My Kansas Library ON THE WEB

HEADNOTE

With each challenge comes a reward, and for the libraries participating in KLOW, the reward is a professional-looking and easily maintained website.

When I was hired as the technology consultant for the Northeast Kansas Library System (NEKLS),

filling the fashionable shoes left empty by Brenda Hough, the system had two open source projects in the works. The first, the migration of the NExpress shared catalog libraries from Sirsi to Koha, I knew next to nothing about. The second project, however, I knew well. As the director of a NEKLS library, I had been an enthusiastic participant and supporter of the statewide Kansas Libraries on the Web (KLOW) program, using WordPress blogging software to maintain the library's website since early 2006. Brenda suggested and I agreed that we should share the story of KLOW, as the need for professional-looking and easily maintained websites becomes universal for public libraries of all sizes.

All good stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end. KLOWs story begins with the initial startup fund finding and the enthusiasm of the six pilot libraries. The middle of the story has to do with building a flexible, easy-to-use program for creating a robust library web interface, and with using the right training techniques to energize and empower our participants. The end of the KLOW story is yet to be written.