In this presentation for CILIP's Umbrella 2013 conference, Simon Barron explored the impact of technology on librarianship and the increased amalgamation of library and IT roles. By examining the skills and technologies of librarian-IT hybrids, we see the future of librarianship and information management.

1. Rise of the
cyborgs:
the growth of
librarian-IT
hybrids
Simon Barron
Project Analyst – British Library
@SimonXIX

2. Project Analyst
Roving IT
Support
E-collections and
Service Analyst

4. Hilbert, M., and
López, P. (2011)
The World’s
Technological
Capacity to
Store,
Communicate,
and Compute
Information.
Science, 332
(60).

5. “the question is… how to have a truly collaborative relationship
when the library is about 90% customer of IT and 10%
collaborator with IT.”
Jastram, I. (2012) Libraries,
IT departments, and
complex relationships.
Pegasus librarian [Online]
Available from:
http://pegasuslibrarian.c
om/2012/03/libraries-it-
departments-and-
complex-
relationships.html
[Accessed 26 January
2013]
“I don’t know if we’re their most
complicated customers on
campus, but we’re probably right
up there.”

7. Mathews, J. M., & Pardue, H.
(2009) The Presence of IT Skill Sets
in Librarian Position
Announcements. College &
research libraries, 70 (3).
72% of job ads
contained at least
one IT skill.
From ALA’s online
JobList over five months:
38% referred to a
requirement for Web
development skills.
57% of those
required at least
one more. Four ads required
programming
languages.

8. “…significant
inter-section
between the
skill sets of
librarians and
the skill sets of
IT
professionals.”
From: Mathews, J. M., & Pardue, H. (2009) The
Presence of IT Skill Sets in Librarian Position
Announcements. College & research libraries, 70 (3).

9. Sham – brar – i – an

10. “creatures of nature
and culture, biology
and technology...”
Dery, M. (2013) “Futureshock”
proves that the future really is
unevenly distributed. io9
[Online] Available
from: http://io9.com/5982864/f
utureshock-proves-that-the-
future-really-is-unevenly-
distributed [Accessed 3 June
2013].

11. “It could be argued that librarians should not so much ride out
the storm, waiting for the storm to subside, as ride on the storm –
in other words, take a proactive approach by seeking out new
roles outside the library and making change management an
integral part of their professional remit.”
Barton, J.
(2006) Digital
librarians:
boundary
riders on the
storm, Library
review, 55 (2).

12. Librarianship skills
Cataloguing
Metadata
Licensing
Technical
library services

13. Tech skills
Coding
Hardware
troubleshooting
Systems
development
Web design

14. Communication skills
Teamwork
Relationship
management
Jargon
translation

15. Personal skills
“an
enquiring
mind”
Research skills
Analysis
“a strong
interest in
learning
new things”
Self-teaching

16. “The abundance of information may also result in cognitive overload,
distraction, and amnesia (the forgetful present). New forms of systemic
vulnerabilities arise from the increasing reliance on informational
infrastructures.”
The Onlife Initiative (2013) The onlife manifesto:
being human in a hyperconnected era.

17. “Man has, as it were, become a
kind of prosthetic God. When he
puts on all his auxiliary organs he
is truly magnificent; but those
organs have not grown on to him
and they still give him much
trouble at times.”
Freud, S. (1930)
Civilization and
its discontents.

18. “So, we are in a crisis of knowledge at the same time that
we are in an epochal exaltation of knowledge. We fear for
the institutions on which we have relied for trustworthy
knowledge, but there's a joy we can feel pulsing through
our culture... It comes from the networking of knowledge.”
Weinberger, D. (2011) Too
big to know: rethinking
knowledge now that the
facts aren't the facts,
experts are everywhere,
and the smartest person in
the room is the room. New
York: Basic Books.

19. All images licensed under Creative Commons licenses
‘Dante Cyborg’ by Flickr user: The PIX-JOCKEY.
‘book stack’ by Flickr user: ginnerobot.
‘cellular automata’ images by Flickr user: Anthony Mattox.
‘Knowledge lives here’ by Flickr user: PysProblem.
‘Lampe steampunk armillaire’ by Flickr user: ToNToN CoPT.
‘Rise of the digital information age’ infographic from The
Washington Post.
'I hate technology' by Flickr user: quinn.anya.
'Untitled' by Flickr user: naught_facility.
‘il futuro del mondo’ by Flickr user: Antonio_Trogu.
‘venn’ by Flickr user: Dave Pattern.
'Isabelle' by Flickr user: Max Braun.
'iWatch' by Flickr user: Brett Jordan.
'approach of the apocalypse' by Flickr user: wildpianist.
‘Day 174: Amazing Push-Button Shushing Action!’ by Flickr
user: Laura Taylor.
‘Keep Calm and Turn It Off and On Again’ by Flickr user:
Adam Bowie.
‘Putting The Puzzle Together’ by Flickr user:
kenteegardin.
‘Steampunk gear, looking’ by Flickr user: Curious
Expeditions.
'311/365: Cargando las pilas' by Flickr user:
anieto2k.
'Visions of transhumanism' by Flickr user: vipez.
'the future soon' by Flickr user: krupp.
‘…hello?’ by Flickr user: Solo.
'Book Worm Bot' by Flickr user: Jenn and Tony Bot.

20. Bibliography
Dery, M. (2013) “Futureshock” proves that the future really is unevenly
distributed. io9 [Online] Available
from: http://io9.com/5982864/futureshock-proves-that-the-future-really-
is-unevenly-distributed [Accessed 3 June 2013]
Enis, M. (2013) Cracking the Code: Librarians Acquiring Essential Coding
Skills. The digital shift [Online] Available from:
http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2013/03/software/cracking-the-code/
[Accessed 6 April 2013]
Floridi, L. (2007) A Look into the Future Impact of ICT on Our Lives. The
information society: an international journal, 23 (1).
Gleick, J. (2011) The information: a history, a theory, a flood. London:
Fourth Estate.
Goddard, L. (2003) “The integrated librarian: IT in the systems office.”
Library hi-tech, 21 (3).
Greenfield, A. (2006) Everyware: the dawning age of ubiquitous
computing. Berkeley: New Riders.
Jastram, I. (2012) Libraries, IT departments, and complex relationships.
Pegasus librarian [Online] Available from:
http://pegasuslibrarian.com/2012/03/libraries-it-departments-and-
complex-relationships.html [Accessed 26 January 2013]
Mathews, J. M., & Pardue, H. (2009) The Presence of IT Skill Sets in
Librarian Position Announcements. College & research libraries, 70 (3).
McLuhan, M. (1965) Understanding media: the extensions of man. New
York: McGraw-Hill.
Melchionda, M. G. (2007) Librarians in the age of the internet: their
attitudes and roles: A literature review. New library world, 108 (3).
Rogers, J. (2013) Considering the librarian tech skills gap. Attempting
elegance [Online] Available from:
http://www.attemptingelegance.com/?p=1958 [Accessed 6 April 2013]
Snow, C. P. (1993) The two cultures and the scientific
revolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Yelton, A. (2012) Why should librarians learn Python?
(a better answer). Andromeda Yelton: across divided
networks [Online]. Available from:
http://andromedayelton.com/blog/2012/08/28/why-
should-librarians-learn-python-a-better-answer/
[Accessed 6 April 2013]
Weinberger, D. (2011) Too big to know: rethinking
knowledge now that the facts aren't the facts,
experts are everywhere, and the smartest person in
the room is the room. New York: Basic Books.