Response to 2006 Hi Tech Library Special Issue article

For this weeks blog assignment I used the U of A library to access an online article from Hi Tech Library journal:

Benzing, Matt. "Luwak: a content management solution." Library Hi Tech 24, no. 1 (2006): 8-13. Emerald. Database on-line. Emerald Publishing Group: accessed 15 September, 2008.

This article is a case study that summarizes and analyzes how librarians at the Rensselaer Research Libraries at Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute in Troy, New York implemented a content management system for their library website. The libraries adapted a home-grown XML-based application named "Luwak," which was developed by the Communication & Collaborative Technologies division of their university. The story behind the name was quite interesting. A Luwak, also known as the Palm Civet, is a jungle feline that ingests ripe red coffee beans. The cat's digestive system adds value to the beans and people harvest its excrement to create one of the world's most expensive gourmet coffees. The name seen as a good choice because it is a metaphor for what a content management system does to inputted content--digests it and adds value.

I was intrigued by many aspects of this article, which illuminated for me the real world benefits of a content management system by putting them in the context of a case study. Luwak, like all content management systems, uses XML to separate content from form for dynamic manipulation. The Luwak system had three levels of user permissions--creator, editor, and administrator--each with clearly defined roles in a work process for generating web content. Also Luwak incorporates features for setting and automatically enforcing records retention and disposition functionality for web content, so that content can be assigned a "lifecycle" to avoid becoming outdated and cluttering the system. I think this is a ingenious way to be proactive about records management across an entire enterprise; I suppose that if a records officer had the right user permission they could ensure RM compliance across an organization without having to deal directly with myriad users, a near impossible feat without a content management system. Other obvious benefits to the new system were its open source code and in-house tech support with the developers based out of the same institution.

The case study concluded that the new content management system was mostly well received as a replacement for a distributed, decentralized confederation of individual librarians creating content in Dreamweaver. There is now less risk of catastrophic loss or accidental alterations to the website by less tech-savvy users. Dead links have been largely eliminated thanks to the records management functionality and separation of content from form for easy maintenance. I would really like to implement a content management system in my workplace to organize our digital collections. It would have to be a intranet site as opposed to an internet site, but I think that would be feasible. The records management and user permission levels would be valuable features for my role as archivist of a records center housing active, inactive, and permanent records in electronic and paper formats. However, there is much to learn about content management systems before I could begin trying to negotiate all the red tape involved in launching such an initiative.