[Web4lib] CMS or something else?

[Andrew Mutch]

You're kidding, right? No one actually still manages their web site like
this do they? With this kind of system, I would never have to worry about
job security. If I required all of my librarians to submit their content
to me, which I then reviewed for "the proper code and styles", and which I
alone, as the "gatekeeper" could add to the site, I could easily fill 40
hours a week with work.

I would say that well-organized web site with a good CMS and tools that
allows authors to add content without messing up the site structure should
suffice these days. That old system worked great ... in 1997.

Andrew Mutch
Library Systems Technician
Waterford Township Public Library
Waterford, MI


> Be careful with allowing librarians to edit and add content. It's not
> that they're incapable, of course, it's that having a wide array of
> people with varying experiences with web content and organization can
> lead to a poorly organized and poorly coded site. They're certainly
> capable of creating valuable and useful content, but it's much better
> to have a "gatekeeper" who prepares content for the internet.
>
> This gatekeeper should be a web person who has a firm grasp of the
> organization of your site as well as the ability to use the proper
> code and styles to make new content fit in with the design and
> standards of your overall site. They'll be able to keep track of
> content and remove old content when needed. Perhaps you don't even
> need a CMS. You may simply need an organized system of allowing
> librarians and other staff members to submit content for translation
> to your web site. They could submit Word documents through a web form
> which allows them to specify where they want their new content to go.
>
> -Tyson
>
> On 9/1/06, Keith D. Engwall <kengwall at catawba.edu> wrote:
>> Our director has requested that we look into providing some way for
>> librarians to add content to our web site (http://www.lib.catawba.edu).
>> On one hand this is pretty much in the realm of CMS, but I would like to
>> find something that works behind the scenes, rather than something with
>> the content management controls right on the page.  In other words, I
>> want the staff to be able to log into a back end interface that allows
>> them to add/edit files, while the front end is good ol' XHTML/CSS, same
>> as what I'd put up using vi on the server itself.
>>
>> I've looked through the CMS matrix, but thus far have not found quite
>> what I'm looking for, and I'm not sure that a CMS is quite what I'm
>> looking for.
>>
>> Any suggestions would appreciated.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Keith
>>
>> ---------------------------------
>> Keith Engwall
>> Head of Library Systems and Technology
>> Catawba College
>> Salisbury, NC
>> kengwall at catawba.edu
>>
>> "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public
>> relations, for nature cannot be fooled." - Richard P. Feynman
>>
>>
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