typo(s), tendency and text

I am testing viable ways to display media data in a way, that libraries can show what they have - which is not unproblematic at the moment with having many different libraries with different catalogue systems from different vendors - and as it is with working in the public services sector: a limited budget.

So here is a test with WordPress and the open book plugin, which pulls data from the Open Library and points to the WorldCat.

The problem is: Book data from norwegian books appear, but very little and almost none of the Norwegian books have a cover picture. I don't know if librarians are actively taking part in collecting data for this open database of books, or not. Problem nr. 2: There is a non-trivial discussion going on in library world about in how far the WorldCat tries to own data that libraries deliver to them. I don't know if this is the reason while there is no support for Norwegian libraries on the WorldCat.

One viable way of managing multiple cms installs of the same kind would be using version control and distributing the tested new version of updated software to the different locations. Since I have heard of and read up on git recently, I signed up for GitHub. You can find the first repository here, it's for trying out Joomla!.

Del av den nye jobben min er å finne frem til en løsning for det aktuelle problemet: De fleste folkebibliotekene i Hordaland har nettsteder som er vanskelig å oppdatere. For å forbedre kommunikasjonen mellom bibliotekbrukere og bibliotekarene skal jeg lete etter en CMS som er både moderne, enkel å bruke, vil eksistere lenge. Etter det og andre faglige kriterier har jeg utarbeidet en testkatalog, som jeg gjerne vil ha tilbakemelding og tips om.

For å se hvordan programvarene som skal bli testet forholder seg i virkeligheten har jeg skaffet domenen folkebiblioteket.org. Der er for tiden utviklingsfeltet, og jeg jobber med forskjellige scenario hvilken programvare man kan bruke til hva. Strukturene er ikke endelige og kan endre seg hele tiden, men så snart den skal beta-testes sender jeg en e-post til alle interesserte.

Prosjekt - Tilbud om felles nettsted til folkebiblioteka

Testkatalog: CMS som egner seg til bibliotekenes behov

Preambel: Kravene som rettes mot en Content Management System (CMS) retter seg etter spesifikasjoner i prosjektplanen. Kravene kan bli utvidet eller innskrenket etter samtaler og møter med folkebibliotekene i Hordaland. Testkatalogen skal spesifisere utfordringer til programvaren og i gjennomgang av katalogen skal det bli synlig og transparent hvilken programvare egner seg mest - og hvorfor. Til tross for skjematisering skal ikke inntrykket vekkes, at avgjøringen er fullstendig objektiviserbart. Det foreblir en viss subjektivitet, men tross alt skal programvaren som blir valgt være brukbar og håndterbar.

Lisens:
Hva betyr det?

Installasjon:

Tid brukt:
Enkelt eller tungt?
Hvorfor?

Språkfiler:

Bokmål:
Nynorsk:
Installasjon enkelt eller tungt?
Hvorfor?
Dekker språkfiler både både frontend og backend?
Kvalitet:

Oppgradering:

Tid brukt:
Enkelt eller tungt?
Hvorfor?

Er installering og oppgradering automatiserbart?
Hvordan:
git
subversion
annet, hva?

Hva kan programvaren fra starten av:
Blog
RSS
Statiske Sider
Meningsmåling
Podcast
Filhåndtering
Mediefremstilling
Wiki-funksjonalitet
Katalogintegrering
Annet, hva?

Moduler/Plugins:
Enkelt å installere
Språk
Kostnader?
Utvalg (biblioteksspesifikk?)

Brukbarhet:
Brukere ser bare I menyen det de kan gjøre
Admin-funksjonene er enkelt å skjønne
Brukerfunksjonene er lett å skjønne
Tid å opprette og lage en artikkel
Stavekontroll?
Lett å legge media til artikklene
Avansert brukersystem
Backend har hjelpesider (som kan utvides?)

Sikkerhet:
Sikkerhetshull i fortid:
Mulige sikkerhetsproblemer:

Community/Langvarighet:
Hvor lenge fins programvaren?
Har utviklingen vært stabil?
Konstruktive konflikter?
Destruktive konflikter?
Hvor mangen hovedutviklere?
Inklusjon av nye utviklere?
Lett å kommunisere?
Oppdaterings-syklus?

Konklusjon:

A colleague of mine mentioned Plone in a meeting about the on-going project I recently blogged about. He introduced me to Plinkit, a project started in the USA, where small libraries are provided with a Plone-based CMS to suit their web publishing needs. So far it seems to me, that some problems are being solved by that:

• They can easily publish.
• They can integrate a search form of their catalogue into their site.

I have visited some of the sites, and it seemed to me, that there were still some problems remaining, which come naturally to small libraries and which are caused by small money and time budgets:

• Boring default designs
• Few updates
• Few information about the specialties of the libraries.

The last point seems the most important one: Local libraries need stronger profiles. They need to advertise their knowledge and their profound and demanded specialties, be it local history and archives, good knowlegde of local artists and writers - or the like. To stay an important focus point in small local communities, they are most likely toexist further if they develop to an important meeting point and work space for locals who have special information needs. I would like to give some examples. Does your area have:

• Strong tradition of handicrafts? Let the local people get together in the course room of your library, advertise it and let everybody know about it. Ask the group, if they have suggestions for very important learning media about what they are doing. Support them with information about what others do. Take pictures and blog about it on your site. This could be worth a podcast.
• Different groups who like to read books and discuss? Stay in touch and get them what they need. Advertise there meetings at your library. Let them have a closed or open wiki on your site.
• Writers? Let them gather. Let them write. Let them read with the public. Establish a demo place, where people can display their work and check it out from the library. (As done in the Bergen public library in Bergen, Norway. The site is in Norwegian, but you can see a picture here.)

Okay, I could go on and on with this. I think you got the main point. The library could and should evolve from a place where you only gather written knowledge on dead trees on shelves. And develop itself to a place where you gather people to make knowledge while using it. Libraries have a tradition in this, it is not a new thing. But it becomes vital to the existence of libraries - and especially small local libraries - to focus on this kind of service. Or rather than service: This kind of knowledge cooperatives.

Looking at some of the plinkit libraries only made me think. I haven't been looking into plinkit too much, which I will do further on. Until then I'd really like to hear your thoughts. Please comment.

Libraries are a public service, and tend to be very interested in Open Source publishing. Recently I am looking into open source content management systems for small public libraries in the region where I live now. Since the solution has to be usable, stable and sustainable, I try to focus on the three to four most stable communities on this sector. These seem to be:

• Drupal
• Joomla
• Typo3
• WordPress

My first anticipation is, that Typo3 might be a little overweight for the purpose of building a cost effective and stable solution that will last the next years. And WordPress might be a little underweight. But could still be viable: There are so many people using it, and there are methods to automate updates of websites, that people within my range have had good experiences with.  My gut feeling says Drupal, though it will be a lot to learn for me. Joomla isn't bad, either. But there are so many modules, themes and plugins that are non-free. And although I totally understand people have to make a living by writing software, I have to make this project reliable for the future. Not for all future, but for the next 3 till 4 years.

Another point is, that I feel that Joomlas administration panel is much more complicated than Drupals. On Drupal you have a lot of functions already build in, and if you simply set them together, the site already after fifteen minutes seems to get more and more structure. And the admin panel is not only easier to look at, it also makes all the built-in functionality visible very soon.

Don't worry, dear Joomla, WP and Typo3 evangelists. I will get into some testing, before I decide. And I will not base the decision on gut feeling. But until then, I have to think and evaluate a lot.