What is WordPress and what can it do for your library? Learn all about it in new workshop

CHICAGO - ALA TechSource announces a new workshop: WordPress Basics: What WordPress Can Do for Your Library. This 90-minute workshop will take place at 2:30 p.m. Eastern/1:30 p.m. Central/12:30 p.m. Mountain/11:30 a.m. Pacific on Thursday, June 14, 2012.

Over the past few years, the popularity of WordPress among librarians has exploded. Hundreds of libraries have used WordPress as a platform for building websites that range from simple to complex. WordPress has given these librarians the ability to create attractive websites with advanced functionality without extensive programming. Many of these libraries avoided the need to hire expensive Web developers and consultants, saving them money and giving them more direct control over their sites. In this workshop, ideal for librarians curious about WordPress or those just getting started, Web developers and WordPress experts Polly-Alida Farrington and Amanda Goodman will provide an overview of WordPress and explain how it can be used to quickly and easily build an excellent library website.



Topics include:

• The basics of a content management system (CMS);
• Why WordPress is a good tool for building library websites;
• Skills and personnel needed to build a WordPress site;
• Getting started with your site;
• How to learn more about WordPress, either on your own or through hands-on training.

Registration for this ALA TechSource Workshop is available on the ALA Store at both individual and group rates. This 90-minute workshop will take place at 2:30pm Eastern/1:30 Central/12:30 Mountain/11:30am Pacific on Thursday, June 14, 2012.

Polly-Alida Farrington, as consultant and the owner of PA Farrington Associates, has more than 15 years of experience providing technology-related training, Web project development and consulting services to libraries, library systems and schools. A former academic librarian, she has 17 years of experience in reference, government documents, interlibrary loan and technology. She is the co-author, with Kyle Jones, of Library Technology Reports, April 2011 (47:3), "Using WordPress as a Library Content Management System." Her website is pafa.net.



Amanda Goodman is the user experience librarian at the Darien (Conn.) Library, where her projects have included redesigning the library’s website, creating marketing materials and co-managing adult technology education classes. As an MLIS student, she redesigned the Library and Information Studies’ website at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro using WordPress. It became a model for other UNCG departments’ websites. She blogs about her work at A Ghost of Daisies.

ALA TechSource Workshops are designed to give you and your staff the opportunity to participate in a hands‐on learning experience that will help you make the best technology decisions for your library.

ALA TechSource is a publishing imprint of the American Library Association. ALA TechSource publishes Library Technology Reports and the ALA TechSource Blog.

ALA Store purchases fund advocacy, awareness, and accreditation programs for library professionals worldwide.