Re: [CODE4LIB] xml stylesheet question

[Ethan Gruber]

+1 for Shawn's example.

Ethan

On Mon, Aug 1, 2011 at 9:30 PM, Shawn Averkamp wrote:

> You could also combine the best of both solutions with:
>
> 
>   
>
>Subject
> 
>  (  
> )
>  
> : 
> 
>
>
>   
> 
>
> ...which would allow for the addition of other controlled subject
> vocabularies (or none at all) without having to update your stylesheet.
>
> -
> Shawn Averkamp
> Metadata Librarian
> University of Alabama Libraries
> smaverk...@ua.edu
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Aug 1, 2011 at 6:03 PM, Enrico Silterra  wrote:
>
> > something like
> > 
> > >  
> > >   
> > >
> > 
> > 
> >   Subject: LCSH 
> > 
> > Subject: TGM
> > 
> > 
> >
> > >   
> > >   
> > >  
> > "
> > On Mon, Aug 1, 2011 at 5:54 PM, Edward M. Corrado 
> > wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > I am trying to do something with an xsl stylesheet (1.0) that seems
> > > like it should be pretty simple, but I can't figure out how to do it
> > > or find any examples on the Web that work-. I have a set of Dublin
> > > Core XML records that have the subjects as either LCSH or TGM. The
> > > type of subject is identified by xsi:type. So for an individual
> > > record, the subjects may look something like this:
> > >
> > >  xsi:type="dcterms:LCSH">Drum--Kurdistan
> > > Drums (Musical
> > > instruments)--Kurds
> > >
> > > I want this to display something like:
> > >
> > >   Subject (LCSH): Drum--Kurdistan
> > >   Subject (TGM): Drums (Musical instruments)--Kurds
> > >
> > >
> > > The following works fine to print the subjects (as part of an HTML
> > > table) but (obviously) does not take into account the type of subject
> > > heading:
> > >
> > >   
> > >  
> > >   
> > >Subject: 
> > >   
> > >   
> > >  
> > >   
> > >
> > > I need some sort of logic to test what the value of xsi:type is but
> > > I'm lost. I have been trying to find examples on how to do this on th
> > > Web and in a few XSLT books we have in the library with no luck. Any
> > > ideas?
> > >
> > > Edward
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Enrico Silterra Software Engineer
> > 501 Olin Library Cornell University Ithaca NY 14853
> > Voice: 607-255-6851 Fax: 607-255-6110 E-mail: es...@cornell.edu
> > http://www.library.cornell.edu/dlit
> > "Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made"
> > CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE
> > The information transmitted, including attachments, is intended only
> > for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain
> > confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission,
> > dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance
> > upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended
> > recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact
> > the sender and destroy any copies of this document.
> >
>

Re: [CODE4LIB] xml stylesheet question

[Edward M. Corrado]

Thanks for everyone's response. My issue is now solved.

