Library Web Site Content Management Options Using PHP

1
Library Web Site Content Management Options Using
PHP

• Mark Dahl
• Lewis Clark College
• Portland, Oregon

2
Problem of content management

• Building and maintaining a web site requires the
  collaboration of multiple specialists
• Designers, writers, editors, programmers, etc.
• Even in a small environment (college library with
  25 employees) collaboration required

3
Content management systems

• Software packages designed for the construction
  and maintenance of large web sites
• Expensive
• In use in some higher ed environments and
  libraries

4
Characteristics of content management systems

• Separation of content from presentation
• Defined document schemas
• Access and workflow controls

5
Our solution

• Not a full blown content management system
• A mixture of commercial and homegrown tools
• Achieves some of the features of full blow system
• Separation of content from presentation
• Defined document schemas (metadata)
• Limited workflow controls

6
We sought a system that

• Allowed multiple staff members to edit pages on
  the site with little knowledge of HTML or web
  editing tools
• Separated the content of the site from the
  presentation as much as possible
• Structured data to promote consistency and ease
  of migration to future platforms
• Allowed data used redundantly to be updated in
  one central location

7
Two-pronged strategy

• All pages on site
• Distributed updating
• Separation of content from presentation
• Only our research resources pages
• Structured data
• Redundant data in one place

8
Informational pages

• Structured data and redundancy of data not as
  important as these pages (hours, library mission
  statement, etc. did not adhere to specific
  schema.)

9
Part 1 the template system

• Built to support the interior pages of our
  website that all feature a sidebar and banner
  (including pages edited by our resources editor
  to be discussed shortly)
• These pages are also available in text-only
  format (that is, with the sidebar and banner
  removed)

10
Template page in graphical mode
11
Template page in text-mode
12
Dreamweaver environment

• Template system
• Certain regions fixed, unchangeable
• Certain regions editable
• Template system inadequate
• Doesnt display CSS coding correctly
• Wont let you flip between different versions of
  template (text and graphical)
• Hard to change templates globally across multiple
  Dreamweaver sites

13
Solution Templates include files and PHP

• Use server-side includes for the code to display
• Graphical sidebar/banner
• Text-only banner
• PHP browser-sniffer code checks for compatibility
  with CSS2 compatible browser

14
(No Transcript)
15
Central links file

• The main set of links on the interior sidebar and
  on homepage are controlled with a central file
• PHP code automatically inserts the links from
  this file
• The code creates flyouts as needed

16
Central links file
17
Fine-tuning Content Mgmt.

• Sometimes, Dreamweaver can be an awkward tool for
  staff
• Its easy to check out files and forget to check
  them in
• You must be conscious of remote and local files
• There are many options for editing and formatting

18
Macromedia to the rescue withContribute

• Allows users to simply browse to a page and click
  edit to edit page
• Checkin/checkout of files handled transparently
• Respects Dreamweaver templates, synchronizes to
  latest version of templates
• Can restrict access to certain files
• Can restrict types of edits (dynamic pages,
  fonts, etc.)

19
(No Transcript)
20
(No Transcript)
21
Keys to flexibility of our sites look

• Template system keeps content within certain
  parts of the pages
• Server side includes allow banner/sidebar to be
  changed centrally
• An attached stylesheet allows font and site
  colors to be changed globally
• This fall, we changed the fonts used across the
  whole site

22
Part 2 The resources editor

• Like most academic libraries, we maintain web
  pages that direct users to databases, electronic
  reference works, and web sites
• These web pages are organized by subject
• We built a database driven system to maintain
  these pages

23
The resources editor

• It meets objectives 3-4 that I mentioned earlier
• Structured data as much as possible to promote
  consistency and ease of migration to future
  platforms
• Allow redundant data used across the site to be
  updated in a central location
• We designed a database driven system for
  organizing research resources (including
  databases, web sites, and links to library
  catalog records of print resources)

24
Goals for the resources editor

• Consistent metadata for each resource
• Same data presented in multiple places kept in
  one place
• Flexibility in displaying resources (A-Z list, by
  pathfinder)
• Can be used to edit resources by the relatively
  untrained

