Here's a little hope

North Plains Public Library (Oregon)

Dreaming of faraway places, I chose to contact a library in the Northwest to talk with someone about their experience with a CMS. The North Plains Public Library in North Plains, Oregon is located just west of Portland. This is a unique library that serves a rural community of about 2000 people. What I find really interesting is that the library did not exist until 2002. That's right, this library was born in the 21st century! Prior to that, the city did not have a library.

In 2000 the City Council and a small group of dedicated townspeople were determined to change the situation. Starting with a Friends organization, volunteers began gathering books and donations, and the first library was born in a small, janitor's closet in the local community center. In April 2002, the city established a Library Board and they drafted an ordinance for the city to establish a Public Library. The dedication of volunteers and the help of local business owners resulted in the building you see pictured above. Its doors were opened in April of 2006, and the library is operated by a small, part-time staff and many, many volunteers. Read the library's history here: http://nplibrary.org/about-us/library-history/.

The website manager is another dedicated NPPL volunteer who has been managing the website since 2008. She took it over when a new librarian was hired with no web experience. She, herself, had limited experience with their CMS, Wordpress, but has enjoyed learning to use the system. She definitely takes advantages of the resources available regarding how to manipulate the site and is learning more and more as time goes on. So this is an example how a CMS is really helpful. It's free, relatively easy to learn how to use, and offers a web presence to those organizations who may not be able to have one otherwise.

Despite the headaches I experienced with Joomla, I have a warm, fuzzy feeling for CMS now. They can make good things happen for wonderful organizations- like this little fledgling of a library. So many of our readings, beginning in our Foundations class, profess doom and gloom about the state of libraries in the digital age, and yet here is a library that a community built from the ground up at a time when many libraries are struggling. It makes me happy and gives me hope, and I hope it does the same for you too.

Source for pic

Interview Transcript:

•How and where did they hear about CMS?

I heard about Wordpress from our former Librarian in 2008. When he left we hired a new Librarian who didn't have web experience. I stepped in as a volunteer to rebuild and manage the website using Wordpress.

•What were your library’s motivations to adopt CMS for its website?

We wanted to have complete control over our website and Wordpress made this possible and gave us the ability to customize our site.

•What were their decision making criteria?

Wordpress was customizable and was free and relatively easy to learn.


•What are the important benefits or advantages of CMS they are using now over the old system or another CMS system they've used in the past?

We didn't have any website before using Wordpress. The City Website gave us a page to post basic information, but they managed it.


•Was there a learning curve? If so, can you please discuss it further.

Yes, there was a learning curve and it took enormous amounts of time. I am still learning as I go. I read a few
Wordpress books and have used the online forums for help. It has been a fun learning adventure. I hope at some point another volunteer will be able to learn and take over the website.