YourLibrarySite

YourLibrarySite is a division of Direct Communities. We specialize in developing beautiful feature-rich websites for libraries.

You can play with our current development base at http://demo.DirectCommunities.com .

Our base package for a library website costs $14,500, with additional work by separate bid or performed on an hourly basis. An ongoing support plan is available at several different support levels.

Timeline:

     Direct Communities aims at a development cycle lasting 12 weeks (covering design, production, approval, launch). When and if you decide to work with Direct Communities - We will put together a contract / project work statement outlining both the deliverables and process as they apply specifically to your project.

Our website development process includes the following steps:

  1. Discovery -- we work with you to define the look and feel for your
     site and create an outline of the pages needed.
  2. Graphic Design -- Our graphic designer takes your input (from your
     responses to our design questionnaire and any wireframes, design
     comps or branding materials you provide)
  3. Theme implementation -- We create themes from the approved designs
     for use with the CMS.
  4. Production -- We implement the site outline, develop any needed
     custom functionality, and port content onto the development server.
  5. Review -- we review the new website with you, address any issues
     that arise, complete the training, and hand over the site.

The feature set for the base package includes:

  1. A general graphical theme for the majority of pages
  2. Separate graphical themes for two suites of pages (example: "Kids"
     and "Teens" sections) with their own color palettes and appearance
     that share the general user interface layout.
  3. Templates for creation of the pages detailed in your site outline
         * Landing page template -- includes the slide show and
           horizontally positioned highlights for the creation of the
           promos detailed in your wireframe.
         * Simple page template.
         * These templates can also be used by library staff to create
           new content for the site
         * Web forms for: "Contact Us" form, "Item Request" form
  4. Role based access control by section and content type. Examples
     include:
         * Administrator -- can edit all content (Pages, promos, blog
           posts, and events)
         * Blogger -- can post blog entries
         * Editor -- can edit pages and promos/highlights
         * Event coordinator -- can add and remove events from calendars
         * These permission sets can be restricted to specified
           sections of the website
  5. Slideshow on landing pages (i.e. the homepage)
  6. Blogs for Library news and events (up to 5 blogs included in this
     base)
  7. Blog teasers can be integrated into pages constructed with either
     the landing page template, or the simple page template.
  8. Event calendars with calendar and list displays
  9. Search box on each page permitting search of your library catalog
     and website
 10. Support for posting of audio and video files.
 11. Resource Manager allowing for the categorization and display of
     either free or subscription based online resources.
 12. Support for the embedding of third party "Mash-ups" (such as
     Google map widgets, twitter badges, and Flickr image clouds)
     within page specific Highlights
 13. Support for the inclusion of external RSS feeds within page
     specific Highlights
 14. The site will follow current best practice approaches for Search
     Engine Optimization
 15. Google Analytics integration
 16. Staff Directory with staff profiles and departmental directories
 17. Hours of Operation with support for default hours, scheduled
     exceptions, and emergency notices.
 18. Porting up to 20 pages of content from your existing site into the
     provided templates.
 19. Three hours online training on the maintenance and use of the
     website's CMS and on the creation of additional content using the
     provided templates.
 20. Online website administration guide (non site-specific document)
     covering many general tasks and best practices useful in the
     administration of any website we build. Both Direct Communities
     and your library will have access to change and update this guide
     (allowing for customization into a more site specific
     administrative guide).
 21. The cost to transfer the website from our development servers and
     its setup on a new server can vary based on the configuration and
     complexity of the installation environment. Our cost estimate
     assumes provision by the library of a server environment with the
     appropriate LAMP stack configuration and resources. If desired, we
     can help with the selection of a third party hosting service that
     will match your needs or communicate the server requirements to
     your in-house IT staff.

Please let us know if you have further questions, or if you would like a walk through of the administrative interface for our development base.

Note: Our development base can be seen at http://demo.directcommunities.com . Contact us for a demonstration of the administrative interface.

(Features and costs for all development packages offered by Direct Communities are subject to change without notice. Contact us to learn about our latest feature additions, alliance partner specials, and current pricing information)