CMS Scenario

    For this assignment, I chose Option 1 and conducted an interview by way of email with the Systems Librarian at one of our “sister schools”, a larger Christian university with a student population of over 5,000. I asked the provided questions as well as some of my own. For the purposes of this reflection, I will refer to the librarian as Ms. B. Many of her responses fell right in line with what we read during Module 2 about Content Management Systems, but I was pleased to learn that, as the library systems administrator, she did have a voice in her university’s adoption of a new CMS, and was able to review potential systems and give valuable input.

    This particular library began using a CMS in August of 2008, but Ms. B says that she knew about them before then, but she couldn’t remember exactly when and where. This first system was forced on them by the university administration, but as it became obsolete and wasn’t meeting their needs any longer, the decision was made to go with a new system. As I understand it, the old system was not user friendly or adaptable to the university’s needs.The library is now under the campus-wide CMS called Percussion, and the library launched its portion of the website in May, 2014. According to Ms. B, one of the main criteria for a new system was “how well it could migrate our old site into the new system. With 1,000’s of pages to move, it was essential that we have a system that would be able to transfer content and organizational structure”. The two main advantages she sees with the new system are flexibility and user friendliness. When I asked if the library staff was resistant to change, she said, “The excitement for the new layout and design may have been because we were all so very frustrated with the old one. Anything had to be better than what we had.” I found it interesting that she mentioned that others on the library staff didn’t care one way or the other which CMS was chosen, because they weren’t going to be called upon to deal with it, but surely they would know that the choice certainly affects them indirectly, if not directly.

    In relation to the learning curve, Ms. B admitted that it was very steep because of how different the two systems were. To help mitigate problems and frustration, the university’s Information Systems and Technology department offered some preliminary navigation and usage instruction to those who were going to be charged with maintaining their respective sites. Ms. B has freedom, but it’s still limited by having to remain under the overall structure of the CMS. I cited Connell’s  (2013) statement, “One common theme was the issue of lack of control and problems of collaboration between academic libraries and the campus entities controlling website management”, and asked her if that was an issue in her situation.  I’m including her responsive verbatim because I think it is indicative of the situation many academic libraries are finding themselves in: “It’s been a battle to get administrators and IS&T to understand how different the library is from the average undergrad/grad department. They want us to smash and squeeze all that we do into a very constrained layout and still make the information and services we offer user friendly and findable. I have asked for years for a similar yet separate CMS template so the library could have more flexibility in presenting all the various components of our resources and services.” She says even though she hasn’t gotten exactly what she wants, she has been able to get some “special compensations” that have been very helpful.

    I asked her if she was the only one with permission to make changes to the library’s site, and she said she has the highest administrative level, but that there are two other staff members who have been given permission to edit page content. When asked if the new system is meeting the library’s and students’ needs, she replied that it was, and that very positive feedback has been the result. I checked out the site, and I found it to be very visually appealing and easy to use. One thing that struck me was that the very first links to click on were “Ask Us”, “Desktop Availability”, and “Suggestion Box”, with links to the catalog and resources displayed underneath. The “Ask Us” link goes directly to their “Ask a Librarian” service, IM, text, and email contact information. I interpret this as placing more emphasis on connecting with the students rather than placing the resources at the forefront, which I think is a good idea.

    I concluded by asking her for advice for individuals that may be responsible for maintaining their library’s site, and she replied emphatically to, “Make friends with your campus IT folks!”. She stressed to keep the lines of communication open while introducing new ideas to them. Her last statement hit home with me, because I don’t see our library doing this, but I think it is a good guiding principle for library administration and staff. She said, “Be assertive in what you need and want for your library but also be willing to listen and compromise as the planning and implementation process goes along”.I found this assignment to be very helpful, because it helped me make a real world connection with the types of issues we’ve been reading about in class.