The Comparative Guide to WordPress in Libraries

Citation

Philip Calvert (2015), "The Comparative Guide to WordPress in Libraries", The Electronic Library, Vol. 33 No. 2, pp. 327-328. https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-10-2014-0185

The activity of creating and maintaining blogs and websites has become almost mainstream for information professionals, yet there is still a certain degree of anxiety amongst staff asked to perform the task. This book will help to give confidence to those who feel they need some assistance. It is devoted to one platform, that of WordPress, but some of what it says about the general business of creating websites and blogs could apply to alternative software. Most readers will start with WordPress.com but then, if the organisation can provide the server and the necessary ancillary software for PHP and MySQL, they move on to WordPress.org and the extra options that come with it.

Part 1, consisting of three chapters, introduces WordPress, its pros and cons, and also describes the competition. Other software, specifically Drupal, Omeka and LibGuides, get a fair hearing and it could be that the reader realises something else is better suited to the library’s needs. Part 2 is really the core of the book, and in its five chapters we read about planning the website, using WordPress to get started on the website itself, then about themes, plugins and media and then the administrative tools. It is a good and clear guide that surpasses a lot of the dry tutorials commonly associated with software. As an example, the short section on “parent and child pages” is very clear. To be critical, some common assumptions about the website design are used by the author without much question. The “three clicks to anywhere” rule of thumb is useful, but there are occasionally reasons why fewer choices in a menu and more clicks are a better form of navigation. The subject of “themes” can be difficult in WordPress, and this book helps with some problems associated with their implementation. Part 3 is devoted to seven chapters describing the use of WordPress in libraries across different sectors: academic, government and law, public, school, and special, plus library associations and digital libraries/archives. There are some really nice ideas in some of these case studies; this part of the book on its own is a sufficient justification for librarians to read it.

The book has three appendices that are more than usually relevant: the survey used to gather data for Part 3, resources that assist with the use of WordPress and a description of the plugins first mentioned in Part 1. A word of advice is probably necessary on the plugins; do not gorge too much on the feast in front of your eyes but wait until the time is right to use them. The author says she had her students in mind when she wrote this book and it would, without doubt, be a good guide for LIS lecturers teaching aspects of IT and websites. It will also be good for practitioners wishing to be more hands-on with websites and blogs.