Lobbying for a dedicated web server

[Elena OMalley]

Andrew:

> My question, then, is:  What sort of resistance should I expect?  What
> sorts of concerns are likely to be voiced (and what are reasonable
> countering arguments)?

One other point to craft a defense for:
Your possible eventual leavetaking. Some IT depts can be concerned that your 
"smallish academic library" will not be able to afford a salary to draw someone 
to your position with the proper skill set once you've based your website around
MySQL/PHP/etc (or that the library ends up hiring someone without those skills and
it's going to take the person awhile to learn it), and that IT will be asked
to help the library change the navigation, structure, color scheme, etc.

Here some possible answers (mix and match at will): 
1. I'll create the documentation specifically for our site, and a copy of the books, 
websites, etc, I used to train myself in MySQL/PHP are kept at the library.

2. I hereby solemnly swear on my [Clie, Flash drive, some tech object the IT folks respect
as binding] that I will spend not less than [x] amount of hours training my successor.

3. Jane, here, [bring her along] is a fellow librarian. She's agreed to become my backup.
The director has agreed to write that into her job description, and has also agreed to
release her from [x] hours of her current responsibilities so that I can train her now.

4. I have secured from the director a statement in writing that the library will not 
ask for IT to perform the following activities... If the library is no longer able to 
support this, it will make its own arrangements to transfer the content to a format, 
structure, language, etc, that it can support, or it will accept, without protest, that 
the content is irrevocably lost.

Good luck with your project,
Elena O'Malley
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Elena O'Malley, Head of Library Computer and Internet Services
Emerson College Library, Boston, MA 02116