IRLS 675 - Week 2

Untangling a tangled web: a case study in choosing and implementing a CMS
Terry L. Hutenlock, Jeff W. Beaird, and Ronald W. Fordham

Library Hi-Tech 2006, Vol. 24. Issue 1. pp. 61-68

I chose this article because while I feel I have gained a pretty good understanding of what CMS’s are I wanted a better understanding as to the processes involved in picking them. I will review the article in detail, but I would make the point that what I found most interesting was that, at the end of the day, the deciding factor for the choice of CMS was compatibility with the library’s database system. It’s interesting that features which would initially seem important; like design, ease of use, and scalability ended up playing a secondary role to the need to have the system communicate with existing library systems. I admire the fact that the small library both recognized the need for website and then further on realized the role the website can play in bringing the library to their community. It was when the power of the site was realized that library administrator's were forced to take a closer look at their current web m.o. "the web site started out merely as static pages connected to the larger institutional site, containing basic information about the library." The library committee developed a formal rubric with which to compare CMS providers. The initial concerns were of course; open source (for budget purposes), well established, well supported product, easy to install, and easy data migration.
After much evaluation a lot of the systems turned out to be fairly similar and it was with this revelation that a system, that had been previously disregarded as too difficult to install, became the front runner. The reason for the switch? The data migration would be the easiest. A lot of the other CMS platforms did not support the library's MyLibrary database. There were quite a few issues with the installation (some expected, some not) and later the upgrade, however the author surmises that the difficulties were worth the effort as measured by their satisfaction with the product. As a matter of fact the 2004 system upgrade was so seamless that the librarians at the University were accused of having done "nothing over the summer."

The lessons I take from this article are very similar to lesson learned in my "Decision making for Information Professionals" class, in that the actions that led to a positive experience for this library were the decision to;

-Pull input from all representatives of the library staff
-Formulate an initial list of desires
-Formulate an official agreed upon rubric
-Test products against the rubric
-Reassess list of desires
-Ensure the product is well supported

There is a great deal of about the importance of flexibility in library administration. The library committee's willingness to remain flexible in the pursuit of the most appropriate software and the ensuing install and updgrades resulted in the success of this CMS selection.