What Happened?
Right Service at the Right Time (RS/RT), a web-based program launched by the Orange County, Florida, library system in 2010 and expanded to 47 other library systems throughout the state, provides residents personalized referrals to government and social services.
So What?
Initially funded with a $139,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, RS/RT is an inexpensive, user-friendly way to help residents to identify and access government and social services efficiently and independently. RS/RT provides individualized referrals to services based on a user’s answer to an anonymous questionnaire, which asks for information like age and immigration status. The website then offers access to on-line application forms and other information about how to access services.
How It Works
As this short video demonstrates, the RS/RT web site is very easy to use. With a few clicks, users have access to eight categories of services:
- Daily needs like food and clothing
- Family assistance like family counseling, and elder and teen services
- Financial services like debt counseling and foreclosure help
- Healthcare services including dental, medical and mental health services
- Housing assistance including access to shelter systems, and rental and utility assistance programs
- Immigration assistance
- Employment services including access to job boards and job skills training and resume help
- Transportation assistance
The website is centrally managed, so the interface is the same for residents in every participating county, but the databases of government and social services are county-specific, so users are directed to local services.
The program is also designed to be easy to grow. The RS/RT website prominently features links where:
- Users can petition to have their county library system added to the the program
- Service providers can petition to have their programs included in RSRT database
- Libraries can petition to join the RS/RT network
Back End
RS/RT’s easy-to-use interface was developed by consultants DrupalEasy (http://drupaleasy.com/blogs/ultimike/2010/12/drupaleasy-site-launch-rightserviceflorg) using Drupal, a popular open source content management system.
Gov1 has written extensively about utilizing open source software for municipal data management in order to spur private innovation and make information more accessible. See, for example, Open Data Bus Tracking Apps, and 5 Steps to Jumpstart an Open Data Capability.
RS/RT’s open source backbone means it has the same advantages as other open source public data management interfaces including:
- Access to public information is not limited by its being captured in proprietary software
- The code with which the site was built is available to anyone, so governments can easily conduct open bidding for contracts down the line
The Drupal-based backend also means many of the components of the site were already built and DrupalEasy consultants were able to use preexisting code to save time and money building the site, using components that had already been tested in other applications.