LIS 630 administrator interview

Library Technology Administrator Interview

LIS 630

Christian Burris

October 10, 2010

The Administrator

About the Administrator

MSLS, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1983

Previous experience: University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, the Baylor School, and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Currently employed at the Professional Center Library (PCL) of the Worrell Professional Center for Law and Management at Wake Forest University

About the Administrator

Originally hired as cataloging/automation librarian

Current position: Associate Director for Collection Services and Systems

Interviewed in person on Wednesday, September 22, 2010 in his office at PCL

Fourteen interview questions

The Interview

Question One: How long have you served as a technology administrator?

Came to PCL in 1995 with primary role as administrator for the online catalog

Built and maintained the PCL website during its early stages as well as Worrell Center website

Assisted in selection/implementation of Voyager ILS in late 1990s

Serves as the Voyager system administrator for PCL

Question Two: What are your major roles and responsibilities?

System administrator for the Voyager ILS at PCL

Configures PCs and laptops to run special software programs

Configures all of the PCs and laptops in the library for operation after every major software upgrade

Develops hardware workarounds for systems that are removed and are not replaced

Question Three: What types of hardware and software does PCL use for managing information?

Online catalog as its primary discovery layer for all of its resources

Several CD-ROMs are maintained

Serials Solutions record service manages print and online journal holdings

Moving to Windows 7 operating system

Question Four: How do you stay current on trends in technology?

“Lives in the middle of it”

PCL is behind the curve on implementing the latest software

Reads listserves, electronic journals, and print journals

Relies on word of mouth and similar networking opportunities

Necessity has been the mother of invention

Question Five: Which specific information services do you use (listserves, journals, etc.)?

Listserves: Voyager-L, the ALCTS (Association for Library Collections & Technical Services, a division of ALA) forum listserve, the Next Generation Catalog listserve, MARC-21 listserve from LC, the AALLTSSIS (American Association of Law Libraries Technical Services Special Interest Section) listserve

Journals: Library Hi Tech, Information Technology and Libraries (ITAL), ACRL News

Question Five: Which specific information services do you use (listserves, journals, etc.)?

Receives articles that had been forwarded to him by colleagues who read other listserves and journals

Sends e-mail to developers and agents

Not afraid to search Google

Question Six: How are decisions regarding the implementation of technology made?

Before the retirement of the most recent director of PCL:

• collection development committee managed decisions regarding electronic resources

• administrator himself made the decisions about any hardware or software purchases

• three WFU libraries addressed the Voyager ILS

• Information Systems department managed decisions at the university level

Question Six: How are decisions regarding the implementation of technology made?

Current situation following that retirement:

• collection development committee still makes decisions regarding electronic resources

• no formal technology requests been made from PCL, but he believes that they would be submitted to the dean of the law school

• recent change: computers in PCL would be leased rather than owned by the law school

Question Seven: Have there been any organizational barriers or challenges?

Voyager implementation went smoothly several years ago, although customer support issues could be difficult

No administrative barriers within PCL because of the size of the operation

• “if we can afford it, we can do it”

• Guides staff reluctant to change forward

Question Eight: What are some of the “technology tools” you use in your daily work?

MARC Edit

Macro Express 3.8

Microsoft Office suite

Voyager tools developed by Gary Strawn

TextPad

Dreamweaver

Adobe Fireworks

Question Nine: If there were one technology skill(s) you would like for library staff to have, what would it be?

1. For all staff, he would encourage problem-solving skills

2. The ability to create macros to simplify workflows

3. Catalogers should be able to edit batches of records at once rather than one at a time

4. Giving staff the tools they need to handle whatever is placed in front of them

Question Ten: Does customer service play a role in your position?

Quickly answered “yes”

Rest of the library staff are customers, along with students and faculty

“Our job is to see their needs are met”

Hybrid positions that blend technical/public services will grow

Library systems: although the staff member doing the work may not be visible, the output of their work always is

Question Eleven: In your opinion, what was the most important development in library technology up to this point?

introduction of the personal computer (PC) into libraries

• introduction of the Internet and similar resources (Web) significant, but not possible without PC

• without it, libraries would “still be in the stone age”, i.e. working with terminal-based systems

• revolutionized how libraries operated

• libraries today would not be able to function at their current levels

• moved from the print-based world to the electronic-based at breakneck speeds

Question Twelve: What current technology could have far-reaching impact in the library community?

Tools to unlock some of the traditional silos in the library world (e.g. MARC record data)

• full potential of that “legacy data” can be realized

• XML and the emerging RDA standard were only the first steps

Web apps can also be developed for mobile market and beyond

Potential to create a semantic web with controlled vocabularies of libraries

Question Thirteen: Do you have a technology “wish list”?

1. An additional person to take over lesser responsibilities.

2. More integration with current technology across campus.

3. A hope that Wake Forest will not implement technologies that would require several people to establish and maintain.

4. The impossible dream: for the world to slow down for a while to allow him to catch up on his own work.

Question Fourteen: Do you have any other comments?

never been afraid to “think outside of the box” to solve problems

libraries are still needed rather than be “shoved out of the door”

does not matter how much technology one has, but it does matter how to get that technology to suit the one’s needs

satisfaction from finding solutions that use complex tools to save staff time and not push any difficulties farther down

“by thinking through the problem, a solution can usually be found”

Closing Thoughts

Closing Thoughts

Interview was enlightening and extremely rewarding

Viewpoint of using technology to solve problems as much as possible

His role as an administrator was as a facilitator between the staff and the technology

Pragmatic approach toward technology at his library

Thank you!

Christian Burris

[email protected]