[Web4lib] Book Review... Blog?

[Stephanie Zimmerman]

Hello everyone,

Please excuse cross postings...

A staff member at one of the libraries we serve wants a "blog-like" online
site where anyone can post without having to register.  However, he wants to
be able to preview what they post before publishing it.  People can then
leave comments on it.  There are 20 staff members and lots of patrons who
could contribute reviews but he doesn't want the complication of
registration nor the complexity of a wiki.  Basically he wants editorial
control without the hindrance of registration.

Told him I think a wiki is best way to go, but he will have to have users
register with that.  A clunky idea is to maybe create a WordPress Blog where
there is a Google Form on the front page they can type their Book Reviews
into.  He would then need to cut and paste that in as a post, but
essentially does what he needs.

Also spoke to our Network Admin. about it and he doesn't see a way around
registration due to all of the spam that will come through.  He also thought
about maybe using an external authoring mechanism like OpenID, Twitter or
Facebook logins to avoid the registration issue.  But that would only help
those people who already have those types of accounts set up.  It would
still mean patrons not present in those areas already would need to
register...

Has anyone already done this type of thing?  If you are allowing
staff/patrons to submit book reviews, how are you doing this and do you have
links to the sites that you are willing to share.  Even if your solution
includes registration, I'd love to see what you've done.

Any help is appreciated!

Sincerely,



Stephanie Zimmerman

Training Coordinator

Library System of Lancaster County

1866 Colonial Village Lane, Suite 107

Lancaster PA  17601

phone:  717.207.0500 x 1281

fax:  717.207.0504

email:  szimmerman at lancasterlibraries.org

website:  www.lancasterlibraries.org

Training Blog:  http://lslctraining.blogspot.com

Library-Related Training Opportunities Calendar: http://bit.ly/1ORwk8



“I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand.”
~Confucius