My first thoughts, before even reading the article, were "Why would ANYONE actually advocate against librarians developing useful computer and programming skills in this day and age?" My next thoughts were to naturally assume (incorrectly, of course) that the author was clearly a bit of a reactionary; a stodgy, "old school" librarian still clinging to sliding cart catalogs and cursing the day that electronics invaded the library world. As it turns out, the author, Roy Tennant, has been involved with information technology for over 20 years, is a Senior Program Officer for the largest online library cooperative in the world (OCLC), has helped develop several digital libraries, and has even written several books dealing with computer programming, including one on HTML Needless to say, I was a bit confused, and intrigued, by the reasons he might have for telling us not to learn HTML.
The main point of the article seems to be less that librarians should not learn HTML, and more that all librarians do not need to learn HTML. Arguments used to support this position include: the availability of software programs that will do the necessary coding for you, the superiority of professional coding to amateur coding, and the problems and complications that arise from amateur coders trying to develop items from scratch ("reinventing the wheel"). These factors considered, Tennant does believe it is good practice for all young librarians to establish a base of programming skills that they can build from, and that coding skills such as HTML are vital to any librarian looking to write software or web code. Those cases aside, however, he lets the rest of the library world off the hook. If you haven't learned HTML, if you don't need to learn it, and you don't want to learn it, then don't bother.
I do find that there is some merit to the notion that not all librarians NEED to learn HTML. Programming is not an easy skill to learn, no matter how "basic" the language, and there are going to be a fair share of people for which learning HTML is going to produce more frustration than it ever will benefit. There are also some for which an HTML coding base will never be a necessity in their professional lives, and thus would not be worth the hassle of trying to learn.
That said, there are definite benefits to learning even the slightest bit of HTML coding. Simply understanding the syntax and language, or how to identify problems with such, can enable one to troubleshoot problems that even software programs (i.e. Dreamweaver or other WYSIWYG interface) create. Additionally, it seems pretty short-sighted to leave coding knowledge only to those who write software, or only to professionals, since amateurs cannot necessarily create the same quality of product. It is just continuing to concede the more technical elements of information technology to professionals outside the library field, which further confines librarians to physical libraries, a trend that should be seen as very disturbing to anyone considering the rate at which digital information (and books) continues to be available.
Sorry Mr. Tennant, I disagree. To give people a pass to not actively engage an aspect of the technical reality we live in is an invitation to irrelevance. Learn HTML boys and girls.
Tennant, Roy. 2013. Why you should not learn HTML. The Digital Shift web page, Library Journal website. http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2013/03/roy-tennant-digital-libraries/why-you-should-not-learn-html/
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