Improving code4lib
I talked in a previous post a little bit about my experience at code4lib in reference to a general lack of super techy women in librarianship. I got a comment and linked to in reference to how to make code4lib better and would like to address that as a post for several reasons.
First, I want the code4lib folks to know that despite the gender imbalance at the conference, I’ve never been to a more thought provoking, challenging and exciting conference in my life. I also LOVED the format of the conference (lightening talks rock). The other people at the conference were working on very interesting things that sparked my interest in a number of topics. I haven’t been to a library conference that talks about tech topics on this level and in my opinion code4lib can fill a niche that isn’t being filled by any other conference.
That being said here are a few thoughts on how to improve the conference and also potetially attract more women to participate.
- Putting information about the conference out on several different places is a great idea. I’d reccomend WEB4LIB and the LITA blog.
- Also having women speakers is also a good thing.
- Another thing I’d suggest is having something like the Open Source Installfest that’s a preconference at LITA Forum this year. An activity like this would potentially attract people who are trying to be more techy.
- Also many of the technology-oriented women in libraries I know are involved in web design. Get some techier web design related issues on the program. Setting up an open souce web server isn’t easy the first time and CSS (especially for different media) can be a bear as well. How about something on the technical side of Ajax? The web folks won’t show up if they can’t see something they recognize as being useful to them.
- Remember that even though a topic may not seem “techy” enough for code4lib folks but there isn’t (in my opinion) another good place to talk about these issues Speaking at Internet Librarian and Computers in Libraries has taught me that a significant portion of the audience glazes over if I talk at that level of technical detail.
- Finally, if you want to have more people in libraries involved in coding you have to educate them. We don’t all have a computer science degree or want to get one. We do want to learn more technical stuff but we need mentoring and hand holding. Learning techier stuff on your own is frustrating and code4lib can provide a support network if it doesn’t make people feel like their question isn’t technical enough.
Hey Karen… it’s great that you’re airing these thoughts so constructively. There is an issue of balance that we all struggled with — in some ways, what a lot of us wanted was something that *was* more hardcore-geek than other conferences. So it self-selected that way from the start, I suppose.
Fyi, we did advertise on web4lib. Addressing the LITA community more directly is a good idea.
If you think the conference could benefit from an installfest or training, you’re probably best positioned to take lead on making that happen. :) A lot of us did actually learn most of this technical stuff on our own and code4lib-the-list and -the-channel should never make people feel like their question isn’t technical enough. Over the few years they’ve been around there have been many beginnerish questions asked, and a lot of the questioners (though certainly not all) ended up sticking around a lot longer once they saw how friendly everybody was. code4lib itself was basically started by people frustrated by not already having people around they could ask these questions to.
I’m remembering quite a few fairly detailed web design talks from last year. Maybe you could propose a talk on the techier side of Ajax yourself… doing the talk is a great way of learning something.
To disagree a little, though, with your line that “The web folks won’t show up if they can’t see something they recognize as being useful to them” — it *is* code4libcon, not web4libcon. :)
Finally, about the cliqueishness, and whether there’s another conf. to attend for this stuff… a lot of us actually know each other quite well already, from having been to lots of conferences together in the past, or otherwise working on stuff together over the years. In particular, the Access conference in Canada every fall is an augur of sorts for this community, and many of us attend that every fall as it’s the best North American library conference, period. There’s a much easier-going feel to every aspect of Access, and the diversity of the library community is always very well-represented there. So, please consider attending Access in Ottawa this fall! (And in particular, check out the Hackfest :)
Anyway, now more of us know you, especially after you gave your talk, so, hopefully, things will all seem more familiar and welcoming next time we all see each other. If you haven’t already, please consider joining in with the folks actively planning next year’s conference, especially so you can get the ball rolling on your pre-conf ideas!
Per Brad, the problem with a physical pre-conference is the logistics rather than the programming. Grabbing the conference facility for more time is liable to cause cashflow issues.
I’d been hoping that some synchronous online events could bridge this gap a bit, but I gave up on that owing to general lack of interest. (Am pursuing it with other parties, however, so feel free to get in touch with me out-of-band about it.)
And don’t let Dan there pressure you into accepting another obligation if you can’t. I’m on the committee, and I’m happy to work toward as many of the goals you mentioned as I can. Kevin asked for input; he got it. You aren’t obligated to follow through, Karen — we planning folks are!
Just a quick note on the code4lib planning – anyone is welcome to participate in the planning of the conference – there is no formal committee per se, but there is a separate list which anyone can join (code4libcon, so that we don’t inundate the regular list with conference logistics), and there are a bunch of us who do tend to take on a bit of the legwork in getting things planned. I too highly encourage you to join in the planning – you mention some very good ideas, and I think we would find it quite helpful to have you involved at whatever level you feel comfortable.
I just recently ran across this topic that has been making the rounds in the blogosphere so I thought I’d comment, late though it is.
Being a techie turned librarian, I was not shocked or even put off by the ratio of men to women who attended the cod4lib conference (or LITA when I attended in 2004). That’s how it’s always been in my (previous) professional world. It was that way 20 years ago when I graduated with my degree in Electrical Engineering and was that way four years ago when I left high tech to make the transition to librarianship.
