Kenneth J. Varnum, London, Facet Publishing, 2012, , 133 pp, £34.95 (soft cover, companion website and podcasts available at www.alatechsource.org/techset/), ISBN 978-1-85604-848-4
(available from Inbooks)
Drupal in libraries is one of 20 titles in the Tech Set series, all intended to guide librarians in the implementation of new technology. This slim volume is written by the web-systems manager at the University of Michigan Library and comes from first-hand experience and with a companion interactive website.
Drupal is an open-source web content-management system first released in 2001 and is widely used in libraries throughout the world. The Drupal Group's website (http://groups.drupal.org/libraries) lists more than 200 library implementers, including – in Australia – the National Library, the State Library of Victoria, Casey-Cardinia public library and the University of Technology, Sydney.
The book is divided into nine chapters plus a recommended-reading section and a comprehensive index. Topics covered include the relative merits of open-source content-management systems, processing and development options, planning and project management, implementation (at 50 pages the heart of the book), marketing, best practice, performance measurement and developing trends.
Contents are laid out in an accessible fashion. Each chapter begins with a list of bullet points, followed by a comprehensive introduction and ends with a reinforcing summary. Varnum is obviously keen on Drupal – he chose it for his library after all – and his enthusiasm shows. For example, he writes, ‘Convincing a central IT organization to install an open source product […] can at times require a broader conversation about maintenance, updating, security risks and the like.’ This is easy, according to our author: just tell the sceptics that the White House, FedEx, Sony Music and Harvard use Drupal. Job done.
Installation tasks are logically, sequentially and exhaustively covered – certainly in sufficient detail for a systems librarian or amateur with the aptitude to build, populate, test, commission, promote and measure the impact of the new website. This advice alone easily justifies the purchase price. The chapter on metrics is also excellent. With web traffic replacing foot traffic for many libraries, it is vital to understand how websites are being used, and Varnum clearly explains web analytics and user studies.
Overall, I am impressed with this work. My only gripe is poor reproduction of screenshots. The book does what the series editor sets out to do: ‘[T]ackle today's hottest technologies, trends, and practices to help libraries stay on the forefront of technology innovation.’ I have two other titles in the series to review: Strategic planning for social media in libraries and Semantic Web technologies and social searching for librarians. If both are as helpful as this one, we will be well served. The present work is highly recommended.
© 2013, Ian McCallum