Six Important Factors to Consider Before Choosing A Technology: A Guide to Making the Right Decision for Your Library

1. Library Service Goals: Building Your Business Case

Know your mission/vision

Prototype/proof of concept

Avoid techno-lust Define what technology

is needed, based on y0ur service goals

2. Budget

Price matters, but is not everything

More expensive does not necessarily mean better

Consider staff time spent in implementation and support

Add-on costs Total cost of ownership

Open Source Hosting

3. Do Your Research

Determining what is out there; narrow the field

Case studies Product comparisons

Demos Vendors

References Keep current – often outside of

library-land

4. Feature Match

Core functionality: how does thismeet your needs?

Overcoming feature overdose Integration with other products/ILS Customization

5. Implementation

Vendor Success Project Success

Project Timelines

Library Resources Needed

Check References!

6. Ongoing Support

What library resources are needs for ongoing support? What can the vendor offer?

Training Documentation

Can you ‘afford’ Open Source?

Library Assets Needs: Staff and IT Infrastructure

Support and Service Levels (SLAs) Hosting Options

Getting Started: A Case StudyFor the remaining portion of this session, we will walk through these aforementioned “six steps” for choosing the right Content Management System (CMS) to enhance the Any Town Library’s Web presence.

1. Project Objective

2. Budget

3. Research

4. Feature Match

5. Implementation

6. Support Needs

AnyTown Library: New Web SiteAny Town Library’s Web Site Initiative

1. Project Objective

Any Town Library is interested in increasing their web presence but offering information about hours, summer reading, and also information about library events to their community. The library currently has 1 FTE for web site management and would like a librarian from their staff to participate in publishing information to the website without the need for an IT or web staff member to intervene.

The CMS will be used for the library’s customer facing website. The library would like to offer links to a few community (external) resources and post press releases and other documents to the website.

Library stakeholders believe this new initiative will enhance the user experience and offer an improved presentation of the library to it’s service community, once completed.

AnyTown Library: New Web SiteIdentifying Requirements: There is no single best list of requirements for a content management

system. Every organization has unique needs. Involve all your stakeholders in the requirements process. This includes

relevant IT groups, business/library units, and end users. This is particularly important if you are purchasing an “enterprise-wide”

CMS.

AnyTown Library: New Web Site2. Budget

The library has proudly set aside $10K for funding this project; additionally, they have shared that this is a priority for the web site manager and feel that staff from throughout the library system can contribute by offering book reviews, posting event information and keeping hours and other information up-to-date.

3. Research

What products exist for your budget?

What do they offer?

Seek information in articles and online: http://www.cmsmatrix.org/

What of these options meet your budgetary needs?

May require a bit more review of specific software

AnyTown Library: New Web SiteAny Town Library’s Web Site Initiative

4. Feature Match

Of the products reviewed, which meets your feature needs best?

Is getting more than you need a benefit or detriment to your library? Impacts on implementation Impacts of learning/use Allows for future growth and increased usage

When is ‘more’ too much?

Set-Up Demonstrations

5. Implementation

Vendor Track Record for On Time Delivery

What library staff is needed and when (project stage)?

Call References!

AnyTown Library: New Web SiteAny Town Library’s Web Site Initiative

6. Support Needs What library resources are needed for ongoing support?

Daily, weekly, annually

Can you afford Open Source? Existing talent and knowledge Growing additional/back-up support Documentation and knowledge warehousing

Hardware, peripherals, backups IT staff limited Does the CMS you purchase offer a hosted solution? Is your library website supported through library backup policies or can

the CMS offer a back-up solution?

Six Things Wrap Up

Any Additional Questions?

What are your Take-Aways?

Resources: CMS Researchhttp://www.cmsmatrix.org/http://www.howto.gov/web-content/technology/content-management-systems/choosing-a-cmshttp://socialcompare.com/en/comparison/popular-content-management-system-cms-comparison-tablehttp://lanterncms.com.au/content-management-system.html