Need a new library website - help

Tue Jan 24 14:14:07 EST 2012

The Facebook Group: WordPress and Librarians is at
http://www.facebook.com/groups/214139591937761/.   All you need to join is
be a Facebook member and obviously work in a library.  Polly-Allida
Farrington and I are the moderators/admins for the group.

Bill Drew

Bill.drew at gmail.com

From: Web technologies in libraries [mailto:WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On
Behalf Of Robert Balliot
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2012 12:53 PM
To: WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [WEB4LIB] Need a new library website - help

I agree with Sharon 100% regarding Wordpress.  Many national TV broadcasting
affiliates have adopted Wordpress for their web presence - so it even fits
their stringent corporate models of cost-benefit.  It is flexible and easy
to modify and maintain.  With the huge number of theme variations available,
I can't imagine where it would not fit the needs of a public library
website.

R. Balliot

On Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 12:43 PM, Sharon Foster <fostersm1 at gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Alison,

$10K will buy you the services of a graphic designer to come up with a new
look for a WordPress website, plus a consultant to set it up and do any
customization you may need to connect it to your OPAC, plus an annual
hosting account and domain name registration.

WordPress happens to be my current favorite hobby horse, so I'm definitely
biased, but it really is ideal for public libraries. Polly Farrington--an
outstanding instructor--has lots of material about WP on her wiki, and a new
book on WP in libraries. She is currently running an online course for ALA,
too.

http://lib20.pbworks.com/w/page/16753907/classes-wordpress-websites

The wp4lib wiki has a list of libraries that use WordPress,

http://wp4lib.bluwiki.com/

... to which I would add my own FPOW. We had several preliminary discussions
about the new website spanning several months, but when I finally sat down
to do it, the set up and copying of content from the old site to the new
site took me about 18 hours total.

http://www.ryepubliclibrary.org <http://www.ryepubliclibrary.org/> 

Support for WP is great, and there is both a LinkedIn group for WP in
general, and a Facebook group specifically for WP in libraries. Email me
privately and I'll hook you up with the Facebook group.

Good luck! It's always exciting to start a new website project.

Sharon
----------
Sharon M. Foster
Digital Resources Librarian

"All accumulation, therefore, of personal property, beyond what a man's own
hands produce, is derived to him by living in society; and he owes on every
principle of justice, of gratitude, and of civilization, a part of that
accumulation back again to society from whence the whole came." ~Tom Paine 

On Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 12:11 PM, Pruntel,Alison
<Alison.Pruntel at fauquiercounty.gov> wrote:

***Cross-posted to Web4Lib, publib and lita listservs; apologies in advance
if you have to read this more than once!***

Hi all,

Our county IT department is moving away from the current website structure
and looking at 3rd party vendors to host the county site(s). From
preliminary conversations, they are weighing Sharepoint  vs. Vision Internet
(http://www.visioninternet.com/index.aspx?page=1). From what I've seen of
Vision Internet, it appears that in most counties (at least in Virginia),
the library system goes off to a separate domain/site (not the Vision
Internet design/site used for the rest of the county departments). So we are
thinking we may need to now budget to do something on our own. 

As I am just getting started (reviewing
http://www.webjunction.org/technology/website-development/-/articles/content
/98104148, etc.), am hoping to get some feedback from other libraries,
especially those in Virginia/metro DC area. 

Some background.

.         We don't have our own IT department.just me for "technical"
issues; I use Dreamweaver to upload content to our current site, maintain
our ILS, etc. and otherwise handle other "electronic" librarian duties for
databases, e-books, etc. (i.e., "jack of all trades, master of none");

.         While not averse to using something like WordPress for a CMS
(hosted by someone else!), something more complicated/staff-intensive like
Drupal, Joomla, etc. and anything we'd be required to host ourselves is not
really an option at this point;

.         We don't have a designer (let alone a web designer) on staff; 

.         We do not want to be responsible for
purchasing/configuring/maintaining a server (to be hosted by our county) for
this.would want someone else to host;

.         Money is always an issue.$10K is probably all we could afford at
this point;

.         We have had NO discussions at this point with board, amongst our
staff, etc., as to what a library site should have or what our goals are -
and I am aware that should be priority number one;

In light of the above, can anyone who has been in a similar predicament send
me any advice/recommendations on a 3rd party vendor (particularly one that
works well with libraries) you used  and are happy with, and ballpark cost?
Accompanying RFPs would also be appreciated. I realize I will be able to
find some of this via discussion on WebJunction, TechSoup, etc. (and have
access to Library Technology Reports), but also will gladly take any offline
responses as I get started researching this.

Thanks in advance,

Alison Pruntel 
Electronic Resources Librarian 
Fauquier County Public Library 
11 Winchester Street 
Warrenton, VA 20186 
540-422-8515 

alison dot pruntel at fauquiercounty dot gov
FCPL Web Site:  <http://library.fauquiercounty.gov/>
http://library.fauquiercounty.gov 

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-- 

*******************

Robert L. Balliot

http://linkedin.com/in/robertballiot

http://bestofpublib.wordpress.com <http://bestofpublib.wordpress.com/> 

http://www.facebook.com/robert.balliot

http://oceanstatelibrarian.com/contact.htm

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