Upgrading a Legacy, Open Source System to Improve Database Access

Six Feet Up has provided support and made enhancements to keep the OSLIS up-to-date and secure for more than 10 years. When the library’s server technology and open source, Plone-based website started showing signs of age, Six Feet Up’s team of expert developers built a plan to update the OSLIS’ underlying infrastructure and simultaneously improve its Citation Maker application.

The Citation Maker application needed an overhaul. Six Feet Up:

• streamlined and simplified the application code so that the Citation Maker was easier to manage from the backend; and
• implemented export feature options – “export to Google Drive” and “export to Microsoft Word” – which allows users to automatically export a list of either APA and/or MLA citations for easier copying and saving into desired document formats.

Today, the Citation Maker – which is used by every school in Oregon and is being adopted by other states for its excellent functionality – is now operating using the latest versions of APA (version 7) and MLA (version 8).

In addition to improving the Citation Maker, Six Feet Up updated the library’s legacy system to improve the website’s performance, security and functionality. Specifically, the team successfully:

• upgraded the website from Plone 3 to Plone 4;
• migrated the website to Amazon Web Services (AWS) which has increased the library’s productivity and reduced the website’s downtime;
• managed the website’s permission workflows to allow OSLIS editors to update content in real time; and
• implemented accessibility features to ensure all forms work properly with screen readers, the website has adequate color contrast, all fields have labels, and more.

This summer, the Six Feet Up team will complete an in-place migration of the OSLIS to Plone 5 and Python 3 and update the website theme to be based on Barceloneta LTS with Plone 5.