Some random things I've learned thus far...
1) Correspondence takes lots of time. Also, it's not always easy knowing who needs what information when you're dealing with different people and groups of people on different levels with different aspects of a project. I think I tend to err on the side of giving TMI (though no one has actually complained about it to date!).
2) Knowing who to ask about various issues can be tricky - it's not always clear or obvious who has the most info/experience about something. It's not good to make assumptions about these things - ASK.
3) I will never, ever know everything I want to know about certain technological things. The best I can hope for is to know enough to get me through and to be able to talk somewhat intelligently with those who DO know. At least I'm curious about technology and WANT to learn, which unfortunately is more than I can say for many librarians (and lib. school students).
4) I like to do research, which I already knew! That's one thing that probably drew me to this field. On the job, you probably don't have the time to do all the research you'd like to do on important topics - you tend to have to rely on information and opinions and research of others. That's another thing I like about the library world - everyone is very willing to share information and best practices, and there is a very cooperative, collegial vibe (for the most part).
5) I'm learning about how to talk to people with different knowledge bases and experience. The digital library people I've been collaborating with don't have much of a background in cataloging, and I don't have much of a computer science/technological background (though I'd like to think that curiosity and willingness to learn can go a long way!) so you have to learn to meet halfway. You find new ways of explaining things, you can't assume anything, and you realize that you won't ever know everything the other person knows (and shouldn't need to - that's what they're there for!).
I'll add more to this as time goes on...
2) Knowing who to ask about various issues can be tricky - it's not always clear or obvious who has the most info/experience about something. It's not good to make assumptions about these things - ASK.
3) I will never, ever know everything I want to know about certain technological things. The best I can hope for is to know enough to get me through and to be able to talk somewhat intelligently with those who DO know. At least I'm curious about technology and WANT to learn, which unfortunately is more than I can say for many librarians (and lib. school students).
4) I like to do research, which I already knew! That's one thing that probably drew me to this field. On the job, you probably don't have the time to do all the research you'd like to do on important topics - you tend to have to rely on information and opinions and research of others. That's another thing I like about the library world - everyone is very willing to share information and best practices, and there is a very cooperative, collegial vibe (for the most part).
5) I'm learning about how to talk to people with different knowledge bases and experience. The digital library people I've been collaborating with don't have much of a background in cataloging, and I don't have much of a computer science/technological background (though I'd like to think that curiosity and willingness to learn can go a long way!) so you have to learn to meet halfway. You find new ways of explaining things, you can't assume anything, and you realize that you won't ever know everything the other person knows (and shouldn't need to - that's what they're there for!).
I'll add more to this as time goes on...
posted by Amy | 3:30 PM
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