RDA Drupal Sites Have Merged

RDA Drupal Sites Have Merged

Abstract background with plexus effect. Scientific and technological concept with the use of technical elements formed in the shape of a circle.

Two weeks ago rdatoolkit.org, the drupal site that provides news and information about RDA Toolkit, and rda-rsc.org, a drupal site containing updates on the activities of the RDA Steering Committee (RSC), the RDA Board, and the regional committees, were moved to a new server, upgraded to drupal 10, and merged into a single website. Hopefully you have already noticed many of the smaller changes which came with this significant upgrade. This post will explain why the sites were upgraded and merged, and what improvements were made. 

But, first two important notes--

  1. Your links to the RSC documents and other pages are not broken, at least I hope not. A redirect was set up which should cover all the links, but in reality there's always some that get broken. You can contact me (jhennelly@ala.org) with any link issues you encounter. 
  2. RDA Toolkit (access.rdatoollkit.org) is not impacted by these changes. There has been no interruption to Toolkit service. 

Why were the sites upgraded?

Both sites were running very old versions of drupal that are no longer supported and were increasingly vulnerable to hacking and spamming.

Why were the sites merged?

We believe a single site will make it easier to share information about the work and activities of the Toolkit, the RSC, the RDA Board, and the regional committees with a single website. For example, a post about an upcoming webinar in Europe on manifestation statements can be highlighted on the Oceania site, making the event more accessible to those in other parts of the world with interest in that subject. 

What has been improved?

A lot has been improved on the backend that excites those of us who regularly post on this site, but for visitors, they will be able to enjoy what I hope will be a livelier and more informative experience. The navigation has been improved to give the RSC and the regional areas a prominent position. These areas now have the ability to function as a sort of microsite, each with it's own landing page (with slideshow and highlights) and left column navigation. Visitors should also notice the the blue bar at the top that includes the search feature and "Access RDA Toolkit" button. This bar is present no matter where you navigate in the site. 

Free webinar

A free webinar next week will include a demo of the new drupal site as well as some new features in RDA Toolkit. Learn more about this event