Edward

On Tue, Aug 2, 2011 at 8:33 AM, Ethan Gruber  wrote:
> +1 for Shawn's example.
>
> Ethan
>
> On Mon, Aug 1, 2011 at 9:30 PM, Shawn Averkamp wrote:
>
>> You could also combine the best of both solutions with:
>>
>> 
>>       
>>            
>>            Subject
>> 
>>  (>  
>> )
>>  
>> : 
>>             
>>                
>>            
>>       
>> 
>>
>> ...which would allow for the addition of other controlled subject
>> vocabularies (or none at all) without having to update your stylesheet.
>>
>> -
>> Shawn Averkamp
>> Metadata Librarian
>> University of Alabama Libraries
>> smaverk...@ua.edu
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Aug 1, 2011 at 6:03 PM, Enrico Silterra  wrote:
>>
>> > something like
>> > 
>> > >      
>> > >       
>> > >
>> > 
>> > 
>> >   Subject: LCSH 
>> > 
>> > Subject: TGM
>> > 
>> > 
>> >
>> > >       
>> > >       
>> > >      
>> > "
>> > On Mon, Aug 1, 2011 at 5:54 PM, Edward M. Corrado 
>> > wrote:
>> > > Hi,
>> > >
>> > > I am trying to do something with an xsl stylesheet (1.0) that seems
>> > > like it should be pretty simple, but I can't figure out how to do it
>> > > or find any examples on the Web that work-. I have a set of Dublin
>> > > Core XML records that have the subjects as either LCSH or TGM. The
>> > > type of subject is identified by xsi:type. So for an individual
>> > > record, the subjects may look something like this:
>> > >
>> > >         > xsi:type="dcterms:LCSH">Drum--Kurdistan
>> > >         Drums (Musical
>> > > instruments)--Kurds
>> > >
>> > > I want this to display something like:
>> > >
>> > >           Subject (LCSH): Drum--Kurdistan
>> > >           Subject (TGM): Drums (Musical instruments)--Kurds
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > The following works fine to print the subjects (as part of an HTML
>> > > table) but (obviously) does not take into account the type of subject
>> > > heading:
>> > >
>> > >   
>> > >      
>> > >       
>> > >        Subject: 
>> > >       
>> > >       
>> > >      
>> > >   
>> > >
>> > > I need some sort of logic to test what the value of xsi:type is but
>> > > I'm lost. I have been trying to find examples on how to do this on th
>> > > Web and in a few XSLT books we have in the library with no luck. Any
>> > > ideas?
>> > >
>> > > Edward
>> > >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Enrico Silterra Software Engineer
>> > 501 Olin Library Cornell University Ithaca NY 14853
>> > Voice: 607-255-6851 Fax:     607-255-6110 E-mail: es...@cornell.edu
>> > http://www.library.cornell.edu/dlit
>> > "Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made"
>> > CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE
>> > The information transmitted, including attachments, is intended only
>> > for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain
>> > confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission,
>> > dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance
>> > upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended
>> > recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact
>> > the sender and destroy any copies of this document.
>> >
>>
>

[CODE4LIB] Open-Source Reference Tracking Software

[Nathan Tallman]

Other than ATReference, does anyone know of any open-source software
designed for tracking reference statistics? I know there are a few
commercial options, but I'd rather stick with open-source. My apologies is
this has already been discussed on here.

Many thanks!
Nathan

P.S. Off-topic, but what do you prefer "open source" or "open-source". I'm
not sure which is most correct.


Nathan Tallman
Associate Archivist
American Jewish Archives

Re: [CODE4LIB] Open-Source Reference Tracking Software

[Westman, Stephen]

You might try libstats (http://code.google.com/p/libstats/).  We used that here 
for several years until we decided to go with a hosted service.  It's quite 
flexible in what it can do.

Stephen Westman

From: Code for Libraries [CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] on behalf of Nathan Tallman 
[ntall...@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2011 12:48 PM
To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: [CODE4LIB] Open-Source Reference Tracking Software

Other than ATReference, does anyone know of any open-source software
designed for tracking reference statistics? I know there are a few
commercial options, but I'd rather stick with open-source. My apologies is
this has already been discussed on here.

Many thanks!
Nathan

P.S. Off-topic, but what do you prefer "open source" or "open-source". I'm
not sure which is most correct.


Nathan Tallman
Associate Archivist
American Jewish Archives

Re: [CODE4LIB] Open-Source Reference Tracking Software

[Nate Vack]

On Tue, Aug 2, 2011 at 11:48 AM, Nathan Tallman  wrote:

> Other than ATReference, does anyone know of any open-source software
> designed for tracking reference statistics?

In addition to being one of the authors of a commercial offering, I
was the original author of the open-source Libstats:

http://code.google.com/p/libstats/

It's pretty good, considering its age. The commercial offering is
rather nicer ;-)

Cheers,
-Nate

Re: [CODE4LIB] Open-Source Reference Tracking Software

[Heller, Margaret]

Are you trying to track actual questions to create a knowledge base, or
just keep basic statistics? 

We have used several homemade databases (built with Access and Zoho
Creator), which seem to work just fine for tracking everything we
need--including the READ Scale (http://readscale.org/index.html), which
is built into several commercial products, but easy enough to track on
your own. I personally am unconvinced that for smaller institutions a
hosted reference statistics application is necessary.

Margaret Heller
Web Services Librarian
Rebecca Crown Library
Dominican University
708-524-6883

-Original Message-
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of
Nathan Tallman
Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2011 11:49 AM
To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: [CODE4LIB] Open-Source Reference Tracking Software

Other than ATReference, does anyone know of any open-source software
designed for tracking reference statistics? I know there are a few
commercial options, but I'd rather stick with open-source. My apologies
is
this has already been discussed on here.

Many thanks!
Nathan

P.S. Off-topic, but what do you prefer "open source" or "open-source".
I'm
not sure which is most correct.


