If you look at the subject guides plugin for Drupal, you will see that
mimicking LibGuides is possible.  That might be a way to appease, however
the biggest issue I saw with LibGuides was too many librarians making
something and never updating, or starting a guide, publishing it, then
never finishing.  So, maybe you want to go back to some kind of structured
control.  You aren't saving money, unless LibGuides has drastically raised
prices in the last 2 years.  When I worked with it up through 2011, pricing
was comparable to running a Wordpress or Drupal install on lishost or other
more "full service" host - low four digits per year.

-Wilhelmina Randtke

On Sun, Aug 11, 2013 at 8:54 AM, Heather Rayl <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I have to say that I loathe LibGuides. My library makes extensive use of
> them, too. Need a web solution? The first thing out of someone's mouth is
> "Let's put it in a LibGuide!"
>
> Shudder
>
> This fall, I'll be moving our main site over to Drupal, and I'm hoping that
> eventually I can convince people to re-invent their LibGuides there. I can
> use the "saving money" card, and the "content silos are bad" card and
> *maybe* I will be successful.
>
> Anyone fought this particular battle before?
>
> ~heather
>
> On Sunday, August 11, 2013, Sean Hannan wrote:
>
> > All of this, plus SpringShare has great support. Like, the best of any
> > library vendor I've dealt with. I've had them implement features within
> an
> > hour of me sending the email suggesting it.
> >
> > The big downside of LibGuides is that it's ease of use (and ease if
> reuse)
> > leads to content sprawl like you wouldn't believe. The new version has a
> > publishing workflow that can help mitigate this, but it's better to go
> into
> > a LibGuides project with a content strategy firmly in place.
> >
> > -Sean
> > ________________________________________
> > From: Code for Libraries [[log in to unmask] <javascript:;>] on
> > behalf of Sullivan, Mark V [[log in to unmask] <javascript:;>]
> > Sent: Saturday, August 10, 2013 9:44 PM
> > To: [log in to unmask] <javascript:;>
> > Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] LibGuides: I don't get it
> >
> > First, SpringShare has great marketing.
> >
> > Secondly, it is a very simple CMS that was offered at a time that many
> > libraries were not getting good web support from IT.  LibGuides became
> the
> > easiest way to edit web pages for many people.  It is certainly true at
> my
> > institution, where we have had whole departments and units move their
> > official website to LibGuides, rather than deal with Adobe Contribute and
> > loose HTML files.  I am now in the midst of trying to fix that problem by
> > rolling out an enterprise-level web cms, but I am finding many pages that
> > have quietly moved to LibGuides.
> >
> > There IS the one compelling thing about sharing a module between
> different
> > institutions on LibGuides.  If one of our faculty members generates a
> list
> > of special resources for a topic, another faculty member in another
> > institution can just insert that module into their page.  Of course, the
> > worldwide web solved pretty much the same problems ages ago with the
> > invention of links, so I'm not sure that is really that compelling
> anymore.
> >
> > Just my two cents..
> >
> > Mark
> >
> > ________________________________________
> > From: Code for Libraries [[log in to unmask] <javascript:;>] on
> > behalf of davesgonechina [[log in to unmask] <javascript:;>]
> > Sent: Saturday, August 10, 2013 9:23 PM
> > To: [log in to unmask] <javascript:;>
> > Subject: [CODE4LIB] LibGuides: I don't get it
> >
> > I've not had an opportunity to use LibGuides, but I've seen a few and
> read
> > the features list on the SpringShare. All I see is a less flexible
> > WordPress at a higher price point. What advantages am I not seeing? If
> > there aren't any, is it the case that once signed up, migration to an
> open
> > source platform is just not worth it for most institutions?
> >
>