Content Management Solutions

Matt Benzing in his article, "Luwak: a content management solution" appearing in Library Hi Tech (2006 Volume 24 Issue 1, pgs 8-13) discusses how the Library at Renssealer Polytechnic Institute solved its problems caused by users accessing its "website with a multitude of browser types". The Library needed to adapt their web pages to accommodate these browser types. Also there was a need for librarians of "various skill levels" to create and update web pages. For a time Macromedia Dreamweaver was use as a site management and design tool. Benzing reported that this was not a satisfactory solution. It did not solve the need for transforming pages for different delivery methods. It was also susceptible to the erasure or alteration of pages.

The answer to this was a content management system An XML based system was developed by the Communication & Collaborative Technologies division of Renssealer Polytechnic Institute. This home grown solution was too the name Luwak after, as Benzing describes it, the ferret-like Asian mammal and the coffee that bears its name and benefits from the animals biological functions. There is a Java Java thing going n here. This system offered answered many of the Library's needs. In publishing web pages roles can be assigned to various players. Various style sheets could be created for different devices that would be applied on the fly such as hand held devices. One of the more interesting changes was that it became much easier for librarians, who are not, for the most part web designers or content publishers to go in and make a quick fix to a page in either XML or plain text. Benzing concludes that "the Library's website is more flexible, efficient and consistent than it has ever been.

The library at RPI is fortunate that its school has a division that served as the CMS developer. This helped keep costs down. This really depends on how the bookkeeping is done. Luwak is based on open source software. Though the cost savings gained from having the CMS developed on campus is questionable, there is a saving from using open source software.
This is only one solution to content management systems. Others are buying an answer in a box and others are developing systems based on open source software solutions. Later this week I will be starting to work with Drupal, a content management system based on open source software.