School Library Media

Websites

http://www3.mcps.k12.md.us/schools/waysidees/MediaCenter.htm

First page is a table of options. Most of the resources listed require passwords but aren’t identified as such on the website. One page shows parents how they can donate a book in their child’s name to the Media Center. Another describes the checkout policy. Five other listings have no links.

Westover Elementary School

http://www3.mcps.k12.md.us/schools/westoveres/INDEX/Media.html

Only three links. No statement of purpose. Pages – National Library Week, photography contest, Calendar Clue contest. Home page for school last updated in March, 1999. If you go to the school’s home page a different Media page is accessed, but this link still shows up from the SLD site. New Media page has photos of student work in poetry and book review. Lists MLO for Media. Lists 7 resource sites which require passwords and 1 site that doesn’t.

PS 64 NYC

http://hometown.aol.com/book64/page1.html

Many links. Fairly well organized. Few math sites. Not all links related to elementary curriculum. First page lists awards before listing content – should be other way around. Few graphics. Background does not interfere with content. Last updated May, 2002.

Thurgood Marshall Elementary School

http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/schools/thurgoodmarshalles/mediacenter.html

First page states background information about the media center. Clicking on research links takes you to a table of possible links. Reading is four author websites and the NEA’s Read Across America page, and a broken link. Many broken links. Little content. No way to tell when last updated.

Media Website Content

The following is a short list of the components any school media website should include.

The index page should list the following:

1. Statement of purpose – Often, parents, students, and staff only view the media center as a place to get books or an occasional video. Rarely do they realize the media specialist is a valuable resource for information. By stating the purpose of the media center, the media specialist lets all visitors to the site know that s/he does more than check out books.

2. Collection – Some mention of the extent of the collection and circulation needs to be made. This may only be PR, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt to let everyone know how much, or sadly how little, the media center is utilized.

3. Policies and Procedures – Often parents are unfamiliar with the inner working of the media center. Having a listing of procedures for book checkout by students and lost book repayment policies would make these matters non-issues rather than areas of contention.

4. Graphics – These should be photographs and reflect what the room looks like, who works there, and show student work and students using the media center. Clip art should not be used if possible. Actual photographs are more effective.

5. Awards – If the site has won any web awards, these should be displayed lower down the page. While letting people know what awards have been given, if they have to scroll through a long list, their attention will wane during this process, and the usefulness of the site may be lost.

6. Table of Contents – This is literally a table. Rather than a long list of contents, a well-organized table which is linked to other site content is more useful and less visually overwhelming.

7. Last Updated – This notation should be conspicuously placed on the page and updated at least bi-monthly.

8. Color and Font – While wild colors and weird fonts can draw the eye, they are detractors for website users. The backgrounds should be muted or pastel. The font should be large enough to read and be a True Type Font. Unusual fonts cannot be recognized by all systems and the statement you are trying to make with the font is lost on the user. Font color should clearly stand out against the background color.

Links pages should include the following:

1. Curriculum Links – All the subjects taught should have links. Each subject should include links of use to parents, students, and teachers. These are the consumers of the site and should meet the needs of all the users. None of the sites viewed covered all areas of the curriculum. This is as if a library not having any books in the 600’s or books written by authors with a last name beginning with “L”. Each curriculum area should list at least six researched links with annotations. Few sites had more than two links for Math, and only one site annotated the links.

2. Research – Research links listed on the site should not require anyone to have to subscribe. This defeats the purpose of the link. There are enough free resources on the web that subscriptions shouldn’t be necessary. If the school does have a subscription, this needs to be noted with the link, so if someone outside the school should want to use the site, they will be aware that not all links may work.

3. Just For Fun – These sites should be entertaining, researched, and annotated for content. These would be the sites students would access without any particular academic reason. The site would be educational without looking sterile.

4. Public Library – The school media site should link to the local public library. The school media center cannot provide all the services or access to information that a student may need. These may be available online from the public library. A partnership of this type can only benefit everyone involved.

5. Search Engines – The links to various search engines needs to be determined by the population the media center serves. For elementary school, Yahooligans, KidsClick!, or Ask Jeeves for Kids are appropriate for students. These three sites are filtered. Typing in the word “sex” only returns clinical answers. Dirty words are rejected, thus making these search engines safe to use with younger children.