging the mailboxes of those
who subscribe to more than one of those discussions. It would be very
helpful if, in reponding to my survey, you would mention from which
discussion list you received it.
Please reply directly to me -- EMAZE@DELPHI.COM -- rather than to the
list, as I am posting this message to several lists whose daily postings
I do not receive. I will summarize responses for the list if there is
general interest.
E. A. Maze, Reference Librarian.
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