The Decision for Drupal

Current GCLS website.

I interviewed Ralph Bingham, Head of Reference and Digital Services for the Gloucester County Library System (GCLS) located in southern New Jersey. Mr. Bingham has worked in libraries for over twenty years and has more than fifteen years of direct IT experience. Mr. Bingham is currently charged with the strategic vision and day-to-day operations of the IT department, which includes managerial and Webmaster duties. Mr. Bingham was a pivotal player in his library’s decision to implement a new Content Management System (CMS). 

Currently, GCLS uses a CMS called Drupal for its website. The website had previously used different web incarnations that included straight HTML, PHP, and the web development tool Dreamweaver.  Before choosing Drupal, Mr. Bingham had considered using various other CMS’s including Wordpress and Joomla. However, these other services did not seem to adequately meet the needs of the library as well as Drupal.

According to Mr. Bingham, there were numerous key motivations for GCLS to investigate the switch to Drupal. First, Drupal offered greater flexibility for the institution. The fact that website development could be accomplished on multiple machines by numerous staff without onerous installations was very attractive. Another positive was the fact Drupal could be hosted on an outside server, which allowed the library to cut down on in-house IT costs associated with server maintenance. Moreover, the statewide library cooperative LibaryLinkNJ offered tremendous support for libraries switching to Drupal. This support included free training, free to use website templates, and discounted server hosting. These factors, coupled with the fact that Mr. Bingham had heard numerous word-of-mouth positive reviews of the Drupal CMS from other librarians, solidified the choice.

Old version of GCLS website, circa 2004. 

Mr. Bingham warned that there was a considerable learning curve associated with the switch to Drupal. The software required an effort by staff to understand just “how it fit” within the framework of other web languages and applications. Overall, the transition process to a Drupal website took approximately 1 year—with around 6-8 months of focused training. As mentioned above, LibraryLinkNJ offered tremendous support for fledging libraries shifting to Drupal. This support also included a developmental version and server access to build the site before a live launch. GCLS even implemented Alpha and Beta development sites to tinker and experiment with the new CMS before going live.  

GCLS chose to not broadly advertise or use any type of “ribbon-cutting” ceremony to announce the arrival of their new website. Instead, the library employed a soft launch of the new Drupal powered website. After the soft launch, the library used user surveys and Google Analytics to elicit feedback for the site. Overall, the feedback was positive but GCLS was also able to make numerous fixes and changes based on this information.

In Mr. Bingham’s opinion, Drupal offered both advantages and drawbacks. The main advantages included: 1) multiple access points able to update the website; 2) robust functionality within the CMS including modules and widgets; 3) a simple process to add blocks to the site as compared to using just straight HTML; and an 4) easy to manage site navigation (previously, GCLS was never able to construct a satisfactory hierarchical menu structure with their old website). Judging from Mr. Bingham’s comments, Drupal can be a very powerful application that offers tremendous possibilities to a well-trained staff. 

The major drawback of the move to Drupal was the substantial learning curve. Such a transition should not be undertaken without proper training and deliberate planning. Drupal is not simply an “out of the box” solution. The system requires staff to have some IT skills and be flexible enough to build upon those competencies to include the Drupal framework. As it stands today, GCLS has 3 staff members who can edit and maintain their website. With the old system, only a single staff member could make edits.

Ultimately, Mr. Bingham would recommend other librarians investigate the use of Drupal for their institutions. However, this endorsement came with a disclaimer: “you need to have people with IT skills.” As mentioned above, Drupal is not a simple out-of-the-box website solution. It necessitates a library significantly commit to the proper training of staff. Without such a commitment, a switch to Drupal might be unsuccessful. Despite this caveat, libraries can still make Drupal happen. And if the current GCLS website is any indication, Mr. Bingham' recommendation is sound. 

On Gamification

Carli Spina's article about Gamification was thought provoking. I hadn't realized just how many gamified enterprises I have participated in throughout my life -- most of them unwittingly. 

