the "techie" speaks...

Several weeks ago, I got a new position at the library. Since I started work there over a year ago, I've always sort of filled in where the gaps were, doing a little bit of bindery/processing work, YA programming (since I have a saintly amount of patience with kids who are, oh, only about eight years younger than I am...), and anything else that needed doing. Weeding? Yeah, I could do that. Set up the library staff mailing list? I could do that too. But now, I've got a real, honest to bob, job title. I am the technology coordinator.

I described it, jokingly, to people at IL2006 as being the Techie "by default", by virtue of the fact that I am 23, and my coworkers are not. This is true to an extent, because despite the fact that I have never taken a computer science class (something I should probably do something to change) I -am- the person on the staff with the most technological knowledge, and the youngest staff member as well. (Of course, you do not have to be one to be the other.) I can troubleshoot a PC, work a scanner, and most importantly, I know when to say "Hey, I don't know how to do this, we need to call Gary." Gary is our computer-fixing guy, who comes in when we can't figure it out. He's certainly more familiar with things like our network and server than me right now, but I plan to pick his brain mercilessly every chance I get.

However, my library's attitude has been far from anti-tech. I came back with ideas about recreating PLCMC's Learning 2.0 program, and to be honest I worried that it wouldn't take off. I worried that people would be too overwhelmed by the idea of completing 23 unknown tasks to even consider the carrot at the end of the stick. No prize in the world is going to make you participate if you're sure that the program is impossible to complete. (For example: NANOWRIMO. They could offer me a free laptop for winning, and I still probably wouldn't do it.) But then I started talking to the rest of the staff about it. The response so far has been overwhelmingly positive, and I haven't even officially announced the program yet. I look forward to seeing how this pans out, and hopefully I'll be recruiting some more techie librarians soon. :)