Drupal for Libraries

Slide 1: Leo Klein on Drupal for Libraries Talk Given at the Metropolitan Library System (Chicago) Feb. 29, 2008 Created by Leo Klein, ChicagoLibrarian.com

Slide 2: Hey, Wait a Minute!

Slide 3: Why Content Management? In the Beginning:  Everything Done by Hand Early Database-Driven Sites:  Home-made, DIY Current CMS Potpourri:  Many Choices (Good, Bad & Ugly*) ______ * http://www.opensourcecms.com

Slide 4: Why Drupal? (Druplicon)

Slide 5: Libraries That Use Drupal Florida State Univ. Uminn Bio-Med. Library Hoover Public Library (AL) Wendt Library (U. Wisc.)

Slide 6: Origin of Drupal

Slide 7: Early Drupal User Group Meetup

Slide 8: Drupal Born – 2001* • Originally developed by Dries Buytaert and fellow students at the University of Antwerp • 2001 – Initial Release of Drupal • 2004 – Drupal taken up by Dean Campaign • 2005 to now: – High Profile Conversions (Onion.com, Observer.com, Amnesty International) – From "Community Plumbing" to "Roll-Your-Own Push Button CMS" _________ * More Info: http://drupal.org/node/769 http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1398641189

Slide 9: Drupal.org

Slide 10: Resources from Drupal.org • Software • News • Documentation • Forums • Bug Reports, Feature • Groups Requests, etc.

Slide 11: Joys & Sorrows of Open Source • It’s Free • It’s Open • It’s Innovative (sometimes) • It’s "Scratch Your Own Itch” • It’s Frustrating • It's Fun

Slide 12: Types of Users

Slide 13: Requirements SW-HW*: • Server running either Apache or IIS • PHP (Scripting Language) • MySQL or PostgreSQL Human: • Person comfortable installing the above three • “Some assembly required” ______ * http://drupal.org/requirements

Slide 14: Drupal in 3 Parts

Slide 15: Drupal Core • What You Get 'Out of the Box' • Essential Features (Node, Block, Taxonomy, Theme Engine, Comments, RSS) • 'Legacy' Features (Story, Forum, Blog)

Slide 17: Contributed Modules • "Building Blocks" of Drupal • Hundreds to Choose from • Most Essential Modules: – Content Construction Kit – Views – ImageCache – Organic Groups

Slide 18: Life & Death of a Drupal Module Modules are built for a specific purpose and for a specific release of Drupal How to Tell if a Module is Alive and Kicking -- or in the 'Deadpool': – Recent updates? – Recent Support Questions/Issues? – Attitude of Maintainers (Helpful or Not)?

Slide 19: Amor Azul Themes Imagination NewsFlash SEO Position

Slide 20: Drupal Roadmap • Drupal 6.0 (Feb. 2008) – Improvements: • Installation • Theming • Internationalization • Drupal 7.0 (Feb. 2009?) – Incorporation of CCK & Views into Core

Slide 21: Drupal as a Community • Open Source encourages - and requires – an open, responsive Social Organization • Great team of Developers (some local in Illinois) • Learn the terrain & benefit from It

Slide 22: Other Helpful Sites • Drupal.org Main Drupal Site • Lullabot Wonderful source for podcasts and other high quality information on Drupal - http://www.lullabot.com • Mastering Drupal Number of good screencasts - http://www.masteringdrupal.com/ • Dries Buytaert's Blog Personal Blog of Drupal's Founder - http://buytaert.net

Slide 23: Library-Related Resources • DRUPAL4LIB – Listserv http://drupal4lib.org • Drupal Group http://groups.drupal.org/libraries • Drupalib http://drupalib.interoperating.info/ • Local Chicago User Group (General) http://groups.drupal.org/chicago

Slide 24: Leo Klein’s Drupal Tips • Try "Sandboxes" at OpenSourceCMS.com • Experiment locally • Follow the forums at Drupal.org • Join a Drupal Group (http://groups.drupal.org) • Check out the competition Ultimately: Bend the CMS to your needs (& not the other way around)

Slide 25: Happy Drupaling! Leo Robert Klein leo 'at' leoklein 'dot' com msn/aim/ghoo/yhoo: 'leorobertklein' www.ChicagoLibrarian.com