Jurkowski states that close to 90 percent of school librarians maintain websites. The old question of whether to have a site is no longer the case, rather it is what features to use, and how to keep it organized and updated.
The library website is way of accessing electronic resources the library subscribes to as well as a way of finding print resources, sharing news and information, policies and other documents.
Walter Minkel recommends including links to teacher assignments, bibliographic aids, the library catalog, databases and local institutions such as museums, parks, zoos and their contact information. He warns that simply providing a list of links is not enough.
Guidelines for the creation of and maintenance of the school library website as reported by Anne Clyde, are
• Created by the library staff
• Created and managed by someone outside of the school
• Created by someone outside of the school but maintained by the library staff
• Created as part of the school website
• Created at the district level
• Created in part or whole by students.
Designing the look of a website is your first step. Keep in mind your audience. An elementary website will be much different from a high school website.
Also keep in mind Americans with Disabilities Act specifications. Simple things to note are alternate text for images for those with visual disabilities and include text with audio links for those with hearing impairments.
Jurkowski cited several Web editors such as Adobe Dreamweaver, and open-source options like Nvu or Mozilla SeaMonkey that can be used. (I always wanted a sea monkey….) Wikis can also be used to create the whole library website or a portion of it. This would give control as well as access for the librarian, however there would be limits to design and layout.
D. Warlick states that the goals of our job is assisting students in becoming successful learners and supporting teachers in their efforts to create meaningful learning experiences AND to do this within a contemporary information environment. That being said, there are several guidelines to get the most from your website. Determine how your target audience can help you accomplish your goals. If you want improved Accelerated Reader participation, include an interactive list of acceptable books. Perhaps even solicit book reviews from parents, students, or teachers. Posting an online curriculum map for the school may help teachers make better use of resources. This would accommodate issues of time and help you do your job in collaborating.
In your design, include varied media such as animation, sound music and maybe video. (hmmmm, podcast?) If you are posting complex information, include graphs.
When you are determining your layout, keep in mind these tips to make Web pages more printable:
• Indent the content.
• Keep paragraphs short.
• Bullet your lists.
• Use fonts wisely (instructions in a larger font perhaps)
• Create eye magnets. (Items that may be pondered include additional information in bold print.)
If you are interested in the return of visitors to your site, follow these guidelines;
• Put a section in the website that lists upcoming curriculum relevant programs with their time and channel.
• Have a holiday section with the latest gadgets and a comparison/review link.
• At the end of the year, include information about vacations.
The links and sites given on Course Den were phenomenal. No offense to my school, but wow! The elementary site (http://www.nobl.k12.in.us/North/NorthMedia/index.htm) was inviting and eye catching. It had some great links and was friendly. The middle school site (http://www.milton.k12.wi.us/schools/mms/website/library/MMS_LMC/Welcome.html) was equally attractive. There were some great links for skill enhancement and numerous resources. I like the math resources that were listed because it included skill areas that are often deficits but not part of middle school curriculum such as fractions. The high school site (https://sites.google.com/site/theunquietlibrary/) was really impressive. Within the social media presence were bookmarks for Delicious, their Blog, and many others. It received recognition from ALA Office for Information Technology Policy(OITP) (https://sites.google.com/site/theunquietlibrary/social-media-presence). The Delicious links were really comprehensive.
I am not sure about the course but it was with Dr. Goldberg, and we had to evaluate som many media center web sites. I found out very quickly that most media center's sites need a drastic overhaul. I was astounded at the elementary site you posted. As you explored they even had links to the grade levels online stories, I am assuming for that weeks lesson?? They had active wikis and you were able to follow them on facebook or twitter. This media specialist knows and understands the importance of keeping her patrons connected through technology. I was going through your list of guidelines as I was browsing the site. I couldn't find where they had missed anything. I do wonder though if they have an outiside source manage it for them. How many do they have on staff in their media center. ( I saw contacts for 3 people) Do they have one person that is designated to solely maintaing the web page. However they are doing it, they have nailed it! It was my dream web site!
ReplyDeleteI agree, and I think that your text includes numerous techniques that can improve the media specialist's ability to build an innovative website. I also like the middle school media center webpage that you evaluated in your text. The page includes photographs, images, and information that could teach parents, teachers, and students about the resources and activities endorsed by the media center. I like the Web Resources link and how students can quickly click on a subject area and learn about potential links that could be used to review curriculum subjects. The student can click on the Language hyperlink and use the English Zone website to improve their grammar and spelling skills. The website accommodates the needs of middle school students. I also think that the Teachers Resources section is a fundamental tool included on the website. The teacher can click on his or her subject area and learn about curriculum activities and resources that could be customized and added to conventional activities. I think that this website is effective in motivating students to read and provides numerous websites that can link information literacy skills to the curriculum.
ReplyDeleteAs an elementary teacher, I really like the idea of having a holiday section. The very young students do a lot around holidays. Having links to holiday books, ideas and resources would be a time saver. I also like the idea of summer and vacation information. I used to print and give my pre-k parents a packet of what they could do with their children over winter break, summer "get ready for kindergarten" work and "if it snows" tv guides. As a librarian, I would develop these for the school. So many parents have no idea what they can do during these days so this would be a great resource to provide.
ReplyDeleteOur parents seem comfortable with basics of social media and email. Many lack research knowledge. I think some basic instruction would be useful for parents as well as the students. Many of our parents didn't make it through high school, so they have little to help support their children. A great site would provide this tool for parents. I think a homework helper site would be very welcome.
I agree we have to keep our clients in mind as we develop a site. For my school, keeping things simple and clean would help. We should focus on that more than worrying about cute. I find a lot of sites very distracting because of the fonts and excess colors. Students may enjoy looking around a room for a link, but as a busy adult, I just want the information fast.
I do like the idea of including podcasts. I think having students help create useful podcasts and how-to's for the media center pages would help make things kid friendly and less intimidating, too. I saw a podcast on shelving books. I really enjoyed it and it came across as very easy.
I thought the previous homework link to all the booktalks was fantastic. This would be a great addition to a school site. If we could do these for subject area books used on research projects, it might really help students decide which book they should select for a project. Why waste time looking for the wrong book?
I, too, wonder how these schools maintain these sites. Perhaps they have parents who volunteer to work on these.
As a teacher of hearing impaired students I really liked your mention of keeping the American with Disabilities Act in mind. For my students if they access a web site that has voiced information they will miss some or all of the information. That typically hasn't been much of a problem but as technology advances and the ability to create web sites becomes easier people will continue to add and enhance their sites which could lead into voiced information. The other big problem for these students is when there is music and then a voice-over. That makes it even harder. Your idea of creating a printed version in addition to the voiced information would make your site very user friendly.
ReplyDeleteIn reviewing all of these blogs for class, as a special education teacher, I took particular note of your inclusion of the accessibility features that webpages should have. After working closely with a student with visual impairment over a couple of years, I started to pay particular attention to features like this. Including the text for audio links is as crucial, like Dr. Cooper pointed out for our orientation PPTs. Keeping the layout printer friendly is another key point. So many students don't think to adjust how their browser prints a page; using design judiciously can help them read what they need and the environment all at once.
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