key: cord-0754271-xw2odnk5
authors: Eades, B. Lynn
title: Systems Librari-anship: A Practical Guide
date: 2022-01-01
journal: Journal of the Medical Library Association
DOI: 10.5195/jmla.2022.1358
sha: acd30b849c19b28c8557d39432f062c1134b9e66
doc_id: 754271
cord_uid: xw2odnk5

Eades reviews Systems Librarianship: A Practical Guide by Brighid M. Gonzales.

Gonzales, Brighid M. Systems Librarianship: A Practical Guide. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield; 2020 (Practical Guides for Librarians, No. 68). 168 p. $65.00. ISBN 978-1-5381-0713-3.

If the COVID-19 pandemic taught librarians anything, it is that having reliable catalogs, websites, guides, and electronic resources is crucial to continuing their mission of service to their patrons. While the move to electronic resources has been growing, so has the reliance on these systems and the ones who oversee them.

Brighid Gonzales has written a guide for those interested in becoming or transitioning into systems librarianship. As part of the Practical Guides for Librarians series, Systems Librarianship: A Practical Guide is an engaging overview of the complexities and variety of responsibilities a systems librarian may oversee. Sharing her personal experience of coming into a systems librarian position with no formal training in library school, she also shares the experiences of 200 system librarians who participated in a survey she conducted. Several in-depth interviews with some of the respondents end each chapter, further highlighting these experiences.

Guide complements and updates the standard text for those new to systems librarianship, The Accidental Systems Librarian [1] . As in the Accidental Systems Librarian, Gonzales covers integrated library and content management systems, technology planning, and systems migration while expanding on web redesign strategies and emerging technologies such as augmented/virtual reality and drones. She highlights the need to build relationships with IT professionals both in libraries and in the academic or community setting, noting that for many the system librarian job is usually combined with other, more traditional library positions. Having those technical relationships can be a lifesaver when a problem arises.

At 168 pages, Gonzales offers an overview to an ever-expanding and changing area of librarianship. As more content moves online, the role of the systems librarian becomes even more essential. The references, in-depth interviews, and resources in this book give any new librarian or one moving into a systems role the help they need to be effective in their position.

The accidental systems librarian