Most of us view change as a threat, and survival as the goal. Change is not a threat, it’s an opportunity, and survival is not the goal, transformative success is. It’s thrilling if you give it a chance.
—Seth Godin1
A repeated theme among both survey respondents and people I have met in my travels is that fear of change makes their jobs as systems librarians difficult and sometimes frustrating. Even with the constant battles, the technostress, and the lack of funding for professional development, systems librarians love their jobs. If you’ve learned one thing from this book, I hope it’s that this job can be challenging, but it is very rewarding and well worth sticking with—or starting.
While the librarians who answered the survey expressed their frustrations, many also shared how much they love their jobs:
• “I love systems work but find the job especially challenging because I am the only person managing it. I wish more reference librarians would ‘explore’ and expand their understanding of basic web technology. Directors need to encourage librarians to go out of their comfort zones so they try to solve technological issues before transferring the call to the systems person because almost everything a librarian does involves automation.”
• “LOVE my job. LOVE it. Get to still be a librarian, but stay current with technology and trends.”
• “I adore working in systems. I wish my job was solely systems now so I could concentrate on my systems projects. The other librarians see systems as very much a specialty and are often in awe of how issues are resolved so there is a lot of job satisfaction.”
• “I love it. I love the intersection of people, technology, and information. It’s finally coming into its own, and that’s good for the profession.”
• “I love it and never want to stop doing it. I get to avoid corporate and government environments, I get to play with systems, and I get to learn all sorts of interesting things.”
• “I would not wish to work in any other department. It is always interesting and constantly challenging.”
Working in systems in the library puts you in a unique position to learn about new technologies before your colleagues. It allows you to take the initiative and foster change within your organization, and it gives you the unique opportunity to educate those around you about these new tools. When librarians were asked what their favorite part of systems work was, one of their top answers was the joy involved in solving problems. This was said in many different ways, but the theme was constant: You get to learn new things, change the way your library operates, and solve puzzles on a daily basis.
Many libraries have been brought to our attention purely because of the technologies they’re using. In 2007, my library at the time (Jenkins Law Library) was known by libraries all over the country simply because they had read about our homegrown intranet content management system and research links management system. That exciting use of technology set us apart, and as the one spearheading many of those projects, I was sharing our successes in journals and online. This recognition makes all the stress and all the battling for change worth it to the systems librarian.
If you remember that to succeed as a systems librarian you just need the desire to learn, the will to enforce change, and the love of solving puzzles, you’ll do just fine.
1. Seth Godin, Survival Is Not Enough: Zooming, Evolution, and the Future of Your Company (New York: Free Press, 2002), 4.