Library Website Creation

I feel equal parts of excitement and being overwhelmed when I think of making my library website. I’d love to be given the gift of two solid days with no distractions just to work on a site!

I’ve looked around at a lot of sites and made notes on what I’d like to have on my site, but it is unrealistic, in terms of quantity, so boiling it down to five of the most critical things to have on the site is a helpful assignment.

I have a lot of links on my Follett/OPAC page that address much of what was discussed in the assignment article (so helpful to read and to have!). There are some holes, but basically, if I could turn that page into an appealing, fun site with graphics and moving parts, I’d have a good start on a website.

Five Essential Sections for the Gastineau Elementary Library Website

1) General Info – including library hours (and librarian availability and class schedule), photos and short bios on myself and the Library Assistant, mission statement, policies (including behavior) and procedures, contact info, link to the Gastineau School webpage, library map and virtual tour, circulation procedures, OPAC

2) Student Section – links to the Juneau Public Libraries and State Library, Novelist, Destiny Quest, research info (e.g. Big Six, Easy bib, research tutorials), Scholastic Book Fairs, website evaluation, Battle of the Books website, Dewey tutorials, TumbleBooks, favorite author sites, etc.

3) Reference Section – e.g. Alaska Digital Pipeline, Khan Academy, Wikipedia, Dictionary.com, World Book Online, Infoplease Almanac, Atlas.com, Nat. Geo. For Kids, PebbleGo Science and Biographies, etc. I also will include guides for doing searches/research. Some links are to free resources, some are subscription-based.

4) Teacher Section – curriculum links (Kathy Schrock’s “Guide for Educators” site lookss good) with relevant resources for standards and benchmarks included in lesson plans, technology tools, Alaska EED site, an area where suggestions can be made and lessons shared

5) Reading Excitement Section – book of the week highlighted, new books in the library, new technology uses in reading, word of the week, author of the week, links to particularly good reading sites, book reviews, student reading successes, etc.

This feels like just a start and it is already too much! I really liked the Broadwater Elementary Library site in the Helena School District – so user friendly for kids. I tend to like something that doesn’t look overwhelming or too busy, but I don’t know how to get everything in, since there is so much to include, and keep it simple at the same time. Organization is key. I think breaking down each of the five sections above into an outline form is best.