Michelle S.,
If you’re the person responsible for designing or managing the web site, you’ll need those coding skills. The migration to content management systems (and before that, software that relied on web page templates) has largely eliminated the need for the average content contributor to be able to hand code HTML. But the content editing portion of those systems is just a piece of the overall system and if you’re the person tasked with managing the web site, often times, you’ll need to poke around under the hood to tweak settings, code, etc. to get it to do exactly what you (or your staff) want it to do. That’s where an understanding of the various scripting languages can make you an invaluable part of the technology team (especially if it’s a team of 1!)
More adventurous individuals go beyond tweaking and actually write their own code or assist others in writing the code to create modules/plug-ins/etc. that are customized to meet a particular need for a library or a community. You’ll often find an off-the-shelf solution that’s pretty close but needs some adjustment to meet the needs of your library. That’s where an understanding of the underlying coding can allow you to make changes without breaking it. Even if you don’t do that kind of work in your day job, there are opportunities to contribute in various ways to projects inside and outside the library community if you want to further develop those skills.
Andrew Mutch
Library Systems Technician
Waterford Township Public Library
From: michlib-l-bounces@mail.mcls.org [mailto:michlib-l-bounces@mail.mcls.org] On Behalf Of Michelle Sawicki
Sent: Monday, February 10, 2014 10:40 AM
To: michelle wise
Cc: michlib-l@lists.mcls.org
Subject: Re: [Michlib-l] Library Student
I am finishing up the Web Design/Information Management Certificate at Wayne State this semester. When I am done I will have a basic understanding of html, css, php, java script and some other scripting languages. I think it is fabulous to obtain these skills, but I am not sure how practical they will be in my upcoming positions. What Wayne State focuses on is the actual coding itself. If I were to create a library website by hand/scratch, this would be an invaluable skill. However, every library I have worked at has used an editor to create their website. There really isn't a need to keep reinventing the wheel. So I am guessing I will ultimately be using an editor too some day, if web design is a part of my future job at all. I am glad I learned scripting languages though...but how relevant will it be for my job and how long will the skills I have learned remain relevant? I don't know...
Michelle Sawicki
Circulation Team Leader
Thomas M. Cooley Law School
3475 Plymouth Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
734-372-4900 x8767
On Thu, Feb 6, 2014 at 5:14 PM, michelle wise <michellew1989@hotmail.com> wrote:
I am currently signed up to take my summer semester classes, which would finish off my MLIS degree if I stopped there. My questions are: do you have certificates with your degree, do you or did you have much experience before-hand, and does your library look at certificates OR experience more when it comes to hiring?
I am an online student at Wayne State University. The two certificates I was planning on getting are {Library Services to Children and Adults, Public} and {Information Management for Librarians-Web Design and Development}. Each certificate is basically (one semester) 4 months of effort and $4,400- is it worth it? I would love to be a Teen Librarian in a public library with some web elements.
If you wouldn't mind adding your position/Title with your comments, please do. Any recommendations would be very helpful.
Thank you,
~Michelle Wise~
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