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New School Year

Starting a New School Year with Python in My Toolkit

As the new school year begins, I find myself reflecting on my most recent learning adventure: completing the Advanced Python for Librarians course with Library Juice Academy.

This course took me beyond the basics and into the exciting terrain of retrieving and manipulating library-specific data through APIs from places like OCLC, ORCID, and local repositories. We experimented with Python libraries and even dipped into AI-assisted approaches. Just as importantly, we practiced best coding habits—using GitHub to share our work and leveraging Google Colab to make experimentation easy and collaborative.

So now I’m left with the most energizing question: what’s next?

Why Digital Skills Matter for Librarians

As librarians, developing digital skills isn’t just about checking a box on professional development. When we understand and apply tools like Python, we gain the power to:

• Support our communities by making sense of complex data.
• Bridge systems that don’t always talk to each other, pulling data together in ways that improve discovery and access.
• Model digital literacy for students, faculty, and fellow staff.

Python has become the most popular programming language in the world for a reason: it’s versatile, approachable, and powerful. For us in libraries, it opens the door to new ways of working with information.

Looking Ahead

Finishing this course isn’t the end of the journey—it’s the beginning of putting these new skills into practice. My goal is to keep experimenting, keep building, and keep finding ways to connect digital tools with library values. If you’ve taken a similar path, I’d love to hear how you’re using Python in your library work. What projects have been the most rewarding for you?

This got me thinking about my old github static site, so I started to update it a bit github static but I think moving to zonelts was a good move! :)

Here’s to a school year full of learning, experimenting, and helping our communities thrive—one line of code at a time.