Copyright James Gerencser, Rafael Alvarado,Malinda Triller, 2009. This work is the

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EDUCAUSE Mid-Atlantic EDUCAUSE Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference 2009Regional Conference 2009

“I’ll Have What She’s Having”: Generating New Reference

Questions By Blogging Old Ones

Jim GerencserJim GerencserCollege ArchivistCollege Archivist

Rafael Alvarado Rafael Alvarado Special Projects CoordinatorSpecial Projects Coordinator

Malinda TrillerMalinda TrillerSpecial Collections LibrarianSpecial Collections Librarian

Library and Information ServicesDickinson College

UNDER THE HOOD

Functional Requirements

• Internal (Tracking)– Client profile data (state or nation, purpose, etc.)– Cost tracking for scans, etc.– Monthly reports

• Client-facing (Marketing)– SEO to boost site visibility and interaction

• Aka “Googlability”

– Transparency: a public record of activity

Some Observations

• Normally separate problems:– Public vs. Private functions

• Solution driven by awareness of affordances– Not abstract requirements– Would have fallen between the cracks– Side-effect of web-as-platform

• Not only possible to merge, but synergetic– A lesson In the value of transparency

Technical Requirements

• Simple to build, maintain, and use– No boutique applications!– No shoe-horn applications (e.g. ticket systems)– KISS for all parties—library staff, clients, coders

• Flexible metadata– Evolvable without breaking the data model– Ability to hold public and private fields in the same

record

Also …

• Reportable data• Ability to separate public and private

functions

Enter Drupal

• Blog on steroids– Stories, tags, comments, RSS, etc.– More flexible than WordPress

• Available modules to do the job– Granular authorization (roles and rights)– Sophisticated tagging (taxonomies)– Content Construction Kit (CCK)– CCK Field Permissions Module– PHP nodes

Public and Private Fields

First, adapt a content type

Then create and group fields

PUBLIC

PRIVATE

… add field group to access control

Finally, assign role to field group

WORKFLOW

Results

http://itech.dickinson.edu/archives

• Drupal is flexible and customizable.• Reference stories are discoverable.• Reference stories are searchable.• Reference stories are taggable.• Reference stories are linkable.• Researchers can post comments.• Reference statistics are easily obtainable.

EMAIL: archives@dickinson.edu