Here are some great tips that will help you build an exciting webpage that will allow you to share valuable information within your school.
Layout
I know it is our job to share knowledge, however The layout and overall design of your webpage should be clean and free of clutter and overwhelming information. To much information in one place can be a turnoff and cause students to become confused. Instead of trying to place everything on one page, use links to take students to other useful pages of information.
Colors can pose an additional problem as you want to ensure that the pages are readable, as opposed to simply good looking (Jurkowski, 2010). Use colors and fonts that are inviting and are able to be viewed by all students and add eye catching images by including a virtual tour to display your media center.
Americans with Disabilities Act issues must also be kept in mind...be sure to provide alternate text for images so that students with vision problems can read what the image is, don't use colors that will be difficult for someone who's colorblind to see, and if you use any sound clips be sure to include a textual transcript for students with hearing problems (Jurkowski, 2010).
Colors can pose an additional problem as you want to ensure that the pages are readable, as opposed to simply good looking (Jurkowski, 2010). Use colors and fonts that are inviting and are able to be viewed by all students and add eye catching images by including a virtual tour to display your media center.
Americans with Disabilities Act issues must also be kept in mind...be sure to provide alternate text for images so that students with vision problems can read what the image is, don't use colors that will be difficult for someone who's colorblind to see, and if you use any sound clips be sure to include a textual transcript for students with hearing problems (Jurkowski, 2010).
Content
When including content on your webpage be sure to include information and links to various groups such a teachers, faculty and students. For instance, you may want to include a link for your accelerated reading program, reading list for students or links to subject/ class specific resources for teachers. You can also include a teacher or student run blog, highlighting the happening in your media center. Some suggestions of website features are:
- Mission
- Polices
- Calendar/ schedule of events
- Link to OPAC
- Hours open/ closed
- Contact information for media center and staff
- Search Engines
- Reference /Research guides
- Reading list
Make your webpage inviting and fun by adding fun facts, book reviews, podcast and blogs. Don't forget to include a link to your local public library!
Attracting Visitors
Advertising your website by any means necessary is key to successfully attract the attention that you need and want. According to the article Building Websites that Work for Your Media Center by David Warlick, Media Specialist should make sure that the media center's web site is prominently featured and linked from the school site. Other tips to attract visitors:
- Convince teacher to link to the media center web site from their classroom Web pages.
- Feature your site URL on all handouts, policy manuals and any other documents that come from the library media center.
- Include the URL of the site in a voice mail or answering machine suggesting that callers might find the answers to their question online
- Create fun search games linked to the curriculum that encourages students to solve and visit the media center for a prize
- Post student and teacher created blogs and podcast on your website
- Post current topics / subjects related to the curriculum with collaboration from teachers.
I believe that having a strong well used webpage is important and can increase the amount of physical and virtual traffic to your media center, which will assist with helping to share the invaluable knowledge that we are so eager to give.
References
Jurkowski, O. (2010). Technology and the school library: A comprehensive guide for media specialist and other educators (revised ed.). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.
Warlick, D. (2005). Building web sites that work for your media center. Knowledge Quest , 33(3), 13-16. Retrieved from http://aasl.metapress.com/content/gk552k173l82j1l0/
Jurkowski, O. (2010). Technology and the school library: A comprehensive guide for media specialist and other educators (revised ed.). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.
Warlick, D. (2005). Building web sites that work for your media center. Knowledge Quest , 33(3), 13-16. Retrieved from http://aasl.metapress.com/content/gk552k173l82j1l0/
Sadeqwa,
ReplyDeleteI think you make a really good point about why media center webpages are so valuable to the media program. They are essentially free advertising for the library. They are a great way to reach all of the students and faculty in the school and provide them with easily accessible resources and information.
You make a good point about making sure the website is well-organized and readable. A lot of times, people get carried away with the design aspect and trying to make things look pretty. What ends up happening in many cases is the page becomes hard to read or distracting. You also make a good point about taking into consideration any viewers who may have a disability. I had planned to use a red font for topics on my page I am designing for the class, but I will have to rethink that now since I know colorblind students might have a hard time reading a page with that color font.
You have some good ideas for getting the word out about the media center website. I liked your idea of posting teacher and student created blogs on the website. This is something I was planning on doing on my mock website for this class. I think it’s important to make students and teachers a part of the webpage and feature them in various places. It will make them want to visit the website more if they know they are going to be featured in some way. The website is also a good way to communicate with parents and provide information to the community at large about the media program.
Great points in the blog. I definitely agree that marketing is an essential part of maintaining a website for your media center. You can have a great website and never have any traffic. You could also have a website that is not very good. However, you would never know unless you receive feedback from people who use it. Feedback is very important. It will allow you to make sure the website is meeting the needs of students and teachers. You may want to develop a good survey that can be completed and offer an incentive for completing it. A good incentive may be to enter the library patron's name in a drawing if they complete the survey. Make sure the survey is designed properly to gather important information.
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job discussing web pages for the media center. The media center that I am working in has never had a web page. This is something that I would like to change. I have been thinking about the layout and the content, but had not put too much thought into how to attract visitors. These are some great suggestions. Our school has calling posts and a facebook page both of which could be used to promote the media center webpage. We also do have a school website which we can link the media center webpage to.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Sadeqwa! While I was volunteering at my daughters school library I started talking to my mentor and she had mentioned how competitive the students get with the accelerated reading program. Apparently the students have access from the computers on how many "metals" their friends have won, and she says it makes other students want to follow suit. I have always agreed that a competitive environment can be a productive environment. I guess the main goal is to try to entice students to become avid readers, right? I think posting awards and current leaders would be a great idea for a section on the school website. "Create fun search games linked to the curriculum that encourages students to solve and visit the media center for a prize", I also love this idea, who ever said a school website has to boring and full of adult information. I think if you can get your students excited about the website you have won half the battle.
ReplyDeleteReally great post on library web sites! I liked how you added the importance of having a clutter free page and paying attention to color. Sometimes websites can be such a difficult color to read and focus on the words. I also love the inclusion of information for the students. I agree that if you can get the students interested in the webpage that will help garner excitement for the media center and reading!
ReplyDeleteYou had some innovative ideas that every school media center website should incorporate in their pages. I like that you talked about having teacher's link the media center website to their webpages for easy student and parent access. And it is a great way to show media center support from teachers! I also like including the URL in a voicemail prompt for those who need more information. The media webpage is a great interactive and advertising tool for our schools!
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