Chapter
A missive to administrators
A missive to library IT department heads and library IT administrators
A missive to new librarians in IT and students
A missive to library school faculties and administrators
A missive to IT committee members and other engaged library employees
Chapter 1: Atlantis wasn’t a magical place and library systems are just library IT
1.1 World building and the creation of systems
1.2 How IS turned into IT
1.3 Library systems are IT minus two things plus those same two things
1.4 Library roles are specialized today, so are IT roles
Chapter 2: Creatures of ancient myth: The Titans and the systems librarian
2.1 In the land of the blind, the one-eyed librarian is king
2.2 Even specialized MLIS programs don’t provide IT fundamentals
2.3 You meant automation librarian, didn’t you? Say yes
2.4 The disappearing act: Making your own position obsolete
Chapter 3: Customers, patrons, users, and unruly mobs
3.1 Ignorance, repetition, and conflicting priorities: Why the customer isn’t in charge
3.2 Don’t ignore 10,000 people to serve one person
3.3 Dealing with problem customers
3.4 Your IT unit is a therapist’s couch and priest’s confessional
Chapter 4: Reading users’ minds
4.1 Divining what happened from incomplete information
4.2 Knowing the common errors and common resolutions
Chapter 5: Sleight of hand: Service or the appearance of service
5.1 Resources versus service levels: An exercise
5.2 [insert thing] as a service
5.3 Tiered helpdesk, just like tiered reference
5.4 Using technology the way it was intended
5.5 Teach your users how to Google their own solutions
5.6 Don’t share complete information, share popular information
5.7 Apologize like the user is your significant other (it doesn’t matter if he or she is wrong)
5.8 Pretend your user is smarter than you: Ask stupid questions
5.9 You can’t over-communicate
5.10 Stop the bleeding instead of applying bandages
5.11 Do a thing well before you do a thing twice
5.12 Do a thing well before you do more things
5.13 Don’t do a thing if you can’t do it well
5.14 Set your IT unit’s priorities: An heuristic for calculating impact
Chapter 6: Taking on apprentices: Educating your customer base
6.1 Prevention: You can lead a horse to water, but can you teach a user to fish?
6.2 Self-documenting interfaces, teachable moments, and point of need help
6.3 Train the trainer and online videos (clever ideas for lazy cheapskates)
6.4 Skills and inventory assessment
Chapter 7: Do the impossible: Slaying dragons without time, people, or money
7.2 Triage the hell out of the problem
7.3 Solve the visible tip of the iceberg
7.4 To hell with it (Or India): Outsource
7.5 Whatever, just move the deadline
7.6 If all else fails throw money at the problem
Chapter 8: Adventure party makeup: Building an IT staff
8.1 Looking for group: Roles that make a well-rounded organizational structure
8.2 Peons, goblins, house elves, and students
8.3 Automation and enterprise computing
8.4 Deskside support, desktop productivity, desktop computing, and helpdesk
8.5 Cloud computing and server-side computing
8.6 Character classes and combining roles (you can do that, sort of)
8.7 So, you’re hiring a [insert position here]
8.7.1 IT head, IT Administrator, Assistant Dean, Associate/Assistant University Librarian
8.7.2 UNIX or Windows server administrators
8.7.3 Windows server administrator
8.7.7 Network administrator
8.7.9 Database administrator (DBA)
8.7.10 Security specialist
8.7.13 Deskside support technician
8.7.18 Automation librarian
8.7.20 Digitization manager/coordinator/librarian
8.8 Job postings: Knowing the magic words
8.9 Training, professional development, and research: It’s different
Chapter 9: The ritual: Analyzing problems, providing solutions
9.1 Interview customers for their perceived needs
9.2 Come up with a few pretty solutions (and one ugly one too)
9.3 Project planning and management
9.4 Smaller tasks and other tricks
Chapter 10: Arcane strategy: Following the magic rule system
10.1 Eliminate redundancy, but also single points of failure
10.2 Make sure everyone everywhere is doing everything efficiently
Chapter 11: Predicting the future
11.1 Looking at IT’s and the private sector’s past
11.2 Technology forecasts, consultants, and pundits
Chapter 12: They flow through us, around us, bind us together
12.1 Integrated library systems and the things that replace them
12.2 Other library-specific software: A bestiary
Chapter 13: Omniscience: Knowing all things
13.1 Vendor webinars and conference sessions
13.2 Documenting your own setup and vendor documentation
13.4 YouTube: How to do everything
13.5 Knowing everyone’s job better than they do
Chapter 14: Superpowers you could possess
14.1 Soothsayer: Reading body language and microexpressions
14.2 Mind control and other dark arts: The tools of persuasion
14.3 Astral projection: Being physically in one place and mentally another
14.4 Superhuman stamina: Long days with minimal rest
14.5 Telekinesis? Solving problems by proximity
14.6 Chronomancer: Manipulating time
14.7 Casting mirror image: More people by using smartphones, large monitors, etc.
14.8 Lifehacker. Yes, the site
Chapter 15: Convening the council: Meetings
15.1 This is your life now: Avoiding and attending meetings
15.2 Scheduling methods and strategies
15.3 Preparing versus winging it
15.5 Attending briefings and webinars when you already know everything
15.6 Levitation: Staying above it all
Chapter 16: The crystal ball: Reporting, data mining, and assessment
16.1 Document and review everything
16.2 Big data, profiles, and personalization
16.3 Privacy, paranoia, and assessment
16.4 Canned reports and on-demand reports
16.5 Ad-hoc reports and the bane of custom local code
16.6 Using UNIX command line magic to conjure instant reports
16.7 Reports from the Herald: Department reports
Chapter 17: Spellbook: Helpful tips, strategies, and solutions
17.2 Using one-time funds for IT (and when not to)
17.3 Creating a technology plan
17.4 Software selection methodology
17.5 Flat decision-making structures: Getting a consensus
17.6 Balancing incompatible policies, procedures, and contracts
17.7 TCO: When technologies will save you money and when they won’t
17.8 The cost benefit analysis of custom local code
17.9 What to expect when you’re expecting to fail
17.10 Visiting the pantheon: Things librarians think they do well but should ask IT people for help
Appendix: Magic words your coworkers might be misusing—an un-thesaurus
The Myth and Magic of Library Systems
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