Week two of my second quarter in library school has begun and I am enjoying it very much. The class this quarter I may have mentioned is Introduction to Systems Analysis. There is lots of reading and lots of new things to think about and put together but I like systems so it is no surprise I like the class. It also helps that the professor is marvelous. He is funny and asks good questions to get us all thinking and no question is a bad question. He might be sitting at his computer rolling his eyes as he follows class discussion, but we can’t see his face and he comes across as nothing but nice. He also lives in South Dakota so we are practically neighbors!
You may be asking yourself, what is a systems analyst anyway? A systems analyst is a problem-solver. She studies the problems and needs of an organization to determine how people, data, processes, and information technology can best accomplish the goals of the organization and improve the business. A systems analyst has to be able to talk to everyone in the organization from the head honcho to the person who buys the paperclips. She has to be able to talk tech and to translate tech-speak into everyday language, know something about how businesses work, and be able to ferret out who really runs things and knows what’s going on.
But systems analysis it turns out isn’t all about technology. A system is a bunch of interrelated components that work together to achieve an end result. These days technology often comes into the system at some point, but it doesn’t have to.
So I am learning about PIECES (Performance, Information, Economics, Control, Efficiency, Service) a problem-solving framework. I am learning about processes and how to break down big systems and big problems into smaller systems and smaller problems. I am also learning about methodology. There are many and a good analyst should know about them and be able to use the appropriate one for a given project or situation. For the purposes of learning systems analysis, however, we are using a hypothetical methodology called FAST–Framework for the Application of Systems Thinking–it’s even italicized for some reason, perhaps to make it look fast on the page.
Why, you may ask, would a librarian need to know about systems analysis? I can’t give a definite answer, but I suspect it is because the library is filled with systems from the way in which books are shelved to the catalogs used to look them up. Information has to be stored and retrieved and a system is needed to do it. I may never have to design a system myself, but I might be involved in helping a systems analyst design a system so it helps to understand what goes into it. And if nothing else, I will have learned a whole bunch of new acronyms by the time the quarter is done!
And on a side note, I have been a bad blog visitor of late. I’ve been so busy I’ve had barely enough time to keep my own blog going. But things should be calming down and I will be able to catch up with what all of you have been up to!
Oh my GOD.
You are doing what I want to do. I know that sound nuts-o.
But Stefanie, I WANT TO WORK IN A LIBRARY.
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So glad you are enjoying your studies – makes going to school so much fun, doesn’t it?
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This sounds fascinating, in that geeky kind of way 🙂 I suspect I’d enjoy this class too. And I’m sure everyone understands about you being busy — and really, you haven’t been a bad blog visitor at all — not by a long shot!
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I second Dorothy W.’s comment! We all think you’re awesome. I personally really like reading about your courses.
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Also: users must be registered and validated; checked out books must be tracked; overdue notices must be sent; fines calculated; waiting lists must be maintained; … There are numerous systems in libraries. I hope you find the class fun and useful.
One warning: a good systems analyst generally is good at spotting flaws. (Many other skills also exist, but I am highlighting just the one.) Being good at spotting flaws has the potential to become depressing. So, keep reading those books with positive characters in them. We need to protect people from becoming negative and critical like me. 🙂
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Great to hear about your studies. I’ve thought about library school myself, but so far, haven’t had the guts (or the money!) to make the leap from my current career. Please keep us posted!
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Hi Stefanie,
As a catalog librarian (but luckily not the systems analyst!), there is so much we in tech services rely on the systems person to do for us. The library systems now are so interesting and complicated–there are various modules for circ, cataloging, acquisitions and all these work together to make everything on the public end possible and hopefully visible to the patron in a meaningful way. If there are problems with the way the system indexes the catalog records, our systems analyst is the one who can make it work. Plus one of these days our SirsiDynix Horizon system is going to go away and we will have to migrate all this data to a totally new system–that will fall under the systems analyst. The more you know about how the system works, the better off you will be, even if you don’t want to be the systems analyst. Wishing you continued success in your classes!
Judy at Douglas County Libraries, Colorado.
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I love all forms of analysis, so this sounds like an intriguing and fascinating job to perform – apart from the tech stuff, for which I have NO aptitude whatsoever. Still, you have given a complete and much needed overhaul to my image of a systems analyst!
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Well Cip, I’m not working in a library yet, but the journey to get there is certainly turning out to be interesting.
Verbivore, you’ve got that right! Going to school is much more fun when you enjoy the things you are studying.
Dorothy, it’s a class in which geekiness is supported and encouraged 🙂 And thanks for you kind words!
Oh Heather, thank you. And I am glad you like hearing about my classes.
Bikkuri, have you worked in a library before? You are right, a systems analyst also has to be good at spotting flaws. We will be talking in class at some point about the dangers of trying to create a perfect system. It would be easy to get cynical, but I don’t think the description fits you at all!
Rizwan, where there’s a will there’s got to be a way. I’m only taking one class a quarter so I can work and pay for school without going into debt (I hope).
Judy, thanks for your fantastic comment! Systems analysis seems like a challenging job for all kinds of reasons. I like a challenge but not one quite like that! That will be a big process when your library decides to upgrade systems. Thanks for the good wishes!
Litlove, I could see you having fun with the people and analysis part. I can see you digging into people’s psyches to figure out what they really want and why they seem to make it so hard to get there. 🙂
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Oh, thanks for posting on this. It’s so much fun, isn’t it? I remember focusing on flowcharts when I took systems analysis (because I’m particularly fond of them, and being a psych major as an undergrad, we didn’t exactly learn about them). I’ve forgotten the details of that class, but I know I’ve taken a lot of the broad ideas of analyzing systems into every job I’ve had and even into my home life. I guess I’ve learned that libraries aren’t the only places that are full of systems.
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Everything Judy said! It’s rather eerie, our SirsiDynix Horizon system is going to be upgraded soon, just as I’ve got the hang of those modules…
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I haven’t worked in a library before, but I have spent a lot of time analyzing systems, both procedural and software, for a lot of different businesses. I had to find flaws and recommend ways to improve things.
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Emily, it is fun. Systems are everywhere we just don’t tend to think of things from that perspective. We will be getting to diagramming soon. I am looking forward to it. And you just reminded me that I need to spend some time playing around with the diagramming program I will need to use.
Melanie, hopefully the upgrade won’t be too different from the current system or at the very least will be similar enough that it won’t be too difficult to learn. Upgrades are hard even if it’s the same software. We just went from Outlook 2000 to Outlook 2003 at work and Microsoft had to go and move everything around!
Bikkuri, ah. From systems analysis to teaching English in Japan. That’s quite an interesting career path!
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