[Web4lib] Electronic Library

[Sharon Foster]

That's the beauty of something like Greenstone. It doesn't require a
big investment to get a prototype going. It's not a matter of weeks or
months, it's more like hours and days.

I completely agree with you that the administrative details are what's
going to take the most time to resolve, but having something like this
to show people gets their juices going, and they can more readily see
things like, "Oh, no I don't want it organized like *that.*"  I like
to call it the "bring me a rock" principle.

"Bring me a rock."
...
"No, not that rock. Bring me another rock."

Repeat.

Sharon M. Foster, JD, MLS
Librarians bring order out of chaos.
http://www.vsa-software.com/mlsportfolio/






On Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 12:16 PM, Thomas Dowling<tdowling at ohiolink.edu> wrote:
> On 07/24/2009 11:39 AM, Suelzer, Elizabeth wrote:
>> ...I
>> think I'm going to focus on Greenstone for now since I can download this
>> onto my computer and start working with it right away; I'm supposed to
>> get a prototype going in the next few weeks.
>
>
> I don't think you can make "for now" decisions here.  Once you pick a platform,
> sheer inertia is going to keep you on it for quite a while.  If you avoid a
> well known, well respected platform used by many similar programs, just because
> IT needed another week or two to install it, it's a decision you could be
> kicking yourself about for years.
>
> Let me strongly recommend that you *not* make this strategic decision based on
> what you can prototype within such an unrealistic timeline.  In my experience,
> getting a successful ETD program rolling requires a lot of time and effort
> getting buy-in from faculty and students, and then lots of time establishing
> workflow and policies.  In other words, months of meetings and one-on-one
> discussions (even if you just have a couple hundred theses to put up).  Use
> that time to establish your actual needs - now and in the foreseeable future -
> and determine what platform best meets those needs.  If you need to show people
> "Here's what it might look like," mock up some dummy HTML pages.
>
>
> --
> Thomas Dowling
> tdowling at ohiolink.edu
>
>
>
>
>
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