The year 2011 was the PALNI (Private Academic Library Network of Indiana) consortium's "rookie season" for the implementation of Primo, the 2010 Discovery Layer 500 race winner. In this article, the authors report on their transition to the cloud within Ex Libris Ltd.'s Primo TotalCare environment: their preparation, the steps involved…

Since launching its first website in 1997, the Arapahoe Library District (ALD) has constantly looked at ways to review and renew this vital tool for patrons. This article focuses on the process of redesigning the ALD website--the steps taken and decisions made in order to create a site that incorporates interactive elements and patron input and…

Intranets should provide quick and easy access to organizational information. The University of Alabama Libraries' intranet was only partially satisfying this basic expectation. Librarians could use it to find forms, policies, committee assignments, and meeting minutes, but navigating the libraries' intranet was neither quick nor easy, and it was…

In September 2008, the Albert S. Cook Library at Towson University implemented an intranet to support the various functions of the library's Reference Department. This intranet is called the RefPortal. After exploring open source options and other Web 2.0 tools, the department (under the guidance of the library technology coordinator) chose…

Darien Library, where the author serves as head of knowledge and learning services, launched a new website on September 1, 2008. The website is built with Drupal, an open source content management system (CMS). In this article, the author describes how she and her colleagues overhauled the library's website to provide an open source content…

Library intranets require flexibility and efficiency and enhance the internal communication and collaborative nature of creating and organizing the institution's information. At the University of Houston Libraries, the focus was on public services, so little attention was given to the intranet--the tool every department relied on for quick access…

Oregon State University (OSU) libraries, where the author serves as lead programmer, have developed a tool to make it easier for librarians to build and maintain interactive course assignment pages (ICAPs) and subject research guides (SRGs). That tool, Library a la Carte, enables librarians with minimal technical expertise to create dynamic…

The days of top-down communication and controlled internal messages at a library organization are--or should be--behind us. Modern libraries must be fluid and flexible organizations with equally nimble internal communication infrastructures in place to keep up with the fast-paced environments that have been created in these organizations. As is…

In this month's column, the author discusses his work on the Library Technology Guides site, additions he has made to the lib-web-cats online directory of libraries, and applications he has created for managing home projects such as family photographs.

OpenURL resolver is the next big thing for libraries. An OpenURL resolver is simply a piece of software that sucks in attached data and serves up a Web page that tells one where he or she can get the book or article represented by it. In this article, the author describes how he designed an OpenURL resolver for his library, the Lewis & Clark…

Valuable information in print is often neglected because of the rapid proliferation of electronic resources and the bias of many library users against print sources. At Joyner Library, it was decided to construct an interactive subject guide database that included resources in all formats to offer users a convenient starting point for research and…