[metadataLibrarians] Newbie question about metadata librarianskills and training

[Bodling, Kurt]

Good question.  Good enough to make me ponder it a bit while staring out the window before starting to answer! 

Some of how I became a metadata librarian surely has to do with innate inclinations/gifts/abilities/tendencies.  Whatever it is that makes me feel good inside when things around me are organized.

And some of it has to do with having a mother from an old New England family who tried to teach me "a place for everything and everything in its place."

But that's not what you were asking about.

More to the point, I'd say my being in the job I have has to do with having: an interest in computers that goes way back (as in 'way back before the Internet') that led me to being an early adopter and an experimenter with applications software during my stint as a library director in the 1990s;

combined with a job background in archives -- before, during, and after library school (which was way back in the 1987-88 academic year) -- that gave me experience describing resources that were not published and did not have a narrowly localized "chief source of information" (and this, too, was mostly before the word metadata had been coined);

combined with personality factors like a willingness to learn new vocabulary and software, a boldness about jumping into a pond nobody else hereabouts was swimming in, and a confidence that the field was changing quickly enough that some young whippersnapper fresh out of 'metadata and information science school' would not have any advantage over me for long.

Oh, and I was also willing to work for less than I "should be" earning at this stage in my career/life because (partly) I think the job is just plain fun.

The short answer to your question about classes, et cetera: just pick up whatever you can in the way of schooling, reading, jargon, and experience that might possibly be related -- and weave it together with unrelated bits of your background into a semi-coherent narrative.  Figure that this area is still new enough that often nobody else in the room (say, during an job interview) will know any more about it than you do now.  And jump in.

Kurt A. Bodling
Digital Resources Cataloger
State Library of Pennsylvania
333 Market St.
Harrisburg, PA 17126-1745
http://www.statelibrary.state.pa.us/
"The State Library of Pennsylvania ... Serving and Preserving a Written Cultural Heritage ... For, By, and About Pennsylvania"


> -----Original Message-----
> From: metadatalibrarians-bounces at lists.monarchos.com
> [mailto:metadatalibrarians-bounces at lists.monarchos.com]On 
> Behalf Of Tom
> Tideswell
> Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2006 7:42 AM
> To: metadatalibrarians at lists.monarchos.com
> Subject: [metadataLibrarians] Newbie question about metadata
> librarianskills and training
> 
> 
> Hi All
> 
> I'd be very interested in hearing how folks on this list 
> acquired the skills
> that make up their jobs.
> 
> I have a library degree, but currently do something else. 
> I've been seeing
> positions advertised for metadata (or catalog & metadata) 
> librarians, and am
> intrigued by them. They certainly didn't teach metadata 
> librarianship (as
> such) at *my* school, and when I look at websites for various library
> schools and iSchools, I see a wide range of classes that have 
> *something* to
> do with metadata, but nothing about metadata librarian 
> practice per se. I
> guess that's not surprising, since it's a new area.
> 
> So, for those of you who are willing to answer naive questions:
> How did you become a metadata librarian?
> What skills do you use?
> How did you acquire the skills and knowledge that are 
> involved in your job?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Tom
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