Sector(s)

Visit the site

Visit the site

Organizations Involved

Community contributions

InterCEPT
InterCEPT Base (theme)
Tally - https://www.drupal.org/project/tally
Polaris API - https://github.com/RCPL/polaris-api (version 2.x)
Polaris - https://www.drupal.org/project/polaris (version 2.x, not completely committed yet)
VotingAPI - committed patch and used for event rating storage

Learn. Create. Share.

Richland is a 21st-century public library. It offers state-of-the-art computer labs, recording studios and meeting spaces; broad access to media and information; and a huge range of programs for its customers. The events it hosts are a vital, cherished community resource. It provides everything from resume guidance to flu shots with diverse programming throughout the Midlands in South Carolina.

Two Connected Products: Website + Event Management

Richland Library had a unique, two-part challenge: first, to completely rebuild their public facing website in Drupal 8; second, to build an open source event management product both for their own use and for use by other libraries.

About the project

Key Challenges

  • Design an intuitive, user-centered experience that spans the dozens of ways customers can interact with Richland Library: borrowing books, downloading music, watching videos online, registering for programs, signing up to host your own event, managing your account, and more.
  • Build a powerful – and simple – search experience that helps users quickly find what they are looking for, regardless of which 3rd-party system the data may be stored in.
  • Develop a event management product to track customer participation and engagement, providing actionable data for improving the library’s programs and events.

The Solution

  • We designed a digital experience inspired by the bright, modern atmosphere of Richland’s physical locations. Bold, clear navigation provides access to the library’s depth of resources.
  • We built a powerful, interconnected search capability that integrates with 3rd-party APIs, visually organizing data from multiple sources into sensible results for the user.
  • We developed Intercept: a fully integrated open source product for managing library events. Intercept provides a full suite of event management features, with special focus on participation and engagement tracking.

Why Drupal was chosen

Richland Library already had a significant investment in Drupal. The library’s previous website was built in Drupal 7. Their internal development team was active in the Drupal community, and involved specifically with various library initiatives within Drupal. Their staff was already familiar with Drupal’s features and user interface.

From a technology perspective, a number of capabilities new for Drupal 8 were attractive: support for numerous authentication schemes, storage API, routes, and controllers, to name a few. Broadly speaking, Drupal 8 offers a powerful toolkit for building and integrating with APIs – efforts that were critical to this project.

Technical Specifications

Drupal version:

Why these modules/theme/distribution were chosen

simple_oauth + jsonapi + consumers + key - Used with react.js front end for interactive widgets (event registration, attendance, etc)
officer_hours + date_recur - Date calculations for recurring events and room reservation availability