Right off the bat Spina mentions the "point earning" schemes offered by Westlaw and LexisNexis to law students. Harking back to my law student days, I remember both those online legal researching programs offered students points for conducting legal research through their sites. These points could then be redeemed for prizes. And we were talking not just any old trinkets either, I still remember cashing in my Westlaw points after 3 years of school of an espresso machine that's still kicking after 4 years of use. Clearly, this points based system employed by Westlaw and LexisNexis was an attempt to get law students rely on their services and to develop a preference over their competitor. I can't remember too many times that my researching behavior was ever really altered by the points system though -- I simply had to be online legal research and I used which ever service was more intuitive to me. 

I thought Spina's discussion on the gamification of librarian professional development was very interesting. Offering "visual representations of skills and knowledge that can be used on resumes and on social media spaces" seemed like an interesting concept. It'd be nice for an online portfolio to have these badges for the completion of webinars or attendance to workshops as opposed to a simple list. The entire idea seemed like the accumulation of boy scout merit badges in the best possible way.  

Oh, Joomla

Well, Joomla was certainly an experience.

To give some background, Joomla is a content management system (CMS) that allows you to create your own websites without extensive web knowledge or background. Joomla is also open source, which allows for a myriad of functionality that is open to all for experimentation and development. Another nice aspect of Joomla is the rather large community of online forums and videos for help and trouble shooting (which I relied heavily).

Now, on to the building of my website.

The Beginning  

 

Within minutes of my first attempt at using Joomla -- I hit a snag. For some reason (one that I still haven't been able to diagnose), I could not connect to the Joomla server to download extensions from the web. Luckily, this feature was not the only way to install the ever important Joomla extensions. Through the forum message boards, I saw you could also procure extension file packages straight from the Joomla web directory and upload the zip file manually. Thankfully, this worked and I was able to more forward with the creation of my site (thanks again to the #mlis7505 twitter crew for suggestions and support!)

As far as content for this website, I settled on fantasy baseball since, outside of my MLIS studies, it most likely leads consumption of my free time.

Features 

 

I think the most interesting and most difficult feature I added was the image slideshow on my homepage. I needed to install the extension for Responsive CSS3 Slideshow. From there, it offered a module that allowed for the creation of the slideshow. However, I needed to find and crop images that would work within the slideshow parameters. I went with 880 x 220 pixels which seemed to work fine. Overall, I liked the look and feel of the slideshow and think it added a different dimension to my site.

Moreover, I felt my change to the Google font "Lora" was aesthetically appealing. While not much different from the default font, I think this change offered subtle shift in font had a decent impact on the overall look and feel of the site.

Additionally, I created 4 menus (one of which linked to a category), a search box, a contact form, and embedded a Youtube video.

Thoughts  

 

Overall, Joomla was not terribly difficult to use. It was certainly more involved than simply managing a Wordpress blog, however. But with that increased involvement comes greater flexibility, usability, and creativity. I would love to devote a little more time to the use of Joomla. I am sure that with more than simply a week's time, one could really become proficient and be able to use some of the more attractive and powerful aspects of the CMS. Although, it is a testament to the overall ease of use that so many of us could make decently attractive websites in such a short amount of time.

Also, I felt a certain déjà vu as I used Joomla to when I used the website building site Angelfire as a kid. The whole uploading content to a webshell experience just felt familiar. As one might expect, the Joomla experience is eons past that simple Angelfire website creator, but it was reassuring to feel that this whole endeavor wasn't completely foreign.

Dabbling with Periscope

This week, many of our readings have discussed mobile technologies in conjunction with libraries. In the spirit of innovation, I decided to embark on an exploration of one of the new, trendy social media apps getting a decent amount of buzz these days—Periscope. 

This app allows users to cast live feeds of video to followers and the world. Viewers of the cast can interact simultaneously with the broadcaster in two ways. First, there is a "heart" icon that can be tapped that works as real-time applause, showering the broadcaster with digital love on both broadcaster and viewer ends. Moreover, there is a chat box at the bottom of the screen that allows viewers to communicate with the broadcaster. The messages scroll up from the bottom of the cast, can be seen by all viewers and the broadcaster, and fade within seconds of being posted allowing for a constant flow and contemporaneous interaction. 

