I have been sitting on this for weeks, since I've been waiting for everything to finalize, but I am the new PINES System Administrator for the Georgia Public Library Service! I now feel free to tell the whole story behind this, since I've been holding off for so long:
When I began library school in fall 2004, I had been a library paraprofessional for a little over two years. I had worked in the college library as a student and then in churches and bookstores, then in a public library. I had plans when I started school to become a library manager or an academic reference librarian, or something of that kind. Then Google announced that it would began digitizing books for the web, which got me thinking about the future of librarianship, my own computer skills, etc., so I changed my Masters Concentration from management to information architecture (IA).
The IA concentration had a definite focus on web design and development and usability. To supplement this with some nuts and bolts, I took a data networking class that taught me the history, development, conceptual models, and standards for networks, most of which I could supplement by studying the actual computer network running in the library where I worked at the time, and talking to my colleagues who did our tech support. I also learned basic UNIX commands, and that exposure (and the textbook I kept) helped me find my way around my Linux systems at home. Based on what I learned in that class, I set up an Ethernet network in my apartment, running great lengths of Cat 5 cable through our bedrooms and hallways, stuffing it down so our cats wouldn't eat it.
I also took a class on Information Systems Management, which delved very deeply into software concepts, particularly databases and programming concepts (though we did not learn any languages) like XML and its many "ML" applications for data storage. For that class I had to develop software requirements documents, both for actual situations and for a fictional company (though we evaluated actual software products), and to make recommendations for what each organization should do.
I then progressed to an advanced web development class in which we studied web standards, XHTML, and CSS and explored many different resources. I then took usability analysis, information organization (which expanded on data formats) and finally, cataloging and classification, in which we were required to encode and edit MARC records using the OCLC Connexion form based on the AACR2.
As I finished school, the assistant director of the library asked me to apply for a Librarian position that came open at the beginning of that summer. I applied and became a reference librarian in a suburban branch of our system. In late spring of 2007, I saw an opening for PINES Program Manager at GPLS and I applied, and to my pleasant surprise, got an interview, but I didn't get the job. I had admired GPLS for a number of years at that time, and they had just moved to their home-grown, open-source Evergreen ILS. I decided that, if they would have me, this was the place for me, and I was encouraged to reapply by the PINES Program Director.
So when I saw the PINES System Administrator position open, I considered it a stretch, but applied anyway with the idea that I would hit the books and learn Perl, shell scripting, and some of the other requirements listed in the job description. After a second interview and several harried emails, I was offered the job, and I start later this month!
When I began library school in fall 2004, I had been a library paraprofessional for a little over two years. I had worked in the college library as a student and then in churches and bookstores, then in a public library. I had plans when I started school to become a library manager or an academic reference librarian, or something of that kind. Then Google announced that it would began digitizing books for the web, which got me thinking about the future of librarianship, my own computer skills, etc., so I changed my Masters Concentration from management to information architecture (IA).
The IA concentration had a definite focus on web design and development and usability. To supplement this with some nuts and bolts, I took a data networking class that taught me the history, development, conceptual models, and standards for networks, most of which I could supplement by studying the actual computer network running in the library where I worked at the time, and talking to my colleagues who did our tech support. I also learned basic UNIX commands, and that exposure (and the textbook I kept) helped me find my way around my Linux systems at home. Based on what I learned in that class, I set up an Ethernet network in my apartment, running great lengths of Cat 5 cable through our bedrooms and hallways, stuffing it down so our cats wouldn't eat it.
I also took a class on Information Systems Management, which delved very deeply into software concepts, particularly databases and programming concepts (though we did not learn any languages) like XML and its many "ML" applications for data storage. For that class I had to develop software requirements documents, both for actual situations and for a fictional company (though we evaluated actual software products), and to make recommendations for what each organization should do.
I then progressed to an advanced web development class in which we studied web standards, XHTML, and CSS and explored many different resources. I then took usability analysis, information organization (which expanded on data formats) and finally, cataloging and classification, in which we were required to encode and edit MARC records using the OCLC Connexion form based on the AACR2.
As I finished school, the assistant director of the library asked me to apply for a Librarian position that came open at the beginning of that summer. I applied and became a reference librarian in a suburban branch of our system. In late spring of 2007, I saw an opening for PINES Program Manager at GPLS and I applied, and to my pleasant surprise, got an interview, but I didn't get the job. I had admired GPLS for a number of years at that time, and they had just moved to their home-grown, open-source Evergreen ILS. I decided that, if they would have me, this was the place for me, and I was encouraged to reapply by the PINES Program Director.
So when I saw the PINES System Administrator position open, I considered it a stretch, but applied anyway with the idea that I would hit the books and learn Perl, shell scripting, and some of the other requirements listed in the job description. After a second interview and several harried emails, I was offered the job, and I start later this month!
I'm extremely happy about this development, and a little nervous. Since this has become my goal, anyway, though, I know I will do everything I can to learn all the other skills I need to know to become the best system administrator I can be.
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