Nathan Tallman
Associate Archivist
American Jewish Archives

Re: [CODE4LIB] Open-Source Reference Tracking Software

[Mike Taylor]

On 2 August 2011 17:48, Nathan Tallman  > P.S.
Off-topic, but what do you prefer "open source" or "open-source". I'm
> not sure which is most correct.

Use open-source (with a hyphen) when it's functioning a compound
adjective modifying a noun, as in "we prefer to use open-source
software"; but not when it's a noun phrase standing alone, as in "we
prefer our software to have open source".

[CODE4LIB] Job Opening: Univ of MD iSchool (College Park) / Pt Time Web Admin

[Richard, Joel M]

Hi Everyone,

I'm posting this for a colleague. If you are interested, please contact Abby 
McDermott below. This position is local to the DC Metro Area.

--Joel



Subject: New UMCP iSchool research center is looking for a part-time Web 
systems administrator - apply today!

The Information Policy and Access Center (iPAC) within the University of 
Maryland, College Park’s College of Information Studies has an immediate need 
for a qualified, part-time:

Systems Administrator/Data Manager:

The ideal candidate will be a reliable team-player and problem solver who 
exhibits great attention to detail and organizational skills. The applicant 
should also have experience with Web frameworks (i.e. php, mysql, ruby on 
rails, django) and both programming (i.e. php, python, ruby) and scripting 
languages (i.e. perl, python), as well as relational database design. This 
position will be expected to support the center’s various Website development 
initiatives, including the newly launched center Website 
(http://ipac.umd.edu/), so a proficiency in Drupal or php or mysql is desired. 
An interest in data management as well as server (LAMP stack) administration 
and version control systems is desirable. Past experience working with various 
APIs and statistical software (R and SPSS) is beneficial, but not required.

Part-time position (approx. 20 hours/week); compensation dependent on 
experience. Graduate students, qualified, reliable undergraduate students, and 
recent graduates are encouraged to apply.

More about iPAC:

iPAC is the result of a merger between two existing College of Information 
Studies research centers: the Center for Library and Information Innovation 
(CLII: http://www.clii.umd.edu/); and the Center for Information Policy and 
E-Government (CIPEG: http://www.cipeg.umd.edu/index.html). This new, merged 
center will focus on the fields of information policy, equity of access, 
under-served populations and diversity, and cultural institution studies as 
applied to academic, public, school, and other libraries; museums; and archives.

To apply, please send a resume and cover letter to Abby McDermott: 
ajmcd...@umd.edu

Application deadline: Fri.  Sept. 2, 2011

Re: [CODE4LIB] Open-Source Reference Tracking Software

[Jason Casden]

Sorry for the plug, but we're working on a project ("Suma") at NCSU 
Libraries that is basically a set of tools for collecting, storing, and 
analyzing data about the usage of physical spaces. The current client is 
web-based and designed for tablet use. We're using it for library 
headcounts now, and we're about to launch a trial as a possible 
replacement for paper-based reference transaction logs.


http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/dli/projects/spaceassesstool/

We are still pretty early in the development timeline, but we're going 
to release some code in the next month or so and will be attempting some 
active external testing later in the fall. It is an open-source project, 
but a reasonably full set of features may not be ready until early 2012. 
Right now, we're collecting and storing data quite reliably, but not 
retrieving or analyzing it.


Jason

On 8/2/11 12:48 PM, Nathan Tallman wrote:

Other than ATReference, does anyone know of any open-source software
designed for tracking reference statistics? I know there are a few
commercial options, but I'd rather stick with open-source. My apologies is
this has already been discussed on here.

Many thanks!
Nathan

P.S. Off-topic, but what do you prefer "open source" or "open-source". I'm
not sure which is most correct.


Nathan Tallman
Associate Archivist
American Jewish Archives

Re: [CODE4LIB] Open-Source Reference Tracking Software

[Chris Cormack]

On 3 August 2011 05:29, Mike Taylor  wrote:
> On 2 August 2011 17:48, Nathan Tallman  > P.S.
> Off-topic, but what do you prefer "open source" or "open-source". I'm
>> not sure which is most correct.
>
> Use open-source (with a hyphen) when it's functioning a compound
> adjective modifying a noun, as in "we prefer to use open-source
> software"; but not when it's a noun phrase standing alone, as in "we
> prefer our software to have open source".
>

And while we are correcting things, the opposite of open-source is not
commercial, it is proprietary. Both proprietary and floss can have
commercial offerings, both can be cost free. Plenty of people on this
list work in commercial enterprises that make floss software.

