[WEB4LIB] Re: managing academic library websites

[Ryan Eby]

If the "web services manager" is in charge of the entire school web
then it's likely the reason this was done is because they want a
uniform "look and feel" between areas. This also leads me to believe
that a CMS will likely be used as you suggest. If this is true then it
may be possible to convince the person to let the librarians have
access to edit the content, as the templates and overall control will
still be in the hands of the manager. You might try bringing up some
of the points Karen makes and try to convice the manager that giving
you control of the content side of things will be for the best.

Ryan Eby

On Fri, 10 Dec 2004 06:58:44 -0800 (PST), Karen Harker
<Karen.Harker at utsouthwestern.edu> wrote:
> You might start by consulting the ARL Spec Kit #266 "Staffing the
> Library Website" published in November 2001 (Executive summary:
> http://www.arl.org/spec/266sum.html ).
> 
> I believe that the best solution for a campus (or any organizational)
> Web site is some kind of Content Management System.  There are big,
> sophisticated and expensive ones (i.e. Vignette) out there, but there
> are also some decent OpenSource ones (they have been topics of recent
> discussion on several related lists).  A CMS is a good compromise
> because it improves security and centralizes overall oversight (i.e.
> provides standard templates, an ability to quickly remove an offending
> site, etc.), while decentralizing the maintenance of content.