And I have to admit, I’m really surprised at how shocked women librarians who do technology are because that’s how it is throughout the rest of the technology field. I’m not saying we just give up and accept it, but I am saying that I have a lot of mixed emotions given that for me, this is a 20+ year old problem that STILL hasn’t been solved. Despite the fact that there are more women in librarianship, I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect that there would be more women in library techie positions given that that isn’t the case in any other industry with technical positions.
Additionally, I would like to put out there that if the current “library technology” conference programs are not techie enough and code4lib is/was too techie then maybe it is time for a *web4lib* conference. I don’t particularly want to see code4lib “watered down” because I love getting my geek on and most of what I’m interested in is not web development specific.
Last but not least, regarding point #6.
My response to this is two fold: 1) take responsibility for your own education. Mentoring and hand-holding is only one part of it. You don’t have to get a CS degree to become a programmer but if you’re not able to teach yourself techie stuff then sign up for some courses. The number of online, software development courses available through community colleges alone is growing by leaps and bounds. (As an aside to the whole time, money, etc issues in taking courses outside of work — I put my career/finances on hold for two years in order to earn my MLS. When you want something badly enough, you make it happen).
2) Librarians need to stop demanding that library technology positions be filled with people who have MLS degrees. Seriously.
I would NOT have the job I currently have if I hadn’t earned my MLS. I don’t think an MLS is necessary in order to DO this job (especially after being a consultant for 10+ years in a number of various environments including manufacturing, medical, utility, as well as high-tech focused companies), but it was necessary in order to interview for it :p
Software problems and solutions aren’t any more difficult in the library arena than they are anywhere else. And our field could definitely use an infusion of new blood — we could use new ways at looking at our technology problems and their solutions.
(Take a look at the Evergreen ILS that goes live this weekend — not a single LIBRARIAN on the software development team though librarians are/were definitely involved in the requirements and testing phases — that’s how it’s done in the rest of the software development world).
My mentoring and handholding bullet point had more to do with needing people to work with even after you’ve taken formal courses. I have an MLS but I have taken courses in programming and other computer science-like classes ASP, XML, MySQL and a host of other stuff. I’m self taught, but it hasn’t been easy.
You need to remember that the best learning style for many people involves interacting with other people and working one on one to learn something. Being looked down on because you can’t learn something by reading a book or taking a course stinks. It isn’t realistic or fair. Many people in education have learned this and are changing the way in which they teach to meet the needs of a variety of types of learners.
As to the comment concerning “Librarians need to stop demanding that library technology positions be filled with people who have MLS degrees.” I agree in part. In many cases an MLS probably shouldn’t be a prequisite library technology jobs. However, having some knowledge/experience in a library setting is important to me when I hire someone. For good or ill, libraries are different animals from other organizations and as a result do thing differently. For example, libraries have a commitment to user privacy that effects our ability to do customization and personalization for users. To me, having someone who understands this is advanteous.
“For example, libraries have a commitment to user privacy that effects our ability to do customization and personalization for users. To me, having someone who understands this is advanteous.”
This is exactly my point. Libraries aren’t the only organizations that have this “business requirement”. Any organization that offers personalization of their Human Resources portal has the exact same issue. Furthermore, in any well structured software development project, these sorts of requirements are discussed, well-understood, and documented before development start, thereby creating exactly the understanding you need.
And you’re right, it’s always nice to have/hire staff that has previous experience to meet your needs but by limiting that to “library experience” you may be doing yourself and your organization a disservice.
I would strongly disagree that the types of privacy rights that libraries are committed to protecting are the same as privacy issues other organizations might have to deal with on the Human Resources portal. For libraries privacy goes beyond protecting user data like SSN, Address, Name. Privacy in libraries is much more about protecting people’s “right to open inquiry without having the subject of one’s interest examined or scrutinized by others” (from ALA’s Privacy: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights). This “business requirement” is something that is very different from other organizations (like Amazon, Netflix, etc) in the information marketplace.
You say that “any well structured software development project, these sorts of requirements are discussed, well-understood, and documented before development start” the problem that I’ve seen is that people who haven’t worked in a library have a different understanding of concepts than the library staff. For example, when I worked at my previous job we had an issue with the Business Office regarding the purchase of electronic resources. The business office seemed to think that we should get bids for all these things. They couldn’t understand that purchasing these things wasn’t like purchasing copier paper. There really only was one vendor to choose from so asking the library to get three competitive bids was nuts. Privacy is another concept where there is a disconnect. When you say privacy issues to most IT folk they think “security of confidential data”. This is how they are taught to think about it, I know from my MIS classes. The problem is that this ISN”T what libraries mean when they say privacy, at least it is only one part of the equation.
Having an IT staff member with library experience, means that you are more likely to get people operating on the same page. If you are managing IT staff who don’t have library experience (and you do) you have to make sure that your understanding of concepts and expectations matches theirs. Otherwise, a communication breakdown occurs.