Microsoft Word - September_ITAL_Cyzyk_final.docx


Editorial Board Thoughts:  
Information Technology in 
Libraries: Anxiety and Exhilaration Mark Cyzyk 

	
  

INFORMATION	
  TECHNOLOGY	
  AND	
  LIBRARIES	
  |	
  SEPTEMBER	
  2015	
  	
  

	
   	
   	
   	
   	
   6	
  

A	
  few	
  weeks	
  ago	
  a	
  valued	
  colleague	
  left	
  our	
  library	
  to	
  move	
  his	
  young	
  family	
  back	
  home	
  to	
  
Pittsburgh.	
  	
  Insofar	
  as	
  we	
  were	
  a	
  two-­‐man	
  department,	
  I	
  spent	
  the	
  weeks	
  following	
  the	
  
announcement	
  of	
  his	
  imminent	
  departure	
  picking	
  his	
  brain	
  about	
  various	
  projects,	
  their	
  
codebases,	
  potential	
  rough	
  spots,	
  existing	
  trouble	
  tickets,	
  etc.	
  	
  He	
  left,	
  and	
  I	
  immediately	
  
inherited	
  nine-­‐years-­‐worth	
  of	
  projects	
  and	
  custom	
  code	
  including	
  all	
  the	
  "micro-­‐services"	
  
that	
  feed	
  into	
  our	
  various	
  well-­‐designed,	
  high-­‐profile,	
  and	
  high-­‐performing	
  (thanks	
  to	
  him)	
  
Websites.	
  

This	
  was	
  all,	
  naturally,	
  anxiety-­‐producing.	
  

Almost	
  immediately,	
  things	
  began	
  to	
  break.	
  	
  	
  

Early	
  on,	
  a	
  calendar	
  embedded	
  in	
  a	
  custom	
  WordPress	
  theme	
  crucial	
  to	
  the	
  functioning	
  of	
  
two	
  of	
  our	
  revenue-­‐generating	
  departments	
  broke.	
  	
  The	
  external	
  vendor	
  simply	
  made	
  
disappear	
  the	
  calendar	
  we	
  were	
  screenscraping.	
  Poof,	
  gone.	
  	
  I	
  quickly	
  created	
  an	
  OK-­‐but-­‐less-­‐
than-­‐ideal	
  workaround	
  and	
  we	
  were	
  back	
  in	
  business,	
  at	
  least	
  for	
  the	
  time	
  being.	
  

Then,	
  two	
  days	
  before	
  the	
  July	
  4	
  holiday,	
  our	
  Calendar	
  Managers	
  started	
  reporting	
  that	
  our	
  
Google-­‐Calendar-­‐based	
  system	
  was	
  disallowing	
  a	
  change	
  to	
  "CLOSED"	
  for	
  that	
  Saturday.	
  	
  I	
  
somehow	
  forced	
  a	
  CLOSED	
  notification,	
  at	
  least	
  for	
  our	
  main	
  library	
  building,	
  but	
  no	
  matter	
  
what	
  any	
  of	
  us	
  did	
  we	
  could	
  not	
  get	
  such	
  a	
  notification	
  to	
  show	
  up	
  for	
  a	
  few	
  of	
  our	
  other	
  
facilities.	
  	
  I	
  spent	
  quite	
  bit	
  of	
  time	
  studying	
  the	
  custom,	
  middleware	
  code	
  that	
  sits	
  between	
  
our	
  Google	
  Calendars	
  and	
  our	
  Website,	
  and	
  could	
  see	
  where	
  the	
  magic	
  was	
  happening.	
  	
  I	
  now	
  
think	
  I	
  know	
  what	
  to	
  do	
  -­‐-­‐	
  and	
  all	
  I	
  have	
  to	
  do	
  is	
  express	
  it	
  in	
  that	
  nutty	
  programming	
  
language/platform	
  that	
  the	
  kids	
  are	
  using	
  these	
  days,	
  Ruby	
  on	
  Rails.	
  	
  I've	
  never	
  written	
  a	
  line	
  
of	
  Ruby	
  in	
  my	
  life,	
  but	
  it's	
  now	
  or	
  never.	
  

