Creating a Library Website

This module, Creating a Library Website, is aimed primarily at teacher librarians who have decided or been asked to make their own website. The tone is personal and conversational and the activities and assessment practical.

This module will be of assistance to school librarians facing the challenge of designing and maintaining a school library website.

The increasing thrust towards new technologies in our world and our schools has changed the way we run our school libraries. Many principals perceive that websites can provide a useful public face for the school and its library. Consequently, many teacher librarians are being faced with the task of creating and maintaining a website for the library or the school. This may be overwhelming for a teacher librarian who has little or no knowledge of the web, website design, planning, authoring or implementation.

However, most school librarians already have the skills at hand that can be utilised. The construction of a website is merely an extension of these abilities. Once you recognise this, you can move on to considering the application of old skills to the new task of creating the website. Some of you will already have a website, and will be improving and developing this; others will never have tried. For each of you there is much to learn but you already have a head start by virtue of abilities and skills you already possess.

Objectives:

By the end of the module you should be able to:

recognise and build confidence in your existing abilities
map out plans
have the beginnings of a website

Structure of Module

You may choose to do the sections in a different order, once you complete the Vision section. Obviously, each section overlaps the others. The precise order is not important.

Vision and Philosophy and scope of the site Why are you creating your website?
Infrastructure What preparation can you make and what backup do you have? What kind of web authoring software will you use?
Audience: Who is your perceived or expected audience?
Content: What kind of things do you want to include? What do you want to provide for the users of the site?
Structure: How do you want the site organised?
Design: What kinds of sites appeal? What look do you want?
Evaluation: How will you judge your website? How will you know when you have succeeded?

Assessment

You will be required

to produce a portfolio of plans for your website
- based on an activity to be completed at the end of each section
- with an indication of your long term vision
- an introductory version of your website
continue contributions to your journal
make specific contributions to the Bulletin Board about this module

Look out for each activity near this sign at the conclusion of each section. Activity!!!