CMS Interview

I interviewed two librarians regarding their experiences with a Content Management System (CMS). I conducted both interviews via email.  The first librarian I interviewed was Donovan Lambright, who is the Automation Librarian at SELCO.  SELCO is one of Minnesota’s 12 regional public library systems.  The membership of SELCO is comprised of a federation of locally autonomous public libraries and 11 counties in southeastern Minnesota.  As Donovan explained, SELCO uses two CMSs, WordPress and Confluence.  WordPress powers their organization’s website as well as the websites of many of the libraries in the SELCO region (which SELCO hosts).  SELCO uses Confluence to maintain their "team pages", which is an internal, private wiki for SELCO staff.

I asked Donovan what SELCO’s motivations were when adopting WordPress for its current use as their organization’s website.  Donovan explained that SELCO actually used Confluence for its previous, pre-WordPress website.  Confluence worked well for providing documents and other content for the member libraries, but not for creating modern-looking websites.  SELCO wanted to make their website less the document portal it was with Confluence and more a website about the organization.  SELCO wanted a solution that could be hosted by a commercial web hosting company and that also could be used by a wide range of staff with varying degrees of technology knowledge.  It was decided that WordPress would meet these criteria for both SELCO and the libraries it serves.  Confluence was kept for the team pages at SELCO, and is found to work well for its purpose as an internal, staff-only wiki.

I asked Donovan how the learning curve was for the CMSs used.  He felt the learning curve regarding WordPress has been very manageable, and that most of the staff at SELCO and the member libraries find it pretty easy to work with.  Donovan felt the learning curve for Confluence was a bit steeper.  He believed this was due to Confluence being less a blog and more a document management platform.

Donovan mentioned that of the 35 public libraries that SELCO serves, 28 of those libraries are using WordPress through SELCO.  One of those libraries that uses WordPress through SELCO is Chatfield Public Library.  The second person I interviewed for this project was Monica Erickson, the Library Director of the Chatfield Public Library.  I asked Monica what the advantages were to using WordPress through SELCO vs. any prior systems the library may have used.  Monica mentioned numerous disadvantages of their prior website.  The Chatfield Public Library began with a website hosted through a computer company in a nearby town.  The library was completely dependent on a trainer from the computer company for all of their training.  Unfortunately there were things that the computer company would not teach library staff.  The library would have to request that certain things be done and then the computer company did them when it fit their schedule.  Monica also felt that the format of this website was very rigid, and not user friendly.

Monica explained that she actually started using WordPress before SELCO was supporting it.  She knew of WordPress because her husband had worked with it and had liked it.  Monica finds many advantages of working with WordPress.  She appreciates that there are so many options for themes, and that people all over the world are always developing new plug-ins and widgets that she can then use for free.  Monica appreciates the flexibility of WordPress.  She likes that the library can use WordPress as both a blog and a website.  She has both static pages and day to day posts.  She can reorder her blog posts and can edit posts whenever she wants.  She loves that SELCO is now supporting WordPress, because she now has a go-to place when she runs into trouble.

The only disadvantage Monica mentioned to using WordPress regards an experience she had.  She spent a great deal of time searching for a perfect theme, setting it all up the way she wanted it, then used it for years (and it became part of the library’s branding), only to realize one day that the theme was no longer being upgraded and supported by its developer.  She had to give it up and pick a newer theme, which was a cause of frustration!

I then asked Monica how the learning curve was for WordPress.  Monica feels that it is definitely doable for the “normal joe”.  She finds that she sometimes forgets how to do things that she doesn’t do on a weekly basis, but she usually is able to figure things out with a little trial and error.  She also appreciates that she can find a lot of help online with her questions.

From these interviews, I learned a couple of ways that libraries are utilizing Content Management Systems.  These include the use of WordPress for websites and Confluence as an internal, staff-only wiki.  Both Donovan and Monica speak very positively about their experiences with using WordPress for their respective websites.  While Confluence wasn’t found to be what SELCO needed for their website, they still do find that it works well as an internal, private wiki for SELCO staff.  I also learned through these interviews that both the staff of SELCO and Monica at the City of Chatfield found WordPress fairly easy to work with.

Lastly, I just want to thank Donovan and Monica for their time and help with this assignment!

Mobile Wi-Fi hotspots

I follow the Kansas City Public Library on twitter.  They had a tweet that linked to this article, which discusses how four Kansas City groups, including the Kansas City Public Library, are partnering to bring Internet access to low-income families in the Kansas City area.  The library's deputy director applied for a grant to provide families with mobile Wi-Fi hotspots.  A quote in the article from this deputy director says "We check out books.  We check out everything else.  Why not the Internet?"  I think it's great that these groups are partnering to provide these services to families that otherwise could not afford it.

QR code

Hello!  I generated a QR code for my blog tonight.  I used Kaywa QR-code.  It worked well, I downloaded both the PDF version, which my husband promptly tested using his scanner app on his smart phone, as well as the PNG.  I also read through the assigned readings for this week regarding QR codes.  I hadn't given QR codes much thought in the past, so it was interesting to read the article entitled "Extending Library Services with QR Codes."  This article discussed applications for the use of QR codes in libraries.  Lawrence University has a page dealing with the basics of QR codes, which gave some good background information as well.  Here's my QR code:

Tool Library

I thought I'd post a link to an article I read a few weeks ago that I thought was pretty interesting.  It's about a tool lending library, here's the link to the story from the Minneapolis paper.   For a yearly fee, members will have access to the library's collection of household tools.  The article states that about 60 tool libraries have opened across the country, although I wasn't familiar with any until I read this article.  It makes me wonder what other types of libraries there are around the country and world.  I know the ECFE program in our school district has a toy lending library for those families enrolled in classes.  We always appreciated that when the kids were younger.  It was fun to check out a big, loud toy and keep it for a week or two, and then return it without having it be in our house forever!         

