This document provides guidance on creating an effective library website for instruction. It recommends having clear goals such as promoting the library and helping students learn. The design should be clean and simple with easy navigation, limited images, and age-appropriate language. Content may include library information, resources for students and teachers, tutorials, and lesson plans that support instruction. Websites should be evaluated for usability and updated regularly to engage users.
46. My Library Site http://madrid.k12.ia.us/madrid_school_library.html
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Hinweis der Redaktion
My experience: working on my website, reading articles, etc.
You probably have multiple goals, including promoting 21 st century skills to giving an online presence to your library, but one of your main goals should be to help students learn & succeed & help teachers teach. One of the ways to do this is to focus your website on instruction and supporting instruction.
Design is very important, because if you have a quality, easy-to-use design, students & teacher will be able to use your website without specific instruction from you. Self-instruction can be just as important as instruction in the classroom. When designing your website, you should think about what your specific patrons need, but you also need to think like a web designer.
Too busy & bright (for my taste), small text, scroll at the top, blinking words at top
Nice design—clean & simple; easy to find information; not too bright; maybe get rid of white space?
I like this design—bright, filled with information, but not too busy. Good pic of students
Good design for kids—good use of images & color; however, it seems a little disorganized, and would need specific instruction for use
When designing your website, you need to keep your audience in mind. Many types of people may access your website, but you should design it for your main users (probably your students). For elementary, that means more images and visual cues. For teenagers, Jakob Neilsen condusted a usability study in Australia & the US that found that teens like cool-looking graphics, with a simple, clean design. They don’t like to read a lot, and they like interactive features, such as quizzes, games, message boards, etc. Teachers will simply want things easy to find, since they don’t have much time to begin with.
For upper elementary, this website is clean, simple, and well-organized. It has information for parents, students, and teachers, and easy-to-find links.
Your website should be easy to use. Navigation should be clearly marked and easy to go back and forth, such as having a “home” link on each page. There should also be consistency on each page so users will be able to always look in the same place for navigation, and will know when they are on the school library website or if they have linked to an outside site.
Good: visually appealing, good variety & depth of information; Problem: hard to navigate (long list of links on bottom of first page, rest of pages are in a different design, some without a banner to tell you it is a library page) (Walbert)
Navigation is consistent for each page, and it is easy to go from one page to another. It is also a clean and simple design, and students & teachers could use it without too much specific instruction
Clipart may be OK for younger elementary, but most students would prefer the visual effect of picture. Choose your images carefully, and be careful with other effects, like sound, flashing words & images, etc. Images take longer to download, so don’t use too many. Use you images to communicate an idea—about how to use the website, about your library, or about your students. Pictures of students are great, but check with your district requirements for posting pictures of students online.
Interesting use of images on this site. Fairly small, but sprinkled throughout the home page to break up text and include pictures of students and images of databases
Language should be appropriate for your audience: Early elementary--few words, more images; upper elementary—simple language; teens—avoid wordiness; Be consistent with terms throughout the site
Content is an important part of your website. Jurkowsi, in another study, found that the most common features on school library websites are: website links, databases, library policies, a link to the library catalog, and websites grouped by subject
Library information that you could/should include on your website are your or your district’s mission statement, library policies & procedures, your newsletter, and your curriculum. Library orientation is useful to use within a class setting, or an individual user could learn more about their library.
The UNI lab school has a blog separate from their library website, which includes daily thoughts, quotes, videos, pictures, events, and announcements.
A fun way to do an orientation of your library is through a video
Able to create free screencasts online (Jing & screencast-o-matic.com, ; Wink was recommended by School Library Journal (includes both audio & editing option): http://www.microimages.com/support/Wink.htm
One of your goals might be to connect students to the resources in your library. You should have a link to your online catalog, and you could have booklists (your own or awards from Newberry, ALA, etc.), and book recommendations from teachers, students, or library staff. Book recommendation can be done through some circulation systems (Destiny), or you could collaborate with teachers to put student book projects of podcasts or videos on your website.
This is a website of book reviews, linked to the school library website. Listen to 8 th graders talking about Airborn
A majority of your content should be for students. They should include links to online databases and quality websites for research, but they should also include practical support for technology, homework questions, and things to do if they get bored.
Use your website as a jump-off for collaboration: -introduce website in class as a way to simplify research -work together to create pathfinders or webquests -use wikis to create lesson plans together -put library calendar online (Google calendar) -offer website as a place to exhibit student projects
Pathfinders can be used for a specific assignment, or can be created for commonly used topics, that could be used more than once
Information literacy skills for elementary age; tutorials are useful because students can go at their own pace
A variety of tutorials on web searching, web evaluation, plagiarism, finding quality sources, and the research process. These are good for junior high & high school, even though it was created for college age
Interactives are great to support classroom curriculum, as well as for educational entertainment
www.hhsmedia.blogspot.com nhmlibrary.typepad.com the unquietylibrary.wordpress.com If you don’t have a webmaster in your school, you can still create your own library website using a blog site or a website-maker
Not blocked through our filter!
Created using Weebly
There are many lessons you can use in conjunction with your library website. We’ll take a look at just a few
From Springfield Township High School Library
This orientation packet includes a map, information on how to use the online catalog and online databases, and worksheets for students to complete for credit in a specific class
Springfield Township has multiple pages of links of activities and resources promoting information literacy
Research process options: Big 6, Lesson plan: Do a research project (collaborate with teachers)
Webquest on plagiarism; lesson plans on intellectual property should include information on the definitions of intellectual property, academic integrity, copyright, and plagiarism, and how to avoid plagiarism through organization, paraphrasing, citations, and bibliographies or bibliography-makers