I chose to do Option 1 for Assignment 3. For this option we had to interview a librarian who is in charge of their library's CMS. I spoke briefly (via email) with the library director of Wallkill Public Library, Mary Lou Carolan who directed me to the library assistant, Lisa Palmer, who is in charge of maintaining that library's CMS. Wallkill Public Library's website was done through Piper Mountain Webs Library Website Solutions which has a built in CMS.
Below are the questions and answers from my interview with Lisa.
1. How and where did you hear about Content Management Systems (CMS)?
Lisa: I heard about CMS through my director who knew that other libraries in RCLS (Ramapo Catskill Library System) were using them.
2. What were your motivations to adopt the Piper Mountain Webs Library Website Solutions with their built in CMS as opposed to WordPress or Joomla?
Lisa: We liked Piper Mountain because it seemed easy to use and assistance was always available.
3. What were the decision making criteria? Which was most important to you?
Lisa: We wanted two things for our website, basically - a standard, recognizable template, but one that was flexible enough to allow us to change it up and keep it fresh. So details like the rotater at the top of the homepage were an attraction, as was the fact that the calendar was right out there for everyone to see immediately. We thought Piper Mountain did a good job of condensing a lot of different information into a relatively small space without making the page look disjointed or crammed.
4. What system did you have previously? What are the important benefits or advantages of Piper Mountain Webs compared to the system you had previously?
Lisa: Previous to Piper, we were using Dreamweaver. I had taken a couple of intro courses on it, but still I found it incredibly clunky and cumbersome. I think, though, that if I was more of a techie I might have liked it better. I just had neither the skill level nor the hours in my work day to devote to becoming better versed in it. So everything was a major chore - especially when it came to swapping out art and graphics, etc. Piper is much easier and there's always someone there to help if you get into a bind.
5. How was the learning curve?
Lisa: There's not much of a learning curve, at all - if you've ever worked with a template like Constant Contact or other online marketing tools, it's very similar to that. Just a template you switch text and images in and out of. Easy.
6. Do you find the site easy to maintain? What are some features you think need improvement (if any)?
Lisa: The site is easy to maintain. One of my few beefs about it (and I think they're working to make this more efficient) is the calendar is pretty time-consuming. Even if you have an item you can duplicate - like an event that happens each week - you still have to open up an entry and add a different date to it (which sounds trivial, but I've used much easier calendar programs). There are other features that could be similarly streamlined - such as our Newest Materials page, which entails manually entering the author and title of each and every item you want mentioned.
7. Do you feel that the system is worth the cost? ($675 start up fee + $600 yearly fee)
Lisa: The system is definitely worth the cost in my opinion. I think it has a distinctive and attractive look to it and, as I mentioned, the assistance that's available is a huge help.
Although Wallkill Public Library opted to go for a more expensive website with a built in CMS as opposed to a straight CMS, their choice worked for what they were looking to do. The Library Director, Mary Lou Carolan has a business background and is a firm believe that libraries need to do whatever they can to market themselves (she led a workshop at our system headquarters called "Get Off Your Ass...and Out into the Community" which is where I first met her). She explained that she really liked the look of Piper Mountain website compared to something that could be created on WordPress or Joomla. The built in CMS gives control to the library to update web content easily, as needed. Lisa, as stated in her interview, is not a "techie" but she is able to maintain the website easily which is the point of a CMS.
As was mentioned above, many libraries in our system (RCLS) use CMS for their websites. I chose to conduct my interview with those at Walllkill Public Library because I was interested to know their reasonings for going with a site that would cost more and therefore take up a bigger chunk of their budget. Piper Mountain is what would work for them and their needs of wanting something flexible and "fresh". Their website was definitely one of the most visually appealing for me out of the other ones I looked at in our system.
One of their criteria is actually one of my favorite features about their site - a calendar that's right there for everyone to see immediately. If I'm going to my library's site, I want to see what is going to be happening there and when immediately. I don't want to have to click through tabs to figure out when things are occurring and I do not think that I am alone in that either.
After Lisa mentioned Dreamweaver, I decided to check it out because I have not heard of it before. It's actually a website development tool through Adobe. From my explorations of Dreamweaver, it looks like it can be used in conjunction with WordPress to give the WordPress page a more unique look and feel to it. There are some tutorial videos available to watch to learn how to use Dreamweaver and I would be interested to know if anyone has had experience with Dreamweaver and enjoyed it. Lisa made mention that if she were more "techie" that she may have like Dreamweaver better. It would be an interesting comparison to have.
I was surprised to hear about the calendar feature, it must be a very time-consuming and frustrating process to have to put events in daily, even when they are repeated. I'm glad to hear that Piper Mountain is working to correct this very inefficient function.
As far as the cost of the system, it does seem pretty steep for the initial expense ($1275 to start), but you get what you pay for. The website is visually appealing and easy to navigate through and from my understanding easy to maintain. You can check out the website here: http://www.wallkillpubliclibrary.org/wallkill/.
Overall my talks with Mary Lou and Lisa were informative and left me with some things to think about. I think it's great that they were able to find a site and CMS that worked for their library's needs as well as their own personal needs in maintaining the information on the site. It is so important that library's consider multiple perspectives when picking a CMS. It can look fantastic but if no one on staff is capable of maintaining it, the CMS will not be serving its purpose. From my outsider's perspective, Wallkill Public Library made the right choice for them by going with Piper Mountain and the built in CMS offered by them.
No comments:
Post a Comment