LJ | Women who drive library technology

LibraryJournal.com |The women who drive library technology

When Darci Hanning entered an electrical engineering program in the 1980s, her goal was to design computers. The man standing in front of her digital design class could give her that knowledge, and Hanning, whose mother led a chapter of the National Organization for Women, grew up feeling she could do anything.

So, she was stunned when the professor announced to the class, “I don’t think women should be engineers.”

Hanning, now at the Oregon State Library, wasn’t easily deterred. Her college experience made her miserable, but she persevered. “I try to succeed in spite of these things or go to a place that’s better for me,” Hanning explains. “I didn’t doubt myself or my ability.”

No matter their generation or library setting, the women who find technology and libraries a compelling combination share certain qualities. The women interviewed here are, like Hanning, confident. They are also skilled communicators and risk-takers, people who seek challenges and prefer working in teams. They revel in new gadgetry, but they never forget it’s all about a positive user experience. As a group, they represent a hybrid librarian—someone who is equally fascinated by emerging technologies and how to use them to improve library services....