Drupal for Libraries

Leo Kleinon

Drupal for Libraries

Talk Given at the Metropolitan Library

System (Chicago)Feb. 29, 2008

Created by Leo Klein, ChicagoLibrarian.com

Hey, Wait a Minute!

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

Why Drupal?

(Druplicon)

Libraries That Use DrupalFlorida State Univ. Uminn Bio-Med. Library

Hoover Public Library (AL) Wendt Library (U. Wisc.)

Origin of DrupalOrigin of DrupalOrigin of DrupalOrigin of Drupal

Early Drupal User Group Meetup

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

Drupal.org

Resources from Drupal.org

• Software• Documentation• Bug Reports, Feature

Requests, etc.

• News• Forums• Groups

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

Types of Users

RequirementsSW-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

Drupal in 3 Parts

Drupal Core

• What You Get 'Out of the Box'• Essential Features

(Node, Block, Taxonomy, Theme Engine, Comments, RSS)

• 'Legacy' Features(Story, Forum, Blog)

Contributed Modules• "Building Blocks" of Drupal• Hundreds to Choose from• Most Essential Modules:

– Content Construction Kit– Views– ImageCache– Organic Groups

Life & Death of a Drupal ModuleModules 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)?

ThemesAmor Azul Imagination

NewsFlash SEO Position

Drupal Roadmap• Drupal 6.0 (Feb. 2008)

– Improvements:• Installation• Theming • Internationalization

• Drupal 7.0 (Feb. 2009?)– Incorporation of CCK & Views into Core

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

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 BlogPersonal Blog of Drupal's Founder - http://buytaert.net

Library-Related Resources

• DRUPAL4LIB – Listservhttp://drupal4lib.org

• Drupal Grouphttp://groups.drupal.org/libraries

• Drupalibhttp://drupalib.interoperating.info/

• Local Chicago User Group (General)http://groups.drupal.org/chicago

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)

Happy Drupaling!

Leo Robert Kleinleo 'at' leoklein 'dot' com

msn/aim/ghoo/yhoo: 'leorobertklein'

www.ChicagoLibrarian.com