[Web4lib] Book Review... Blog?

[Judy Hsu]

Looks like this Wordpress plugin will allow non-registered people to contribute and moderation by the admin:

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/tdo-mini-forms/

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Stephanie Zimmerman
Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2011 11:59 AM
To: publib at webjunction.org; web4lib at webjunction.org; learnrt at ala.org
Cc: kgreenawalt at ephratapubliclibrary.org
Subject: Spam [Web4lib] Book Review... Blog?

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
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