LIBE 465: Assignment 1
Richmond Christian School is an independent school consisting of over 900 students from Preschool to Grade 12. The school has three libraries; one at each campus including the Elementary, Middle School, and Secondary. Richmond Christian Secondary Library services over 300 students and 30 teachers and functions as a library, computer lab, study hall, and classroom for specific subjects. The library is open 8am to 4pm and runs on a flexible schedule. This school year will be the first year the school has a trained Teacher Librarian. As the new TL, one of the goals I have for the library is to develop a strong online presence in the form of a library web page. The school currently uses the Destiny Home Page as its online space. Students can access this from home directly through Destiny, but it is not linked to the school web site. I have chosen this site as my area of focus for re-organization.
Rationale:
During a Collection Evaluation I conducted for LIBE 463, I discovered through a student survey that students overwhelmingly prefer turning to websites for their informational needs with 90% surveyed saying they look to the internet first and a mere 10% saying they access books. Professional research supports this. Prevost in his article “Online collections are essential: Collaborative collections in elementary school libraries” states, “When students were asked how they like to get their information for school assignments, the Internet was cited as the main source (over books from the library)” (Prevost, 2009, p. 10). The student survey I conducted also revealed that 100% of students never access the school developed web links when searching at home. I feel strongly that as TL’s we must respond to this by providing a vibrant, engaging, well-organized virtual library consisting of excellent resources that support the curriculum which students can easily access (and will understand the value of accessing) from both school and home.
Plan:
I began by assessing the current online home page; highlighting what I liked and marking areas of question. I found the sub-heading “Destiny- the one stop for all your research” catchy as this slogan is meant to get users excited about using this compiled source and have them see its value. However, I feel this could be pushed further by creating a more visually engaging space that can incorporate more multi-media in the form of images, avatars, videos, and so on.
Works Cited:
I began by assessing the current online home page; highlighting what I liked and marking areas of question. I found the sub-heading “Destiny- the one stop for all your research” catchy as this slogan is meant to get users excited about using this compiled source and have them see its value. However, I feel this could be pushed further by creating a more visually engaging space that can incorporate more multi-media in the form of images, avatars, videos, and so on.
I also liked many of the headings including Research Tools, Ebsco & Gale Databases, Popular Magazines, Bible Links and the section for Parents, Students and Teachers. On the website I plan to create, I would choose to separate Parents, Students, and Teachers into their own individual sections along with another major heading: Subjects. I would then organize the existing headings as sub-headings into these four main categories using drop-down tabs. I also feel the main page should include a Vision and Purpose for the library that outlines the goals of the RCS School Library and the services offered.
One question I had about the site was why there was a heading for Socials 9 and WWII but not for other grades or topics. I had the chance to discuss this with the former librarian and she explained that specific teachers sought out collaboration and requested these resources be compiled. I would like to expand this and include other grades and subject areas, to more broadly meet the needs of the students and teachers.
I obviously understand that the development of a vibrant and resource rich virtual space will take time. The first step of the process is determining what platform I will use; I am contemplating Snap Pages or Weebly. I also need to develop a strong sense of the curriculum and hope to, by September, develop a curriculum overview map to help me begin to do this. Finding quality resources to link to will prove to be a time consuming process. I plan to research other school library web pages to glean ideas, as well as conduct my own research, and ask teachers for suggestions in a Library Survey I will send out at the start of the year. I plan to add resources in small chunks, focusing on one subject area at a time- starting with Social Studies, as we currently have some resources in that area.
Once the website is complete, I will link it to the Destiny Home Page, eliminating redundant information from that site. I would also love for it to be linked directly to the school homepage to provide easy access for students, staff and interested parties. This may prove to be a challenge, as I believe this is a step that requires board approval and can only be made by a certain person.
I plan to show the website to teachers at our first staff meeting, asking for their input, and follow up with them as more resources are added. I also plan to present it to students at their library orientation sessions. Furthermore, I hope to do a fun promotional activity, Reading Paparazzi, posting images of community members “caught” reading around the school, as a means of encouraging people to check the site more frequently in search of their photo.
I plan to show the website to teachers at our first staff meeting, asking for their input, and follow up with them as more resources are added. I also plan to present it to students at their library orientation sessions. Furthermore, I hope to do a fun promotional activity, Reading Paparazzi, posting images of community members “caught” reading around the school, as a means of encouraging people to check the site more frequently in search of their photo.
As I prepare to make changes, I will keep in mind the CASL standards for communications through I.C.T. which state: "The school library website provides access to automated library catalogue with online booking, resources for students, comprehensive databases, school library information, and links." (Asselin, 2006, p.49.). All in all, I feel having a strong virtual space that students and teachers want to access and see the value in accessing will increase the use of the quality online resources we already have and encourage myself, as the new TL, to continue adding to an area dictated by student demand and a technologically driven world on the whole.
Works Cited:
Asselin, M., Branch, J., & Oberg, D., (Eds). Achieving Information Literacy: Standards
for School Library Programs in Canada. Ottawa: ON: Canadian School Library
Association & The Association for Teacher Librarianship in Canada.
Prevost, E. (2009). Online collections are essential: Collaborative collections in elementary school libraries. Literacies, Learning, and Libraries, 2(1), 7-11.
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