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Using WordPress as a Library Content Management System

Jun 21st, 2011
by pollyalida.
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This is a little embarrassing. I just realized I’d never actually posted here about the now not-so-new ALA Library Technology Report the Kyle Jones & I wrote on  Using WordPress as a Library Content Management System. It came out in early May. Get yours now, while it’s still hot (kind of!)  :-)

With WordPress, you can give patrons easy access to your library’s digital content . The software is free, and, with good planning, you don’t need expensive training or extensive technological expertise to maintain your site. Authors Kyle Jones and Polly-Alida Farrington, along with several librarian contributors, deliver a richly illustrated, practical guide for using WordPress as a tool for managing digital content, from basic set-up to customization with plugins.

Topics covered in this issue include:

  • Setting up a local development environment, choosing your package, installing WordPress, and transferring files.
  • How to evaluate potential plugins and select the best for your needs
  • How to test themes across different types of content
  • How to streamline administration with plugins like WP Maintenance Mode, Theme Visibility Manager, Role Scoper and others
  • Comparative descriptions of four different plugins for publicizing your events and programs
  • Managing user accounts to get staff involved in creating content
  • How you can make it easy for patrons to share your content on Facebook , Twitter and other social sites
  • First-hand accounts of academic, public, and school librarians on using WordPress to create dynamic subject guides, deliver elearning, and creating digital archives
  • 10 ways WordPress can improve website user experience

Topeka Shawnee Library Website & WordPress

Mar 3rd, 2011
by pollyalida.
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Want to see a great new library website that is powered by WordPress? Then take a look at the brand new Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library site launched this week.

If you ever doubted that WordPress could do a rockin’  job as a CMS (content management system) you don’t need to look any further than this. What a terrific site. Kudos to all the staff at TSCPL for a great job.

And do read David Lee King’s post about the launch. He includes a list of the plugins they used for the site. And don’t we all love lists of plugins! Well, I know I do. I’ll be trying out the ones that are new to me.

 

 

Night Owls

Feb 3rd, 2011
by pollyalida.
1 comment

What a great idea!  Night Owls -  Cuyahoga County (OH) Public Library’s after-hours book discussion is held on Thursday evenings in the Notes section of their Facebook page. There were about a dozen folks there tonight sharing their latest reads.

Library Day in the Life – Days 4 & 5.

Jan 30th, 2011
by pollyalida.
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And days 6 & 7 too.

Polly, Sara, Jen

Polly, Sara, Jen

And so Library Day in the Life Round #6 comes to an end.

Day 4: I got organized, packed and drove to Plattsburgh, NY to teach a class on Friday. Not a very productive day otherwise. I usually don’t count on getting much else done on a travel day. And this was no different than expected. Ate a lousy dinner of takeout food because I was craving Indian food. Should have listened to my host’s recommendations and gone to the nice restaurant down the road. Occasional lousy takeout is part of the deal with traveling so much though! Great meals with friends are the flip side of that, thank goodness. And making new friends when I travel is undeniably the best part of all the business travel.

Day 5: Taught a full day session on Digital Storytelling & Presentation Tools at the CVES BOCES.  Jen Henry organized the training, which was attended by about a dozen school librarians.  Everyone had such great ideas, I went out of there with my head swimming. And what fun to have a surprise attendee, good friend Sara Kelly Johns. :-)   (more…)

Library Day in the Life – Day 1

Jan 24th, 2011
by pollyalida.
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having fun in class

The 6th round of “Library Day in the Life” began today, with over 200 participants this time! Wow. Visit the wiki page to find out more and register your participation. It’s not too late to participate!

Learn more about what librarians do all day by following along at:

My Monday:

For those who might not know what I do, I’m an independent consultant. I run a business providing services to libraries, library systems and schools. I focus mostly on technology training, project management and web site development.

  • Cold start to the day:  -12. First thing I did was check email & weather on my  phone before I got out of bed, just in case my day might be rearranged due to the weather and I could loll about a bit longer. Really, I try NOT to sleep with my phone under my pillow normally, but if technology can make my day a bit easier, I use it.
  • No change of plans, so dashed out to the car in my jammies to make sure the car was going to start and get me to where I needed to go. Glamorous, eh.
  • Coffee, checked email, sat in the sunshine in the living room. Now that I have an iPad, it’s great to sit in the morning sun, rip through email, do some reading and get started on projects for the day. Less time spent at my desk.
  • Drove about 35 miles to Saratoga teach a 3 hour class on screencasting for school library staff. We had a lot of fun covering free, web-based screencasting options. School library budgets being what they are, they really don’t have money to buy Camtasia or Captivate.
  • Sat in car eating a 4PM late lunch, reading email on my iPad. Only thing cool about the was the iPad and the weather.  Retreated to Panera for a cup of coffee and some reading.
  • Followed up on questions from the class and updated handout with notes and ideas for the next time I teach that class.
  • Tested out some odds and ends of new tools and such that came my way from twitter during the day.
  • Sorted out some possible web hosting and content mgmt system issues for a client meeting tomorrow.
  • Went through the mail – a bonanza day – a contract and a forgotten check! Woo hoo.
  • Accounting. Blech.
  • Updating my calendar and sorting out possible teaching dates for the contract that came in the mail.
  • Figuring out what I didn’t get done and how I’ll catch up tomorrow.

HistoryPin: Maps, Photos and Stories

Oct 6th, 2010
by pollyalida.
2 comments

I’m getting delightfully lost in the HistoryPin website. Old photos, layered on top of Google Maps and stories to go with them – all things that I love to explore.

What is HistoryPin?

The site invites the public to dig out, upload and pin their own old photos, as well as the stories behind them, onto the Historypin map. Uniquely, Historypin allows users to layer their old images onto modern Street View scenes, revealing a series of windows into the past.

Historypin is one in a series of projects created as part of We Are What We Do’s campaign to get generations talking more, sharing more and coming together more often.  (http://goo.gl/7URp)

Wouldn’t this would be a great project for libraries and schools to get involved with? It makes me think of the wonderful Remember When photo & memory project done by the Ipswich Library in Queensland Australia.

(The screenshots at the top are then & now images of a tunnel called the Argyle Cut that was dug through a sandstone ridge in Sydney in the mid 1800′s. )

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