lesson 12 activity

1. How essential is a school library homepage and can we do without one? Consider grade levels, the size of the school etc.

I think that regardless of size or grade level, having a school library homepage is essential. A successful school library provides a cultural hub for the school, is student-centred, and provides access to resources to the best of our ability. Today, in order to have a community presence, a web presence is necessary. In order to fulfill the needs of our patrons, they need to be able to find us online and, at a minimum, easily access the OPAC. Even in a tiny primary school, at least a home page presence is necessary. In fact, when other facilities are smaller, the library is more likely to be central to the tight-knit small communities these schools tend to have. Maybe mostly parents and staff use it, but it still provides a foundational piece of our community presence. In school with bigger population and older students, research needs are increased, and demands for access to varied types of information go with it. The school library webpage offers an inexpensive, easy way to significantly increase the quantity and quality of access we provide. We need all members of the library community to take our contributions seriously, and it’s difficult to expect them to do that if we don’t have a web presence.

2. Based on the sites that you reviewed, what are the most important elements of an attractive, useable school library homepage? Be very specific.

- access to the OPAC that is intuitive and user-friendly

- student presence and impact: posting student work in galleries, like you would in the physical library, student book reviews, etc. This gives students a sense of ownership and an prominent place in the community we are building

- suggestions and reviews of books available. This is a chance to increase to visibility of reading for pleasure and to show off our resources. The site should address students directly and engage with them on the topics of books and reading.