Transcript Document

Review of Web Guide Software
for Libraries
TEACHING, LEARNING AND TE CHN OLOGY
COMMITTEE
L I B R A RY I N S T R U C T I O N R O U N D TA B L E ( L I RT )
Purpose of the Project
 To take a look at some of the software options available
to create web guides for use in library instruction and
other venues.
 To look at the well-known options as well as some lesser
known ones
 To evaluate the options across a series of features and
aspects to assist in comparisons across products.
 To provide libraries some real world information about
these options in order to help with decision-making
processes.
Products Reviewed
AT&T Knowledge Network Explorer
 Encyclopedia Britannica Online Workspace
 LibData
 MediaWiki / PBWiki
 SubjectsPlus
 Libguides
 Library a la Carte

AT&T Knowledge Network Explorer
 What it is: Free service designed for librarians, teachers
and trainers with two components:
 Blue Web’n: collection of reviewed websites and
activities chosen by professional educators
 Filamentality: tool to create Hotlists, Scrapbooks,
Treasure Hunts and Subject Samplers
 Cost: Free
 Support: Excellent esp. in AT&T States. Tutorials,
seminars and other training information available.
 Ease of Use: Easy to use but confusing menu options.
 Hosting Requirements: None (all on the web)
Encyclopedia Britannica Online Workspace
 What it is: Allows EB Online users to create a workspace
on which they can place content from EB including video,
links, articles.
 Cost: Free with EB Online subscription
 Support: Help files are available by topic and index
 Ease of Use: point and click
 Hosting Requirements: None
 Summary: This resource may be best suited to librarians,
teachers and middle through high school students. College
undergraduates may also benefit from the organization
capability of Workspace and the wealth of information
available in Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
LibData
 What it is: library oriented application with authoring environments for
subject pathfinders, course related pages and general purpose web pages
 Cost: Free, open-source using a GNU General Public License
 Support: Adequate. The LibData development team at the University of
Minnesota can provide some support. Product is very reliable.
 Ease of use:
 high learning curve for the administrator/implementation side
 Training for authors required as page creation is not completely intuitive.
 Scalability/Customizability:
 Can create templates to standardize page design and content organization.
 LibData contains several customizable categories and information types to
organize resources on a page.
 Hosting requirements: need an Apache web server with knowledge of
SQL and PHP code.
MediaWiki/PBWorks (nee PBWiki)
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What they are: Open source Wiki products
Cost: Free, Open Source but MediaWiki requires a server
Support
 No formal support but active developer communities
Ease of Use:
 Back end administration is easy for a techie, not so
easy for a novice - need to know PHP at the least
 Front end use is the same as most wikis - some wiki
syntax and uploading documents can be confusing
 Reusing content not easy
Customizability:
 Can create skins for uniform look/feel (MediaWiki)
 Extensions are available for many things (i.e. usage
counts) but require tweaking
Subjects Plus
What it is: open source tool for dynamically managing library
subject guides and pathfinders, as well as the library’s A-Z list
of databases, staff list, FAQs, and a suggestion box.
 Cost: Free, open source
 Support: Excellent user-friendly documentation through a
wiki, also includes a Google group for questions & comments
 Customizability:
 Color, font, and categories can be customized
 Side bar can be customized to include contact info, chat
widget, RSS feeds, etc.
 Ease of use:
 Requires some expertise to install
 Creating and editing guides very straightforward once
established
 Hosting Requirements: requires PHP (> 4), MySQL (> 4.1),
and a web server
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Libguides
What it is: commercial product for creating research
guides, course guides, portals, etc.
 Cost: annual license fee ranges from $899 to $2,999
 Support: blog, forum, training webinars, twitter stream,
responsive staff, "Springshare Lounge" community
 Customizability:
 Customizable to a certain degree (CSS, color scheme,
header images, javascript for extra functionality)
 All LibGuides have a distinct look and feel.
 Ease of use:
 easy for even the most non-tech-savvy to use
 easy to edit and move content around
 easy to embed video, RSS, widgets, etc.
 easy to share content modules across multiple pages
 Hosting Requirements: none, web based
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Library a la Carte
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What it is: Created by University of Oregon an open source
custom content management system for creating library guides
for course assignments and subject research without requiring
knowledge of HTML or other web technologies.
Cost: Free, open source
Support: Great tutorial web pages, but limited live support
Customizability:
 Fully customizable content sections
 Limited customizability for layout and format
Ease of use:
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Requires some tech knowledge to set up and customize
Simple-to-use search feature
Easy to share content modules across multiple pages
Easy to embed video, RSS, widgets, etc.
Hosting Requirements: MySQL Database and an Apache HTTP
Server
Summary of Review Results
Name
Cost
Ease of use
hosting
requirements
available
support
AT&T Knowledge
Network Explorer
free
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Encyclopedia
Britannica Online
Workspace
LibData
Approx. $.65 per user ***
free
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Libguides
$899-$2,999/yr (plus
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optional extras)
Library a la Carte
free
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MediaWiki
free
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SubjectsPlus
free
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Questions?
Paper is online at:
http://connect.ala.org/node/77641