Several librarians have discovered that the WordPress web platform can be used as a flexible content management system (CMS) with many library-related applications. This useful book shows how scores of libraries have used WordPress to create library websites that are both user-friendly and easy to maintain. Two advantages it has over other CMSs is its (comparatively) easy to use interface and its open-source development method. In this book Jones and Farrington, two web designer/librarians, explain the ways some libraries are implementing WordPress as a CMS. Some of these examples are simple “out-of-the-box” websites that would be appropriate for a small library needing a basic CMS, but they also provide cases describing large sites with many customised features.
Part I is a simple introduction to WordPress. It covers how to install the software and the basic initial settings. The two chapters in Part II cover the use of Plugins and the particular use of Themes in WordPress, both of which allow some degree of customisation. Part III is where the authors get into the details of using the software as a flexible and yet easy-to-maintain CMS. They deal with workflow design, storage and tracking, and other functions necessary in a CMS, explaining how WordPress can do it all. They also show how the user interface can be designed to be approachable.
Part IV contains a number of “guest pieces”: Creating Dynamic Subject Guides, by Slavin and Dodson; First-Year Seminar Blogs, by Hill and Cook; BuddyPress and Higher Education, by Stephens and Neufeld; From LibGuides to WordPress, by Boger; Creating Digital Archives with WordPress, by Bogan; Ten Ways WordPress Can Improve Website User Experience, by Schmidt and Etches-Johnson; Using WordPress to Create a Virtual School Library, by Robinson; Many Websites, One Installation – Blogging with WordPress MU at Skokie Public Library, by Jacobsen and Greenwalt; and lastly Kansas Libraries on the Web, by Rea.
This is an interesting title that stands out in the literature for its very specific advice on how to use software for a necessary function in libraries. One thing I wonder is how useful this advice will remain even in the short-term, for as with some similar topics it is often easier to find advice on the Web. Nevertheless, this is a useful publication and the price is low enough for almost any library to find it a justified purchase.