Chris

[CODE4LIB] Final Call--Proposals Due Friday: Call for Technology Programs for ALA2012

[Abigail Goben]

*Please excuse cross posting*

The deadline is Friday, August 5, 2011!


The LITA Program Planning Committee is now accepting proposals for the 
2012 Annual American Library Association Conference.  We're looking 
for full day pre-conferences, and half day and two hour conference 
presentations on use of, new ideas for, and technology trends in 
libraries. Think about the technology success or failure you're recently 
had, or the topic you think we haven't had covered and put together a 
proposal.


*When/Where is the Conference?*

2012 Annual Conference, Anaheim, CA: June 21–26, 2012

*What kind of topics are we looking for? *

Anything relating to libraries and technology! (That narrows it down, 
right?) A few ideas might include: Comparing two or three library tools 
(LibGuides vs Google Pages), (Un)Successful Implementation of a New 
Technology, From the Trenches of an ILS Migration, Technology for 
Marketing, Marketing Technology, Managing Technology, Project 
Management, How to Quickly Build a Web App that looks Decent, Managing 
People and Technology, Supporting Continuing Ed for Technology, Video 
Creation and Editing, Including/Leveraging Users, Tech Tools for Data 
Management, etc etc etc.


*When are proposals due? *

August 5, 2011

*How I do submit? *

Fill out this form 



*When will I have an answer? *

The committee will be reviewing proposals in August, final decisions 
will be made in September


*Do I have to be a member of ALA/LITA/an IG/a committee?*

No! We welcome proposals from anyone who feels they have something to 
offer regarding library technology. Unfortunately, we are not able to 
provide financial support for speakers.


*Got another question? *

Please feel free to email me (abigailgo...@gmail.com 
) and the group will figure it out.



--
Abigail Goben, MLS
abigailgo...@gmail.com 
http://HedgehogLibrarian.com




--
Abigail Goben, MLS
abigailgo...@gmail.com 
http://HedgehogLibrarian.com

[CODE4LIB] Job Posting: Analyst Programmer, Oregon State University Libraries and Press (search extended)

[Wick, Ryan]

The search was extended, the new closing date is August 19th. Full details at 
http://jobs.​oregonstate.​edu/​applicants/​Central?​quickFind=​58734



Analyst Programmer, Oregon State University Libraries and Press



Under the direction of the Director for Emerging Technology & Services, the 
person in this position advances the Libraries’ strategic plan by working on 
the OSU Libraries’ and Press’ web programming initiatives including the 
development and programming of new initiatives, as well as enhancing, managing, 
assessing and administering existing initiatives like Library a la Carte, an 
open-source content management system developed at OSU Libraries, the Library’s 
discovery tools, such as Summon, and mobile projects.​  The person filling this 
position will supervise a team of student programmers, and will provide 
direction in usability and sociability for the library’s web presence as well 
as supporting the general programming needs for the Libraries.​



This position is critical to the Press and Library’s outreach and engagement 
missions as well as internal department administration and collaboration.​ The 
applicant should have excellent communication skills, work well independently 
as well as in team settings, and be able to assimilate and communicate new 
technologies quickly.​



The Analyst Programmer works on the development and support of our web 
programming initiatives by:

• Developing and articulating ideas for use and function of library 
tools, mobile web and improvement in HCI through discussions with faculty, 
staff, students and clientele

• Making suggested modifications and maintaining functionality of 
various projects on an on-going basis

• Communicating goals and uses of web initiatives to faculty, staff, 
students and clientele

• Training and supporting individuals and groups on the use of our 
developed web initiatives, project management and content authorship, review 
and publication tools.​



Some travel and evening and weekend work may be required in order to launch 
updates and new projects, make presentations off campus and/​or travel to 
meetings and conferences.​



Supervisory Responsibilities

3-4 student employees

Education

Required: BA/​BS in computer science or related field; or equivalent 
combination of relevant education and/​or experience.​



Experience

Required: Excellent written and verbal communication skills; previous 
programming experience with Ruby on Rails, PHP (or other server side 
programming languages) and SQL; Experience working with APIs, mobile 
technologies, and web services (REST, SOAP); Experience designing, developing, 
and optimizing MySQL databases; Experience with Unix based environments, 
including deploying LAMP stack applications, trouble-shooting, and familiarity 
with common command line operations; and experience with developing program 
implementation plans and document projects.​