I was intrigued, so I decided to dive in as a viewer. The first feed I viewed was of a balcony sunset in some non-descript beach location. A vacationing couple was sharing their outlook of beautiful mountains, beach, and surf. I tapped the "heart" icon a few times and moved on. The next feed took me to approximately third row of a Chicago White Sox game. The video was during play and was close enough I could see the action at home plate. I commented for the broadcaster to "Heckle Jose Abreu for me." The broadcaster read my comment, laughed, and said "no way"—seems she was a White Sox fan. The final feed I viewed was from a concert of The Pixies. The feed was bounced and jostled from within the crowd, but I could make out Black Franics' unique vocals and silhouette on stage. 

Ultimately, these experiences were pretty surreal. But it's undeniable that this could be a very powerful medium moving forward. Clearly, there are copyright issues involved with some of these feeds (I'm looking at you unauthorized broadcast of Major League Baseball). In the library world, Periscope could be used to broadcast lectures, programs, or any manner of activities—all live and throughout the world. That’s serious connectivity. It will be interesting to see how this technology develops.

A Wonder of a Wiki

I've been tasked with developing a wiki to meet the needs of my field library. To do this, we must first understand two things: 1) What exactly is a wiki? and 2) What are the main characteristics of my field library? 

According to Muñoz (2012), a wiki is a "collaborative Web site that allows users to participate in its creation" (p. 21). Wiki users can view, create, and edit content that may be publicly or privately displayed. While the most well known site is Wikipedia, wiki's can take be also be used effectively by individuals, groups, and organizations for collaboration. 

My field library is a small academic institution. The college has three branch campuses that occupy both urban and suburban areas. The student population is approximately 5,400. The library, described institutionally as “Academic Support Services,” is comprised of the library, tutoring, and computer labs. Despite being under the same administrative roof, the three branch campuses have become isolated from each other and the core mission of the library.

This library could benefit from a staff wiki that could 1) eliminate the "silo mentality" of the branch campuses; 2) organize and track project workflows; 3) consolidate and coordinate best practices; 4) be a respiratory of library policies for quick reference.

After review, the best wiki choice for my institution would be Confluence by Atlassian. Confluence offered an easy to use, WYSIWYG interface that staff members of varying technological competencies could utilize. Additionally, Confluence had commercial support and the ability to be cloud based so as to not have to be beholden to the institution's server. While Confluence is a paid service (free up to 5 users, $10/month for 10 users), the unlimited data storage would be worth the expense. There is no telling what this project could evolve into after the ball gets rolling and unlimited would undoubtedly be as asset. 

Ultimately, this wiki would provide a means to organize collaboration between branch campuses and encourage cooperation. Information would be shared and increased oversight could be possible. The wiki would allow the library staff to more effectively service its community of students and faculty. 

Muñoz, C. L. (2012). More than just Wikipedia: Creating a collaborative research library using a wiki. Marketing Education Review, 22(1), 21-25. doi: 10.2753/MER1052-8008220104
 

And So It Begins...

Welcome to the 7505 Experience! This blog will offer musings inspired by my Applied Technology course. Full disclosure, there is a minimum posting limit to this course (every other day) so posts will be coming in fast and furious. Before we go any further, some background is in order.

I created my first website on Angelfire in middle school during the late 1990's. This site was crude in every sense of the word, but it exposed me early on to some of the more dynamic capabilities of the Internet. Next came a Wordpress blog devoted to movie reviews circa 2010. During its brief existence, I believe Blue Valentine received my most glowing review (seriously, Netflix it when this class is over). Most recently, I have been running my current library's blog at mylibraryspace.wordpress.com. I have made approximately 46 consecutive weekly posts.

I expect this class to expose me to the emerging technological trends within librarianship. I hope to gain a more robust practical knowledge I can immediately implement at my library.

So far, so good.