Going through this weekend’s emails, I came across a brief from CITES announcing a new security position. Scanning it made me realize how similar security IT is to librarianship. I don’t think any librarian types read this blog, but if you do I’m curious for your feedback. Some things I see applied to both a librarian role and an IT security role:

* They are expected to be jack of all trades, and respond with full attention when issues come up.

* They are forced to document what they do, in case someone challenges their worth or works completed.

* They are expected to be highly technical, or understand highly technical things, but are not necessarily compensated for that knowledge.

* They are expected to do as much extension and outreach programming as possible to get people involved proactively.

* The last two points are somewhat contradictory. Finding someone with all those skillsets are hard.  It’s also a skill to be able to translate and communicate effectively between a technical and a non-technical source.
* They’re expected to review external sources and always be up to date on what they should be doing (library procedures, security incidents, etc.) The tools of the trade change frequently.

* There’s too many of them when don’t need one and not nearly enough when you do.

I’ve been saying for a while that the definitions of computer scientist, librarian, IT specialist, etc. blur depending on definition, but it struck me how so many points on the security position could be applied in a librarian environment. If I had the time, I’d try to find a librarian job ad and see how they line up.