Media center web pages are a great resource for media specialist to create. It offers information 24/7 to teachers, students, and parents. The type of information found on media center web pages varies with each media specialist; however, there are certain areas that must be included. An introduction of the media center is helpful. It allows patrons to know the hours, staff, policies, and mission statement. Another key component is the resource links. These links help students access reliable information and show them how to cite it correctly. Plagiarism is another problem students encounter; therefore, links to plagiarism and copyright sites are a must.
A really great media center web page not only lists the above information, it gives additional information. Recently, I added a checkout/research calendar to my web page. I noticed teachers were constantly coming to the media center to see when they were scheduled to checkout books. One teacher even brought her kids on the wrong week. Now teachers simply check the calendar to see their library schedule. They can also reserve library time by simply sending me an email. Being able to search for books and reserving them at home is also helpful to students.
Some other links that are helpful are:
Booster Club, AR, Lexile, Reading bowl, and any other information pertinent to your school.
Remember, in order for a web page to be beneficial, it must be updated regularly.
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What a great idea to include a calendar for checkout/research to your web page. I have witnessed confusion on more than one occasion regarding this very thing. I even saw a substitute have misinformation and had her class in the media center on the wrong day. Fortunately she didn't let this cause her any stress! Having access to the calendar from the teachers' rooms would certainly help and eliminate error in transferring information. This will help save time and effort for both you and the teachers. I also like the idea of having copyright information available. Citation information and possibly a link to formatting tools might be useful as well.
ReplyDeleteHaving resource links for students and teachers is a critical need with all of today's technology. We have a series of databases available to our teachers and students which include Nettrekker, Brainpop, Kids Infobits, and Newbank. Having all of these resources accessed from the same spot on our webpage had helped increased their use. Also, we incorporated a calander which helps tremendously! We made the mistake at first of letting teachers enter their own times, etc. We found that because they don't use it frequently, they would make minor mistakes like putting in PM instead of AM. Also, the recurring feature on our calander is confusing to set up so weeks were getting out of sync. Since most classes (elementary) visit the library weekly the calander push was really just in the first few weeks of school and now it seldom has to be changed.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the idea of being able to reserve books from home. Right now we do not have that. Also, being able to access the latest copyright laws would be helpful. We hold students responsible but their are so many elements to multimedia etc, it becomes confusing for the students without a central place to go.