25
The precedent

• There are many examples of libraries building
  database driven systems to organize resources on
  their web sites
• Open source projects available for this
• Scout portal toolkit
• MyLibrary
• ResearchGuide

26
Building our own

• Existing code base from work at Central Oregon
  Community College
• Linux OS
• Apache Web Server
• PHP scripting
• PostgreSQL relational database

27
Why build our own?

• Special requirements for organization into
  pathfinders
• Complete display flexibility
• (fussy librarians)
• Laziness
• More on this later

28
Resources database

• Each resource represents a research database, web
  site, or reference to printed library material
• Kept in a resources SQL table
• Fields in table loosely based on Dublin Core
  metadata standard publisher, title, description,
  coverage, etc.
• Resource editor staff interface to allow adding
  and editing of new resources

29
(No Transcript)
30
(No Transcript)
31
(No Transcript)
32
Building pathfinders

• Each pathfinder would have a unique name
  corresponding to an LC discipline History,
  Psychology, Sociology Anthropology, etc.
• Resources would be organized into
  librarian-defined categories (history databases,
  history metasites, etc.)
• Resources would be put in a certain order within
  those categories

33
Resources Pathfinders
Resources
Pathfinders
-Academic Search Premier -Anthropological
Literature -Historical Abstracts -Internet Movie
Database -Lexis-Nexis
News
Film
Anthropology
History
34
Pathfinder SQL table

• Contains references to resources
• Each row contains
• ID of resource
• Name of pathfinder in which resource is found
• Name of category in pathfinder
• Position within category
• Link to resources table to create pathfinders

35
This shows the basic structure of a pathfinder
category
resource
36
Staff interface to pathfinder

• Allows staff to search for resources or pick from
  drop-down menu
• Pick appropriate spot in pathfinder, then add
  resource
• Staff can also add and move categories

37
(No Transcript)
38
Displaying the data

• Done by creating a PHP class within an HTML
  document

39
(No Transcript)
40
Displaying the data

• Our librarians can create the PHP class in their
  web page in order to display resources
• Or they can simply send a parameter to an
  existing page custom built to display
  pathfinders

http//library.lclark.edu/reference/resourcedispla
y.php?subjectHistory
41
Display options

• Display pathfinder normally (brief description of
  databases, extended description of websites)
• Display 1 category of a pathfinder within a
  normal web page
• Display data about single resource
• List all databases A-Z
• List all full text databases

42
Special features

• Easy ability to link to print resources in
  catalog
• Staff member updating data has name/time updated
  recorded
• Book reviews field for info about how to find
  book reviews on a particular item

43
Future enhancements

• Patrons can build their own pathfinders
• Patrons can comment on resources
• Electronic resources management features
• Search

44
Reflections on doing it on our own.

• Kind of like reinventing the wheel
• But we do have special features of our system
  others (MyLibrary, ResearchGuide, Scout Portal
  Toolkit) dont
• Resource records can be used across multiple
  pathfinders (ResearchGuide doesnt support)
• We support categories and unique order within
  categories
• Many display options (brief, combined,
  alphabetical, full-text only)
• Special fields (book review, database/website)

45
Technical details

• SQL databases (resources, subjects (pathfinders),
  links)
• Query class (for querying database and returning
  result sets) PHP, built for PostgreSQL db
• Displayclass extends queryclass, can be called
  with various parameters to display resources as
  desired

46
Technical details

• Staff interface (PHP)
• Separate from other
• Uses queryclass for lookups
• Not object oriented
• Writes to database without using special class
• Written using Nusphere PHPEd (allows FAST PHP
  debugging and testing)

47
(No Transcript)
48
References

• This presentation http//www.lclark.edu/dahl/pre
  sentations/
• Web site discussed http//library.lclark.edu/
• Macromedia http//www.macromedia.com
• Nusphere PHPEd http//www.nusphere.com
• Oss4lib Open Source Systems for Libraries (links
  to ResearchGuide, MyLibrary, Scout Portal
  Toolkit) http//oss4lib.sourceforge.net