Joomla!

I’ve posted my Joomla URL information to our assignment discussion board, but I can’t say I’m entirely happy with it.  I can see the use of using something like Joomla, because actually editing the content was easy.  What was frustrating to me was the design features.  There were numerous times I thought, why am I doing this, I could have coded a website that I liked better in much less time!  I know it’s all a learning process, and sometimes when I’m rushed for time it feels like I’m banging my head up against a wall.  Now for my site.  It’s pretty basic.  At first I was using a default template and I experimented with some background colors and fonts, but then I downloaded a free template from https://www.siteground.com/joomla-templates.htm and used that.  I added a couple of photographs to my pages, and I used links to access two documents which I uploaded.  I have a parent menu in which I added a child to as well.  I added a search box feature.  I have a green box on my site that came as part of my template which bothers me to no end and which I’ve spent a good deal of time trying to delete tonight with no luck!  When I have some free time I’m going to try getting rid of it again.

Still working on Joomla

I'm still working on setting up my Joomla site.  I had some problems installing the two extensions.  I kept getting the "Can't connect to the Joomla server!" message.  I tried using the extensions manager from different computers and different browsers.  I tried Chrome, followed by Mozilla FireFox, and then lastly Internet Explorer.  With Internet Explorer, we noticed that a small box came up on the bottom of the screen saying something like "Only showing secured content", and it gave me the option of clicking a box to say "Show all content".  As soon as I did that, everything worked just liked the tutorial said it would.  So now I'm in the process of adding content and figuring out all the little details of making a Joomla site.

Learning about Joomla

I’m not quite through all the Joomla information.  I’m looking forward to making a site, though, and I’m trying to decide a subject.  I’ve taken a couple of courses where I’ve had to create websites.  The first one was a few years ago.  For that class we couldn’t use a template from any other source, we each had to build our sites from scratch.  The second course was just last year, and for that class I could go get a free template from the Internet for my site.  Even when using a downloaded template, I could still go in and modify colors and fonts and make it more to my liking.  I’m curious what my end product will look like with Joomla.

Wiki

The New Ulm Public Library serves the approximately 14,000 residents of New Ulm, Minnesota, as well as residents of the surrounding rural areas.  This public library is a member of the Traverse des Sioux Library System, which is a federated system of 39 libraries in south central Minnesota.  According to City-Data.com (http://www.city-data.com/), the city of New Ulm has a land area of 8.78 square miles.  New Ulm’s population is 49.1% male and 50.9% female, with a median resident age of 41.4 years.  The racial makeup of New Ulm is 97.0% white, 1.4% Hispanic, 1.0% Asian alone, 0.3% two or more races, 0.2% American Indian alone, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, and 0.09% black alone. I did my collection development project for MLIS 7400 for the New Ulm Public Library, and two of the main user groups of the library at that time were adults over the age of 45, as well as younger adults with small children.

The New Ulm Public Library has a special collection regarding German Heritage.  I think this is one possibility for a good use for a wiki at this library.  The library could use the wiki to collaborate with community members in expanding the library’s collection, as well as documenting the City of New Ulm’s German heritage.  Community members could submit stories, photos, or documents relating to German heritage to the wiki.

I don't want to extend the library's budget, so for a wiki choice I’d like installable software that is free, which supports file based storage, because I don’t know if I would have a database available.  I used the Wiki Choice Wizard on the website http://www.wikimatrix.org/index.php.  After going through the question prompts, the Wizard stated “You want some installable software with a page history and commercial support which uses file based storage and is Free and Open Source.  It then gave me 17 Wikis that matched my criteria, of which I chose Boltwire.  Its development status was mature and I felt the security features were important.

Blogging on

So far I've really enjoyed the readings we've been assigned this Maymester.  Some of the articles in the required reading made me aware of some social media I wasn't aware of, such as Vine.  I can't say I'll rush out and add additional personal social media accounts to all the various options out there, but it is really interesting to see how different libraries are using their accounts.  While I was prepared for having to do a lot of reading for this class, the number of discussion posts has caught me a little off guard.  If you've ever spent time with me personally, you'd know I'm not a huge talker!  But, it's good practice to put thoughts down, so I'll go now to BlazeView and get some more posts out.  Hope everyone is doing well!

First Day

So this is my first post on my first ever blog!  My name is Mary Hames.  I started in the MLIS program at Valdosta State in the fall of 2013.  I plan to graduate this December.  My husband and I live in New Ulm, Minnesota with our three children.  I grew up on a farm near Waseca, Minnesota, which is about an hour away from where I now live.  I received my undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota at Morris.  I majored in biology with a minor in chemistry.  I work in the IT department of an analytical testing laboratory, particularly doing database stuff.

My Web 2.0 technology background exists mainly because of my job.  Personally, I haven't ever had a twitter account or a blog.  I have used Pinterest, but right now I don't have a lot of free time to spend with it.  Until a couple of weeks ago I hadn't done any personal Skyping, so my experience with Skype had been limited to my work.  I do enjoy the web programming that I've done.  I'm definitely no expert, but I've taken classes that have dealt with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and I've really enjoyed making websites for those classes.  I'm looking forward to this class helping me explore social media in ways that I haven't yet!