School Library Websites
 

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A school library website is an essential part of the library program. It’s an indispensable twenty-first century instructional tool.

A school library website is a

• guide to relevant, authoritative Web resources -- a virtual library

• a space to share ideas and solutions

• a vehicle for communications

• an opportunity to add to the current body of information

• a tool for teaching and learning

• a strategy to encourage students to explore, evaluate and organize information  

• an effective way to support classroom curriculum

School librarians use it to teach students, updating the information quickly and easily to target specific groups and content. One advantage of Web technology is the ability to update information instantaneously. This allows school librarians to keep information resources as current as possible, updating library home pages on a daily basis, if necessary. Just as a card catalog has been an essential tool for the school library, a home page plays an equally important role in the information age library. A library home page supports teaching, learning and research.

Developing school library home pages gives the school librarian the opportunity to provide leadership and valuable expertise in organizing original content produced within the school community and external links to other sites on the Internet. Librarians have the skill set to provide the best organization of information and provide quality control of Internet resources of value to the school community. The school librarian works with all curriculum areas and teachers, administrators and parents and can aid in the interaction and communication among groups.

It can be developed in two phases. The first phase focuses on developing objectives, deciding on content, design, layout and navigation. Phase two shifts the emphasis from building the foundation of a virtual library to developing strategies to use the website as an instructional tool to teach information literacy, promote reading and engage students in the inquiry learning process

Look at other school library websites and decide if they are a phase one (a virtual library website, a guide to relevant information on the Web) or phase two (an effective instructional strategy). 

Linda Bertland's School Libraries on the Web
Peter Milbury's Network of School Librarian Web Pages
IASL SCHOOL LIBRARY WEB PAGE AWARD Winners
Lawrence High School
Broadview Elementary