Watched The Cook and The Chef on the ABC last night, and I’m feeling nostalgic and thinking about trade school. Why? This week’s show featured a dish everyone who spends time as a chef’s apprentice, and attends trade school learns: trout amadine. I’d forgotten all about trout amandine, which yes, I did learn how to cook when I attended trade school. They even showed the chef’s apprentices at trade school (not sure how long the link to the video will work; see the text bit) and what they learnt. Ah the memories!
Simon the chef also made choux paste and profiteroles – and I vividly remembered piping profiteroles, and the feel of the hot piping bag between my hands and how painful it was after you’d piped 10kg worth of choux paste…
Chef school is much more vivid to me than librarian school. I spent a year doing the Graduate Diploma that qualifies me as a librarian. Most of what I remember of that year is wishing it would be over quickly so I could have that piece of paper that meant I could work as a librarian. I think I learnt more as a trainee librarian (a job I got in the last couple of months of my year’s study), and then in the first year I worked as a qualified librarian. I don’t really remember what I learned in library school, besides doing a presentation on a proposal to a town council for a new library. I did enjoy the practicum I did, which confirmed for me that I wanted to work in academic libraries. But getting a job was what really taught me what I needed to know. The stuff we were presented with in library school seemed so removed and irrelevant…
In recent weeks, some in the biblioblogosphere have been talking about basic tech competencies for librarians. This list from Emily at Library Revolution completely shocked me:
- Create a desktop shortcut
- Obtain an IP address
- Create and rename folders
- Save and retrieve saved documents
- Send an email attachment
- Cut, Copy, and Paste text
- Use spell checking
- Create basic documents with a word processor
- Create basic documents with a spreadsheet program
- Working knowledge of Web browser functions
- Connect to a wireless network
- Make an online purchase
- Familiarity with the library’s catalog and its features
The scary thing is, when I think about it, I know there are librarians who can’t do these things. Many still argue that “tech stuff” is not a librarian’s concern. My rejoinder to this is this: in this age, when so much information is negotiated using computers (“tech stuff”) and so many of the people we serve expect to be able to gain convenient access to this information using computers, how can we not have a basic level of understanding of computers?
Any librarian who deals directly with clients will come across these questions at some point or other. And contemporary work flows depend heavily on these skills, anyway. I didn’t learn any of this stuff in library school, though (luckily I like using computers). Are these things being taught these days? Or do most people who go through library school learn them well before (e.g. in high school, or doing their undergraduate qualifications)?
10 Comments
I personally think anyone who has an office job nowadays should have those competencies. It’s really basic stuff!
This is indeed scary stuff. In the postgrad librarian diploma I did, everyone had to pass a basic computer subject within the first 5 weeks which incorporated all of these things, then progressed on to writing html for a website, and some basic programming in DOS & Unix. It was required for everyone who did a subject in the IT department.
I didn’t find library school useful at all, it consisted mostly of subjects taught by other departments and not adapted to libraries – basic systems design, management (but of for-profit companies), and information management theory. Courses I’d like to see: cataloguing, history of print and information dissemination, some basic book repair, budgeting for libraries & nonprofits, teaching principles and pedagogy for adults and children. There are others but this post is too long already!
Some aspects of library school were good – we did do budget stuff, and it was a running joke that a Library diploma was a cheap management degree. A lot of that stuff on that list I learned through trial and error or asking someone or trying stuff out. It continually amazes me there are still librarians who can’t insert pictures into Word documents.
I agree with m! It’s impossible to function at the office otherwise.
I’m glad to have given you pause. I work as a systems administrator for 48 libraries… and each and every day I run into folks who I have a hard time helping because these are skills that they simply do not have. And yes, it makes it nearly impossible for them to function.
My experience is that these are not skills taught in library school. But should they be? I’d like to think that anyone entering a graduate level program these days would have these basic skills already, so that library school could focus on the more in-depth skills needed by librarians in the 21st century. But maybe a basic computer skills class is a good idea, just to make sure everyone is starting with a basic level of competency. Maybe something you could test out of?
I also agree with ‘m’, most of these are basic skills. I am currently in Library school (Post grad) and the items listed are taken as granted that you know how to do most of them. (Maybe its the Post grad thing?)
In my undergrad degree in Library Tech, I did a lot of what Sheena mentions she would have liked to have learnt about, but not a lot of management theory.
Out of interest I asked a Year 11 student (15 yrs) if he could do any of these things on the list. He said had done them all apart from the online purchase personally as he didn’t have a credit card and (rofl) he doesn’t use the catalogue much! He added that most of the basics he had learnt in lower high school and he needed them to do assignments. (He also has his own computer, so that probably makes a difference.) Another year 11 does all her assignment work in pen and pencil as she “doesn’t like computers”, but still could work a web browser to search google for information. So I think that those that are interested will be achieving those skills that they want for the future, and those without interest will be bothering the IT guys with ‘simple’ questions for a long time.
And, (sorry this is so long 😎 all of us can forget, if we don’t use the information on a daily basis! (I know I have holes in my brain where rarely used information falls out….
Turn it off and turn it on again, I say! TB-)
Thanks for all the comments, guys. I have been thinking about this a lot lately and pondering what to do to “upskill” people who don’t have the most basic skills. What do you do with people who don’t have the skills but don’t want to learn them, either?
Gudday CW…
Trade school…?! Remember mine quite fondly – Sparky school was good value – it’s nice to go to a trade school and learn what’s to be expected of you in your trade – makes life in the workplace so much easier!
I’m in the field of workplace training now CW, so there’s workplace assessment available for just about every conceived workplace you could possible imagine – and most of it could even be legal 😉
As to your workplace – well, it depends on your level in your workplace, and how seriously your management take the issue of people being competent in their workplace. We’ve attach incentives to training – skill yourself up and go up a pay level, this always helps. There’s also the biggie – Skill yourself up or we’ll look for someone else who happens to have the skills!
But it depends on your workplace… if it’s clear (somewhere) that these skills are a requirement to the job, and the management offer the opportunities to acquire those skills – there’s not many people who wouldn’t take advantage of such a thing – if only for their own advantages.
The few who don’t often feel threatened by change and or the acquiring of new skills – will probably never change without a real ‘push’, and sadly there are also those who are just plain lazy, or are incapable of change for a swag of other reasons.
New employees – especially the junior ones currently are VERY difficult to keep in an office. Some very different views towards job discipline and quality of service these days , that I find very difficult to manage in an office environment – mostly because the staff don’t know what’s expected of them in the first place, so the fill their time with other guff!
Having said this – this has only been my experience in a small to medium office… some others might find it differently.
Cheers 😉