Programming Skills Could Transform Librarians' Roles
We agree with the ideas set forth in the following Research Information article. We would add that metadata (cataloging), its development, organization, and usage also holds many opportunities for info pros.
Librarians are in the best position to make use of the increasing information available, having access to both internal and external information as well as knowledge of the information needs of their specific users. As we increasingly move towards a web of data rather than a web of documents it would seem that a basic level of proficiency in data collection and manipulation could become as important a skill to the future librarian as search engines are today.
At the simplest level, this may be data manipulation through mashup editors, although for real innovation to occur within the library community we will require more expert skills. Whilst the librarian’s skill set may be supplemented in part by their user community and by outsourcing to programmers, for libraries to be truly innovative, librarians need to be aware of potential opportunities, and this only comes from experimenting with the data and the platforms themselves..
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