Media Center Websites
Media center websites can be a valuable tool for a library media specialist. School's have so may neat and creative websites, which you could get ideas from. You can find a variety of different websites and ideas at http://schoollibrarywebsites.wikispaces.com/. I know that for me, the brighter and more interactive a website is, the more fun it can be. On the Milton Middle School website (http://www.milton.k12.wi.us/schools/mms/website/library/MMS_LMC/Welcome.html) there are some great ways that this media specialist is using technology to excite students about the library. I read some of the blogs and thought to myself how useful this could be to our tech savvy students! I felt this media specialist did a great job and if you have the time, you should check it out!
David Warlick, who wrote the article Building Web Sites that Work for Your Media Center, gives some ideas on how to get your website started. Basically, you want to set goals to acheive while building your site. An important goal when buildling your site should be that the site is an effective means of transferring knowledge to your school's students and faculty (hey, teachers want in on the goods too!). Find ways to "sell" the website to the patrons. Make the layout easy to use with indexes, pleasing fonts, short bits of information, and eye-catching designs. It has to be enticing and exciting if you want kids to keep coming back!
So how can you get the word out about your site? Include the URL in your media center handout or the school handbook. Link your site to the school's main page so parents and students can easily find it. Bug your teacher friends about adding a link to their personal school pages. You know what.... you can also add the URL to your school voicemail. Those are all super easy ways to get your website some traffic. Once you have people visiting your site, try to get feedback from them about what is working and what isn't. This is a good way for you to know what needs to be improved.
Do's and Don'ts for a LMC website:
Do's: Dont's
Add color Don't be boring
Use blogs Don't put too much on one page
Use site to introduce new things Don't forget to use student input
Feature your students in the site
For me, a huge sin in a webpage is boring or confusing layouts. Keep it simple but fun. Exciting colors, pictures, reviews, and other resources will make sure patrons come back for return visits.
Are media center webpages a thing of the past? I don't think so. The idea that blogs and wikis taking over as a media centers main feature does not set well with me. Now adding blogs and wikis to an already existing or reconstructing site...heck yes! I think a website is a useful tool for the school as a whole. Useful resources I've seen on websites are links to OPAC systems (tutorials are a nice touch too), teacher stuff (as one site put it), and blogs for books/authors/media stuff. These are just a few cool uses of a school website. I'm looking forward to the possibilities of what I can do with a media center website. What can you do with yours?
Resource:
Warlick, D. (2005). Building web sites that work for your media center. Knowledge Quest, 33(3), 13- 16.
I agree with you that a LMC web page(s) should be created with the focus of "selling" the media center to the viewing audience. It should be eye-catching, inviting, and convey the mission and resources of the LMC. Great idea to include students and their input into the website! I viewed one library web page that was boring, overly simplistic, and used a red background with yellow lettering, making it hard to read - it gave the totally wrong message about what the media center had to offer. I've seen links to new titles in the library, along with student book reviews of them, on one high school LMC website, and thought that was a creative use.
ReplyDeleteI like the section where you gave us ideas on how to get your website out there to the parents and the teachers! I agree that the teachers want in on the action too. If media specialist are able, they can have a special section for teachers where maybe they have a Pathfinder or two for specific subjects. The language arts teachers work the most with our media specialist because they have to read three novels per year. Our LA teachers also have to teach language. It would be so helpful if there were helpful links or handouts for those specific novels to help cut down on planning for those teachers.
ReplyDeleteWow, what great suggestions! I agree that the website must not be boring. I liked your suggestions and Do's and Don'ts. I think that we need to engage and interest students and teachers, not bore them. We want to be a place where people want to go to get information easily and quickly. I like how you want to get parents involved.
ReplyDelete