[Web4lib] ContentDM VS ? Comparison

[Cloutman, David]

Our historical archive is using ContentDM, and I haven't heard
complaints about the software. It seems to do what the archivists want
to do, and they plan on continuing development of the system, and
eventually placing it into production.

I think the biggest impediment to running the software may be finding
someone to administer the system. ContentDM is written in PHP, and that
means there are several software dependencies that need to be installed
and periodically patched to keep the system healthy. When I lurked on
the ContentDM list for a few months, I saw people posting quite often
about server issues, usually stemming from a lack of understanding of
the underlying software. If you're working in a dedicated "Microsoft
Shop", or just a place where the support staff have little or no
experience working with PHP, you may run into a FUD problem. However,
PHP is gaining wider acceptance, and becoming mainstream, so this may
not be an issue. If you do go with ContentDM, just make sure that you
identify someone in your organization with the requisite knowledge to
administer the system, and make sure that they are proactively upgrading
the system. 

- David



---
David Cloutman <dcloutman at co.marin.ca.us>
Electronic Services Librarian
Marin County Free Library 

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Nancy Miller
Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2008 10:47 AM
To: web4lib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Web4lib] ContentDM VS ? Comparison


I'm from a small college library in Wyoming.  We are considering a CMS
to manage our archival collection of WWII Heart Mountain Relocation Camp
images, plus other collections.  OCLC's ContentDM has been suggested as
a potential product.  How does this compare to other products that are
being used?  Thumbnails and larger jpegs of our images are currently
viewable on our web site.  We need a good way to search our collections,
thus a CMS system.  Thank you for all suggestions and words of wisdom.

 

Nancy Miller

Northwest College, Hinckley Library

Powell, WY

http://www.northwestcollege.edu/library/

 

 

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