Jurkowski states in his book Technology and the School Library, “rather than asking whether the
library should or should have a site or not (as was the case a decade ago), the
questions today are about how to organize the existing sites, what features to
include, and how to keep it updated, considering all of the other important tasks
the average librarian must handle daily.”
Keeping an updated media center website is another component that has
been added to the job description of the school library media specialist. One of the most important things to consider
when creating or revamping your media center website is who will be using and
accessing the site. We have to keep our
patrons informed and offer links and information that they will find useful. Jurkowski offers the advice of sketching out
the design of your website before you sit down to create it so you do not have
to go back later and make major changes.
He also brings up the point of remembering the Americans with
Disabilities Act by using alternate text, clear colors, and closed captioning
if you use video or sound clips.
One excellent example of a media center website comes from
North Elementary in Noblesville, Indiana.
This school won the National School Library Media Program Award in
2007. This school uses Schoolwires as
its host. Schoolwires designs and hosts
websites specifically for K-12 schools. North
Elementary has a virtual library on their web site that is open 24/7 for
teachers and students access online resources.
The media specialists name is Mr. Harvey and he has included grade level
resources, library catalogs, and databases that can be accessed through his
school’s media center website. Milton
Middle School is also a great example of a media center website. I believe that this website was created and
is maintained directly by the media specialist, Miss Zweifel. She has listed her media center policies, web
resources, and links to choosing books that might interest readers, among other
things. The third example of a media
center website is right here in Georgia at Creekview High School. I was able to hear two of their media
specialists present at the Georgia Educational Technology Conference. They do a great job of incorporating
LibGuides. LibGuides create online
guides on any topic or subject.
I would want to put information on the media center website
such as, the Reading Bowl, links to the Georgia, Caldecott, and Newbery book
award winners and nominees and when the book fair was going to take place. It is also a nice touch to have pictures on
your website of projects that students have created that have been displayed in
the media center. I would also like to
include a “May I Recommend” section and have pictures of students and teachers
with books they would recommend to others to read. You should also include links that students
and teachers could access from home. I
would include links to databases for research or study sites to get students
ready for standardized testing. Your
hours of operation, media center calendar, and policies and procedures should
also be on your website. I would check
and update my site once a week or every two weeks because nothing frustrates me
more than an out of date website or links that no longer work.
Jurkowski, Odin L. Technology
and the school library : A comprehensive guide for media specialists and other
educators. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, 2010. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost).
Retreived from Web February 22, 2014.
Milton Middle School Media Center Website http://www.milton.k12.wi.us/schools/mms/website/library/MMS_LMC/Welcome.html
Bethany, Jurkowski raised a good question, how should we organize the existing sites, and what should they include” Updating your website should be one of the most important thing you do. It keeps the students and parents as well as teacher in the know. I have logged on to some school web pages and they look the same from one year to the next. There is nothing too exciting going on in that building is what comes to mind and that may not be the case. I know SLMS are busy but due to 21st Century learning the web page should be from and center as a representation of the whole school. Since the Media Center is the heart and the classrooms are the vessels the web page should be on going and up to date. Thanks for sharing the sites I enjoyed this one. This site was to the point and I was not fishing for information.
ReplyDeleteMilton Middle School Media Center Website http://www.milton.k12.wi.us/schools/mms/website/library/MMS_LMC/Welcome.html
I also found The Unquiet Library to be very interesting and true, because this is what a 21st Century Media Center sounds like to me. Thanks for sharing your insight and links.
I feel your frustration, Bethany, when websites are outdated, or don't even work! A great (or at least good!) library website will be one of my goals, and I will keep it as up to date as possible. I know media specialists have a lot on their plates, but I actually enjoy getting creative, and a website will be fun for me (once I get good at the ins and outs of creating one). I visited the media site from the school I used to teach at in Florida, and I was so disappointed. How boring!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of your "May I recommend" page, especially having students recommend thier books. It would be especially great to have podcasts, or videos of students and teachers telling why they liked certain books. I think that having the award winners in a prominent place is another good idea. The middle school where I am volunteering, there is a section that tells how many books have been read by the students this year, how many words, and it shows which books have been recently checked out, which I think is great.
I like the idea of having the Reading Bowl information and pictures of projects on the website. As a classroom teacher, I notice that not a lot of information goes home with the students about the library in the middle school setting. To have a link for parents is great because they can automatically go to the website to get their information they need. My middle school currently does not have a website just for the library. I hope that my webpage for this class will be a good starting point for my middle school. I like reading the blogs because they are giving me ideas for my webpage! :)
ReplyDeleteAs David Warlick stated in the article “Building Web Sites That Work for Your Media Center”, “Not only are more Americans using the Internet, but they are using it every day to solve everyday problems.” This applies to our LMC websites as they should serve to answer questions and solve any dilemmas our patrons might have. As you stated, there is nothing worse than going to a website and finding “last updated 1999”. A little dramatic, but it might as well be 1999 when you can’t find current information. Just as our library should be frequently kept up to date and improved, so should our library web sites.
ReplyDeleteFrom personal use, I remember when I discovered that my library in high school had a website. For some reason this was like manna from heaven to me. Our librarian always kept a “top 10 books of the week” and a list of useful websites you should check available on the website. Honestly, even during undergraduate I would refer to the site when starting a research paper.
I enjoyed and completely agreed on offering a bit of personality to your website. As I stated above, by making the website seem personal, it connects with users. My mentor (who is also in charge of her entire schools website) says she updates every morning due to the frequency of visits to the site. She says the more she started to participate with the upkeep of the webpage, the more teachers would email her with ideas.
I completely agree that an updated media center is of the most importance. There is not much more frustrating then trying to open a link that will not work. Especially since its usually the one that seems to be the "perfect site." I also never thought about sketching out the website before starting, but it would definitely keep me from making mistakes and having to go back and make major changes. I also love your idea for a "May I recommend" section, especially allowing the students and teachers to make recommendations. I think other students would be much more likely to read a book that their peers are talking about and reading. Great Job!
ReplyDeleteIncluding library policies and procedures is an important part of a media center webpage, but I believe these should be the first thing a visitor sees when visiting the page. Pictures and videos are great eye catchers, especially for parents. I agree with you that information such as reading bowl information, book fair dates, etc. is an important part of the website. Incorporating a daily calendar is a great way to accomplish this, but keeping it updated is crucial. Book award information and genre recommendations is a fantastic idea. It is also great to have a section designated for new materials. This will keep the avid readers returning. Another idea might be to add a google doc. or other page that will allow visitors to make suggestions for future purchases. This is a feature in Destiny, but if students were allowed to add to a wish list 24/7 it may generate more interest.
ReplyDelete