Preferred: Experience writing web and accessibility compliant CSS/​HTML; 
experience with Drupal development; Experience working with large existing code 
bases and/​or open-source projects; familiarity with graphic design; 
experience/​expertise with HCI, usability, and standards compliance testing; 
experience working with non-technical staff.​

OSU and Corvallis

Oregon State University is one of only two American universities to hold the 
Land-, Sea-, Sun- and Space-Grant designations and is the only Oregon 
institution recognized for its "very high research activity" by the Carnegie 
Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.​

Corvallis is located 90 miles south of Portland, and has been recognized as one 
of the best college towns, one of the top ten places to live, and ranked #1 on 
the Environmental Protection Agency's national list of Green Power Communities.​

Salary and Benefits

Salary is between $45,000 - $55,000 dependent upon experience.​

Benefit details can be found here - 
http://www.​ous.​edu/​dept/​hr/​benefits

To Apply

For more information, and to apply for the position, please go to – 
http://jobs.​oregonstate.​edu/​applicants/​Central?​quickFind=​58734



Ryan Wick
Information Technology Consultant
Special Collections
Oregon State University Libraries
http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/specialcollections

Re: [CODE4LIB] [lita-l] Seeking feedback on database design for an open source software registry

[Peter Murray]

This is great feedback, Lori.  Based on this and other feedback that I've 
gotten, I'm going to remove this functionality from the specifications.  The 
gist of what I heard was that the added complexity was not worth the benefit -- 
particularly for large systems like ILSs and when it is difficult to precisely 
nail down the definition of a feature/characteristic.  (Yeah, they were the 
same thing; I couldn't think of the word "feature" as I was building the 
diagram.)  

A suggestion I heard instead was to create a "Feature" URL that each package 
can populate on its page 
(http://dltj.org/temporary/registry-mockups/package.html for example) that 
points to the community's list of features.  This is actually more in keeping 
with the underlying philosophy of the registry -- pointers to an open source 
community's resources rather than trying to form and sustain a community at the 
registry itself.

As envisioned, maintainers of a package would keep information up-to-date.  
Technically, changes to any data in the registry would be open to anyone who 
registers for an account (with appropriate controls for spam).  

Thanks for the discussion, and please keep the comments coming…


Peter

On Aug 1, 2011, at 6:59 PM, Lori Bowen Ayre wrote:
> 
> Hi Peter,
> 
> The characteristics could get quite unwieldly, couldn't they?  For example, 
> I've got a draft list of Evergreen features that contains hundreds of 
> features.  I've grouped the features into functional categories.   I'm 
> working on  the same thing for Koha.  The draft list of Evergreen features is 
> currently a Google doc if you'd like to see it: http://bit.ly/jbVg48
> 
> Are you thinking of characteristics as something different from "features"?  
> And if so, how would they be different and who decides for each type of 
> content?  
> 
> Also, how do you envision keeping this registry up-to-date?
> 
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
> Lori Bowen Ayre // 
> Library Technology Consultant / The Galecia Group
> Oversight Board & Communications Committee / Evergreen
> (707) 763-6869 // lori.a...@galecia.com
> 
> Specializing in open source ILS solutions, RFID, filtering, 
> workflow optimization, and materials handling 
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
> 
> 
> 
> On Mon, Aug 1, 2011 at 1:22 PM, Peter Murray  wrote:
> Colleagues -- please excuse the cross-posting; I've found the circle of 
> people potentially interested in this was wider than I thought.
> 
> 
> As part of the Mellon Foundation grant funding the start-up of LYRASIS 
> Technology Services, LTS is to produce a series of tools that enable 
> libraries to decide whether open source is right for their environments.  
> I’ve put a page up on the Code4Lib wiki 
> (http://wiki.code4lib.org/index.php/Decision_Support_Tools) describing the 
> kinds of tools that will initially fall into this area.  After review by the 
> LTS Advisory Panel and comments from the community, statements of work will 
> be drafted for consultants to create these tools and the work will be let out 
> for contract. The completed tools will be turned into web documents in the 
> form of whitepapers, checklists, spreadsheets, etc., and published along with 
> the open source software registry now under development. To encourage 
> consultants to share their knowledge, we are considering allowing consultants 
> to identify themselves in the text of the document (e.g. “Prepared for 
> LYRASIS with funding from the 2011-2012 Mellon Foundati!
 on Open Source Support Grant by name of consultant.”)
> 
> With this background in mind, answers to these questions would be helpful:
> 
>• Based on your experience and/or knowledge of open source software 
> adoption, are there other tools or techniques that would be useful to 
> document and make available?
>• Do you have suggestions for consultants to approach to complete the 
> work of creating these tools?
> 
> 
> Also, earlier post with the entity-relationship diagram generated a lot of 
> good comments. Thanks to everyone for responding with observations about the 
> design itself or with general questions about what we’re up to. Keep ‘em 
> coming!
> 
> Based on that feedback, I’ve updated the diagram 
> (http://wiki.code4lib.org/index.php/Registry_E-R_Diagram) to include entities 
> for a Characteristic and a Characteristic_Value. The idea is that a 
> Characteristic is like a label for a row in a comparison table, and that a 
> Characteristic is associated with a particular Package Type. A 
> Characteristic_Value is the answer to how a Package does or does not 
> implement that Characteristic.
> 
> This might be easier to explain in a diagram. In a mockup of the package 
> comparison page (http://dltj.org/temporary/registry-mockups/comparison.html), 
> there is a list of Characteristics in the left-most column of the table 
> followed across the page by Characteristic_Values for DSpace and Fedora. (The 
> chara

