Hi Ceci,
I hope you don't interpret this as a glib throwaway, but the best
answer I've seen so far was blogged by Dan Chudnov a while back. Here
it is:
http://onebiglibrary.net/story/advice-to-a-library-school-student
Worth a read, IMO!
Best of luck to you,
-Mike
On Fri, May 6, 2011 at 15:07, Ceci Land <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hello everyone. The recent thread asking people what they would like to
> learn if they had the time brought another question to my mind. If you were
> looking to get into "this side" of the profession, what would you recommend
> focusing on?
>
> IOW, suppose you were a current MLIS graduate student (that's me) who has a
> techy sort of inclination. But also assume that your current job as
> paraprofessional staff involves minimal computer skills, no programming or
> scripting and this situation will not ever change. Imagine that you've taken
> every programming and database class you can fit into your schedule, but you
> realize that course work will only take you slightly beyond a beginner level
> even if you make A's. (in an IS based program, not CS. I would have
> preferred the CS route, but work could not accommodate the class/lab time
> during the days)
>
> How would you choose to develop your skills from "baby" level to something
> useful to the profession? Will developing projects on your personal time and
> hosting them yourself be enough to get noticed when they day comes that you
> graduate with your shiny new diploma? What core skills would you choose to
> focus on? Would you give up a secure job with benefits to find an internship
> that could really challenge your programming, web development etc. skills?
>
> I see many people on this list with very strong skills, but in the job world,
> I don't see many 2nd string/entry level jobs that would allow someone to hone
> their skills to the level I often see here. I've been thinking that I should
> focus on further developing my abilities in: HTML/CSS of course, XML, XSLT,
> PHP, and MySQL (because they're all readily available for someone to play
> with despite not being employed in a systems department). It seems that
> anything I can learn about metadata transformations/crosswalks and RDF would
> be useful too. I also find some classification theories very compelling (ok,
> I admit that colon classification really got my attention in my first MLIS
> class) and found myself drawn to potentially being interested in taxonomies
> and controlled vocabulary. I know nothing about Drupal, but I wonder if I
> should include in my smorgasbord. How much is too much and where you y'all
> recommend I put my energy?
>
> Any advice is greatly appreciated. The more specific the better. :)
> Thx!
>
