When we think of innovation, we think of cutting edge technology, complicated systems, and brand new approaches. However, innovation is not just a purchase. At the University of Georgia School of Law's Alexander Campbell King Law Library we learned through trial and error to put the process before the technology, and not the other way around.  Because sometimes, the most innovative idea is the simplest solution. In this session I will share the story of implementing patron-driven holds in our library as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the lessons learned about using the right tool for the wrong job. Ultimately, we arrived at the best solution, and the results surprised us: a basic webform in our school's website CMS Drupal 7. Webform for Drupal 7 is the second most popular non-utility contrib module, after Views. It is a large, rich module used by hundreds of thousands of sites. If you need to build a lot of customized, one-off forms, Webform 7.x is a more suitable solution than creating content types and using CCK or Field module.

Ensure that you let us know:

  • Attendees do not need any specialized knowledge to understand the content of this session, but awareness of Drupal webforms will be useful although not required.
  • In this session attendees will get an introduction to Drupal webforms, and through storytelling learn how flexible Drupal webforms can be.
  • Through a comparison of our first approach (using our law library's ILS Sierra's Innovative) and our second approach (our law school's website Drupal 7) attendees will see how much beneficial webforms can be for simple workflows, basic automation, and improved user experience.
  • This session will teach that process and user experience (including marketability) are more important than the technology itself, and that often the simplest and most affordable solution is the best one.

 

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