Re: [CODE4LIB] Programmer Orientation to Library/Lib Sci

[P Williams]

Introduction to this community and related conferences really helped my
introduction to libraryland and its vernacular.

Regards,
Tricia

On Wed, Jul 20, 2011 at 10:04 AM, Laura Smart wrote:

> Hi folks -
>
> What do you include in orientation when you hire a programmer
> (excellent, experienced, of course), who isn't familiar with
> library-land?  MARC is a given, ditto the ILS, plus e-resource
> management back end (OpenURL parsers, proxies and the like).  From
> those of you who came into libraries for other industries:  what do
> you wish you knew about libraries, library/info science, and library
> operations when you began? I'm especially interested in anything which
> gave you an "ah-ha!" moment when you were working with library data --
> the implicit things which didn't make sense until you knew why those
> crazy librarians did things the way they did.   Also - which resources
> were particularly valuable to you as you gained familiarity with your
> new environment?
>
> Your insight is deeply appreciated,
>
> Laura J. Smart
> Metadata Services Manager, Caltech Library
> la...@library.caltech.edu/laura.j.sm...@gmail.com
>

Re: [CODE4LIB] Programmer Orientation to Library/Lib Sci

[Mike Smorul]

Some lessons from my own introduction coming from an IT/Comp-Sci
background years ago.

Focus more on the why and use-cases rather than the technology. From a
programming perspective much of the technology isn't terribly
difficult and is well known at a basic level. How it's used, why
certain choices were made is the most important information to convey.
If you hired a programmer for a specific task, don't focus on
dictating technology, they should tell you what is current, but rather
what you need and want from the application. Helping them understand
how the data is accessed by your end-users if probably the most
valuable information you can convey.

Be prepared to answer questions and frustrations with library
standards that aren't really machine actionable. One older example is
METS, while it is XML, there is very little you can do to infer higher
a higher level of organization without extensive best practice
description or profiles.

-Mike

On Tue, Aug 2, 2011 at 9:57 PM, P Williams
 wrote:
> Introduction to this community and related conferences really helped my
> introduction to libraryland and its vernacular.
>
> Regards,
> Tricia
>
> On Wed, Jul 20, 2011 at 10:04 AM, Laura Smart wrote:
>
>> Hi folks -
>>
>> What do you include in orientation when you hire a programmer
>> (excellent, experienced, of course), who isn't familiar with
>> library-land?  MARC is a given, ditto the ILS, plus e-resource
>> management back end (OpenURL parsers, proxies and the like).  From
>> those of you who came into libraries for other industries:  what do
>> you wish you knew about libraries, library/info science, and library
>> operations when you began? I'm especially interested in anything which
>> gave you an "ah-ha!" moment when you were working with library data --
>> the implicit things which didn't make sense until you knew why those
>> crazy librarians did things the way they did.   Also - which resources
>> were particularly valuable to you as you gained familiarity with your
>> new environment?
>>
>> Your insight is deeply appreciated,
>>
>> Laura J. Smart
>> Metadata Services Manager, Caltech Library
>> la...@library.caltech.edu/laura.j.sm...@gmail.com
>>
>