First of all, I appear to be trending toward bankrupt clichés for my blog post titles. So be it. Expect further post titles to inquire about missing beef and mental calculations performed beyond the bounds of a shape consisting of four even sides.
Whatever. My post title was inspired by the Valenza blog entry about school library web sites. Valenza asks how the sites are changing, but with so many Live Web/Web 2.0 applications emerging, I'm asking myself this: Just what is the purpose of a school library website these days, anyway?
Here's what I think: It's best used as a marketing tool for the school. I think nowadays, more than anything, a school library website should be beautiful. Really. Here's a link to my ideal elementary school website. It was made by a colleague (and Simmons alum!) from Marlboro Elementary School. My friend used Wordpress to make the Marlboro site. It's not on the district's server. I plan to model my Academy Library site on what the Marlboro librarian did.
Compare that site to this. I spent only about ten minutes with Google getting the URL for that random elementary school. Sure, there's current information and links and such, but the design--blech. And it's so typical of any elementary school website, with it's clunky graphics, moving images and presentation of information that isn't so much useful as it is symbolic, or representative, of the school. Valenza describes it as a "lack of purpose." So well put, really.
And I think many school library sites have never had much of a purpose, and therefore, years later, not one member of a school community -- students, staff, or parents -- have any expectations for, or make any demands on, the School's library site. How many users are really going to consult the school website to find out if there will be tater tots or tossed salad on the menu the next day? Honestly, what kind of expectations do you expect visitors to have when you offer useless information like cafeteria menu links?
So, I aim to change expectations of what kind of information a website visitor will find, and most importantly, how that information is presented. Most folks from this area of Vermont would expect Marlboro Elementary to have the website that it does. It's a tony community with highly educated citizens. Very mud and caviar. But I doubt anyone would expect Academy School to have such an elegant website. That's just not the school's reputation. Another grammar school in town has an OK site. But then again, this school is smaller than Academy and has more of what I call the Viewers Like You crowd.
But guess what? Academy’s going to get an elegant website from me. I really believe the school's image will change when I update the website. And of course, it won't just look pretty. I will have resources and links galore for students doing homework. But ultimately, it's most important to create a website that will increasingly be many people’s first impression of the school, and we all know, you only get one chance to make a first impression!
Cliché’s Rock!!
3 comments:
A cliche that fits in this context, defnitely.
The main question is what is the library web site for - who is the audience and what is the purpose. Then the question needs to be what's the best way to meet the goals for a particular audience.
I find that lots of schools try to be everything to everyone and that's pretty impossible.
What do you want the purpose of your school library's site to be and who is going to be your primary audience?
My primary audience will be the community--the town, and in particular, the families who go to Academy.
The site will have photos and brief write-ups on library events, write-ups on new books, links to sites on literacy.
I'm making a wiki for teachers and staff, so the web site will not be a portal of information, just a showpiece for the school.
Great question, Linda. Helps me keep my goals for the site in focus.
You know, I've looked at many school websites and thought the same exact thing...this site is goofy and just not very useful. Why do so many schools want us to know what's for lunch? I guess we'll never know. I completely agree with the fact that many schools need to figure out that websites should serve the school community and they must figure out a way of communicating with parents and students. I hope that once I'm a school librarian that I can set an example by running an awesome library site with helpful links and daily updates, which will be easy to do since we now have blogs.
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