[Web4lib] Keeping library web pages in-house

[Kate Pitcher]

I would second Dave's comments.  Our CIT implemented a homegrown CMS and 
wanted all college offices and academic departments to use this system --  
regardless of content or applications that we might use.
They never actually demanded that we use the CMS, just thought it would be 
"easier" without actually asking anyone if it would meet our needs.  We 
decided to test it out and found it certainly could not meet our needs due 
to the very things Dave is talking about in his email below.  The library is 
unique on our campus because of these very functions -- ILL, electronic 
reserves, catalog -- why should we be pigeonholded into a system that is 
really designed for informational pages?

By the way, our library web pages are housed on a campus server, but we 
maintain our own servers for our ILLiad system and electronic reserves.
We redesigned our site this summer and are very happy we didn't go with the 
campus CMS!

Kate

*******************************************************************
Katherine E. Pitcher
Reference/Instruction & Web Development Librarian
Milne Library
SUNY at Geneseo
(585) 245-5064
pitcher at geneseo.edu
http://www.geneseo.edu/~pitcher
*******************************************************************
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Walker, David" <dwalker at calstate.edu>
To: "Lara Little" <llittle at pfeiffer.edu>; <newdirmentor-l at ala.org>; 
<web4lib at webjunction.org>
Sent: Friday, October 27, 2006 3:00 PM
Subject: RE: [Web4lib] Keeping library web pages in-house


>> What arguments have you used to keep
>> control of your site's design and
>> content?

Having fought this battle a number of times over the past five years, the 
one thing I noticed was that most of the people in marketing and IT who 
advanced the argument that the library needed to conform to a particular 
template or CMS (erroneously) assumed that the library's website only 
consisted of informational pages about the library; really little different 
from any other department or college website on campus.  In fact, some even 
made that exact comparison.

So my goal was to show them that the library was actually an academic 
*application*, consisting of not only the top-level pages that they had ever 
bothered to look at, but also the catalog, the interlibrary loan system, 
electronic reserves, and a half-dozen other servers and systems.  The 
library's website was actually quite large and complex, and used by people 
for actual work, rather than just a glorified online brochure.

Nobody in marketing or IT wanted to force applications like the student 
grade system or the learning management system into a campus template, so it 
made no sense to force the library system into that extraneous navigation 
and design, either.

That actually held the day.  Our backup plan: Librarians in the CSU are 
faculty, and we would have thrown down a "you can't tell faculty how to 
design their pages" argument.  That would have *definitely* won the day! ;-)

--Dave


-------------------
David Walker
Library Web Services Manager
California State University
http://xerxes.calstate.edu

________________________________

From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org on behalf of Lara Little
Sent: Fri 10/27/2006 10:00 AM
To: newdirmentor-l at ala.org; web4lib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Web4lib] Keeping library web pages in-house



Hi all,

Currently our library maintains our website on our own server in our
building. All of the design, maintenance, etc. is done by library
staff. The university is currently re-designing their website (they
have contracted it out and it is being done with a content management
system). I have flat-out refused to give up control of our site, and
the library staff is in full agreement! So far it seems that the
powers that be have no problem with us maintaining our own site on
our own server, but they want us to "match". So far I have suggested
the compromise of adding some aspects of the overall design and
colors to our design (although I hate the colors), but based on a
conversation today I have a feeling I may to have to fight to keep it
at that. I am also afraid that they will try to impose their CMS on
our server or otherwise try to take us over. I should mention that
our library website includes our digitized archives, which are being
added to every day! My questions for other folks who have dealt with
this is basically: What arguments have you used to keep control of
your site's design and content? Thanks for any suggestions!

Lara


--
Lara B. Little
Reference/Periodicals Librarian & Library Coordinator
G.A. Pfeiffer Library/Pfeiffer University
Misenheimer, NC 28109


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