At CML, we are beginning the long, arduous process of transitioning our sites to Drupal. Long-term, am I happy about this? Yes. Short-term? OMG Drupal is going to drive me to drink!!! I don’t even really know what to ask nor what to look for. Development of a skeleton of our site is coming along quite well, but I’m still in the dark.
Here’s the problem: I’m not a developer/programmer/web designer. But, as my non-techie husband fondly calls it, I’m certainly no World W Internets dummy either. I am stuck in the tragic middle. And where is the peer group for that? I’m having trouble finding one. Forget about finding a group like this that also has a library bend. (I almost typed “liberal” instead of “library” there…politics on the brain much?) Grrrrr.
I think part of the problem is that because I work for a large, urban public library, my job is so specialized. Consequently, I haven’t had as many happy accident opportunities as I would like. Never out of necessity have I had to learn programming, web design, etc. I am like the doctorate person who knows “everything about nothing” but I don’t have the cool letters at the end of my name. And as far as I know, there aren’t any other large, urban public libraries using Drupal. Again, where’s my peer group?
I’m hoping that help will come from my own backyard. Along with one of my colleagues who actually does do programming, we are going to pick the brains of the IT team at one of our partner libraries. They’re small, but they’re local! Their soon-to-be new site is built in Drupal.
Maybe by the time I’ve crested the huge learning curve, I will be able to pioneer the creation of a peer group that focuses on Drupal for non-developers/non-programmers/non-librarians/yet not a stranger to technology by any means in library settings. First, I’ll need to work on a better name for such a group.