A	
  little	
  voice	
  inside	
  me	
  keeps	
  saying,	
  "You're	
  swimming	
  in	
  the	
  deep	
  end	
  now	
  -­‐-­‐	
  paddle	
  
harder,	
  and	
  try	
  not	
  to	
  sink."	
  

While	
  these	
  surprise	
  events	
  were	
  happening,	
  we	
  also	
  switched	
  source	
  code	
  management	
  
systems,	
  so	
  a	
  migration	
  was	
  in	
  order	
  there,	
  my	
  longingly-­‐awaited	
  new	
  workstation	
  came	
  in	
  
(and	
  I'm	
  sure	
  you	
  all	
  know	
  how	
  painstaking	
  it	
  is	
  to	
  migrate	
  all	
  idiosyncratic	
  
data/apps/settings	
  to	
  a	
  new	
  workstation	
  and	
  ensure	
  it's	
  all	
  present,	
  functioning,	
  and	
  secure	
  
before	
  DBAN-­‐nuking	
  your	
  old	
  drives),	
  we	
  decommissioned	
  a	
  central	
  service	
  that	
  had	
  been	
  in	
  

	
  

Mark	
  Cyzyk	
  (mcyzyk@jhu.edu)	
  a	
  member	
  of	
  the	
  ITAL	
  Editorial	
  Board,	
  happily	
  works	
  and	
  
ages	
  in	
  The	
  Sheridan	
  Libraries,	
  Johns	
  Hopkins	
  University,	
  Baltimore,	
  Maryland,	
  USA.	
  



	
  

INFORMATION	
  TECHNOLOGY	
  IN	
  LIBRARIES:	
  ANXIETY	
  AND	
  EXHILARATION	
  |	
  CYZYK	
   	
   	
  
doi:	
  10.6017/ital.v34i3.8967	
  

7	
  

production	
  since	
  2006,	
  we	
  fully	
  upgraded	
  our	
  Wordpress	
  Multisite	
  including	
  all	
  plugins	
  and	
  
themes,	
  fixing	
  what	
  broke	
  in	
  the	
  upgrade,	
  and	
  I	
  got	
  into	
  the	
  groove	
  of	
  working	
  on	
  any	
  and	
  all	
  
trouble	
  tickets/change	
  requests	
  that	
  spontaneously	
  appeared,	
  popping	
  up	
  like	
  mushrooms	
  in	
  
the	
  verdant	
  vale	
  of	
  my	
  worklife.	
  

This	
  was	
  all	
  largely	
  in	
  addition	
  to	
  my	
  own	
  job.	
  

So	
  now	
  I	
  find	
  myself	
  surgically	
  removing/stitching	
  up	
  code	
  in	
  recently-­‐diseased	
  custom	
  
Wordpress	
  themes,	
  adding	
  Ruby	
  code	
  to	
  a	
  crucial	
  piece	
  of	
  our	
  Website	
  infrastructure,	
  and	
  
learning	
  as	
  much	
  as	
  I	
  can	
  -­‐-­‐	
  but	
  quick	
  -­‐-­‐	
  about	
  the	
  wonderful	
  and	
  incredibly	
  powerful	
  
Bootstrap	
  framework	
  upon	
  which	
  most	
  of	
  our	
  sites	
  are	
  built.	
  

Surely	
  it's	
  anxiety-­‐producing?	
  	
  You	
  bet.	
  

But	
  it's	
  thrilling	
  and	
  exhilarating	
  was	
  well.	
  	
  I'm	
  paddling	
  hard,	
  and	
  so	
  far	
  my	
  head	
  remains	
  
above	
  water.	
  	
  Many	
  days,	
  I	
  just	
  can't	
  wait	
  to	
  get	
  to	
  work	
  and	
  start	
  paddling.	
  	
  	
  

This	
  aging	
  IT	
  Guy	
  suddenly	
  feels	
  ten	
  years	
  younger!	
  

(But	
  isn't	
  all	
  this	
  paddling	
  supposed	
  to	
  somehow	
  result	
  in	
  a	
  Swimmer's	
  Body?	
  	
  Patiently	
  
waiting...)