Assignment 3: Reflection and Interview

For our third assignment, I interviewed Sarah Burgess, Assistant Director of the Chestatee Regional Library System.  Sarah recently took over the technology duties for the library system and she had interesting insights into working with a Content Management System. In talking with Sarah, she emphasized that Joomla is one of the easiest Content Management Systems to learn, but if you’re not a technologically inclined person to begin with, it can be difficult learning all the ins and outs.  This made me feel better about my own struggles in learning new things both inside and outside of this class.

How and where did you hear about Content Management Systems?  “We were looking into redoing our website – it was time.  The first thing I did was call the Georgia Public Library System and talked with Daren Givens.  He set up some demo sites for me to look at and I decided on Joomla – mainly because of its learning curve.

What were your motivations to adopt CMS for its current use?  “My main motivator for using Joomla was that I did not have to learn html.  Right now – with budget and staff cuts – we don’t have the staff or time available to learn html.  Joomla is user friendly and I wanted something that I knew I could learn and use.”

What was your decision making criteria? “The primary thing was how quickly I could learn it, and whether or not it would play well with what we needed it to do (working with PINES, etc.).  I wanted something easy that would still deliver a professional appearance.”

What are the important benefits and advantages of Joomla over the old system?  “This system is free – that’s one of the biggest benefits, especially right now with our economy.  Joomla has great customer service, as well.  I can always receive help if I ask for it and they share their information freely.  It also provides modules that you can search that allow you to use thing that have already been created, so you’re not always reinventing the wheel.  I will soon be learning Drupal and am looking forward to it.  For as many things as I like about Joomla, it can be a bit clunky sometimes.  Drupal lets you do more, and I feel more confident in learning it now.”

How was the learning curve with Joomla?  “Tough – and Joomla is considered an easy CMS to learn.  I have a background in graphic design, but the whole organizational process you go through in learning is like a big, huge logic problem.  It can be intimidating.  I purchased the Joomla for Dummies book, but found the information they provided on their website was just as if not more helpful.”

How has using Joomla changed the library’s website?  We used to use an old front page site that was horrible and needed to look better.  I think Joomla has helped us do that.  And now that I’ll be exploring Drupal, I’m excited about what we can do in the future.  It’s all in what you’re comfortable with.  The site now looks better, but needs to be better organized.  CMS makes it possible for people to learn easily and do things themselves – and feel good about it!”