The Content Management Handbook

Citation

Calvert, P. (2005), "The Content Management Handbook", The Electronic Library, Vol. 23 No. 3, pp. 370-371. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640470510603787

One of the most keenly watched developments in information management must surely be the growth of content management (CM). The numbers of MLS graduates now finding employment in relatively well‐paid jobs as content managers is a good sign that this will be a topic in demand in LIM programmes around the world, and it won't be surprising to see more and more of our colleagues moving into a content management role. There have been books on this topic before, and I would still highly recommend The Content Management Bible by Bob Boiko (Wiley, 2001), but this new title from White is possibly the first to take a simple and direct overview of the whole content management process.

While not attempting to cover every detail, the range of material dealt with by White in this book is nevertheless impressive. He discusses key content management system capabilities (though this is bound to remain fuzzy, simply because no one can full agree on a definition of “content management”.) He then turns to organisational matters, such as developing a content management strategy, which will then be used to set criteria for the CM system (CMS). He also gives advice on building a business case; a matter so often forgotten by technologically focussed staff. Assuming that you have now won support for the purchase or design of a CM system, he advises on setting out needs specification statements and writing a tender (though he leaves open the option of internally built software). This leads on to a discussion of the CMS market and how to make a selection from the various systems on offer. He then deals with implementation and assessment.

The author, Martin White, is a CMS consultant in the UK, and his experience shows through. He has a writing style that makes it easy to read through even complicated topics and still feel that you have understood the key issues. The type and layout are really easy on the eye, there is a useful list of “resources” (mainly books and web sites), and an index. If I have a quibble with this book, it is that this topic will move on so fast that all the references to specific products and web sites may be redundant in just a few years, but that is, indeed, a quibble rather than a criticism. Recommended for practitioners and academics alike.