New Article: “Supporting the Next-Generation ILS: The Changing Roles of Systems Librarians”
The following article appears in the latest issue of The Journal of Library Innovation.
Title
Supporting the Next-Generation ILS: The Changing Roles of Systems Librarians
Authors
Ping Fu
Central Washington University
Source
The Journal of Library Innovation
Vol 5 No. 1 (2014)
Abstract
This paper compares current responsibilities of systems librarians supporting the traditional ILS with anticipated responsibilities associated with supporting the next- generation ILS.
An examination of how the roles of systems librarians will change due to the migration to the next-generation ILS is included. The method used for this study was content analysis of online job banks with archives of five years of job postings. The analysis results demonstrate a shift is happening in the primary roles and responsibilities of systems librarians supporting the next-generation ILS. The job responsibilities are becoming more human/organizations related than those positions supporting the traditional ILS where responsibilities are concentrated on information technology.
Overall, this suggests that systems librarians are expected to manage much less in terms of tasks directly related to information technology. Consequently, systems librarians should re-engineer themselves accordingly so that they will be able to support more critical issues in the library.
Direct to Full Text Article (13 pages; PDF)
Filed under: Archives and Special Collections, Associations and Organizations, Journal Articles, Libraries, News
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.