Your Library Goes Virtual:
Why? When? How?
Audrey Church
Longwood University
2005 VEMA Fall Conference
Session Description:
We live in a digital environment.
Students access information
differently than they once did.
Will libraries survive as place, or
will they become information space?
Why should you provide virtual
service for your patrons?
Our Goal
“Assisting students to become
successful learners as well as
supporting teachers in their efforts
to create and craft meaningful
learning experiences for their
students—and to do this within the
context of a contemporary
information environment…”
David Warlick, Knowledge Quest,
January/February, 2005.
U.S. National Center for
Education Statistics
“School Library Media Centers: Selected
Results from the Education Longitudinal
Study of 2002 (ELS:2002)”
Sample of 15,525 10th graders in 752 schools
“Found a significant correlation between student
test scores and their use of the school library—
students with higher test scores reported higher
use of library resources for assignments, inschool projects and research papers, than those
students whose composite test scores were in the
lower range”
Welcome to uComics Web Site featuring Baldo!
Retrieved February 25, 2005, from http://www.ucomics.com/baldo/2005/02/24/
Who Needs School?
OR…Who Needs Libraries?
Born to be Wired: The Role of New
Media for a Digital Generation,
Yahoo study, June 2003
Key Finding: The Internet has
become THE youth medium of
choice…time spent with the Internet
now exceeds the time spent with the
television for the “Millennial”
generation, youths aged 13 to 24”
The Digital Disconnect:
The Widening Gap Between Internet
Savvy Students and Their Schools,
Pew Internet & American Life Project, August 2002
Virtually all middle and high school
students use the Internet heavily to do
research to help them write papers or
complete class work or homework
assignments…as virtual textbook and
reference library…For the most part,
students’ educational use of the Internet
occurs outside of the school day, outside of
the school building, outside the direction
of their teachers…
Teens, Technology, and School
Pew Internet & American Life Project, August 2005
87% of all youth between the ages of
12 and 17 use the Internet.
Of these 21 million online teens,
78% say they use the Internet at school
87% say they use the Internet from
home
75% say they use the Internet from
someone else’s house
“Net Generation
Students and Libraries,”
from Educating the Net Generation, 2005
Major Disconnect:
“Students’ dependence on Google or
similar search engines for discovery of
information resources rather than
consultation of library Web pages,
catalogs, and databases…”
“Net Gen students clearly perceive the
open space of the World Wide Web as
their information universe.”
Make the
Library
Connection!
Scenario 1:
Brandon realizes that his biology
research project on genetics is due
tomorrow. It is Sunday evening,
6:00 PM. No problem! He logs on
to the Internet, opens his Web
browser, does a quick Google search
on genetics, prints out information
from a few dotcom sites, and he is
good to go.
Scenario 2:
Brandon realizes that his biology research project on
genetics is due tomorrow. It is Sunday evening, 6:00
PM. No problem! He logs on to the Internet, opens his
Web browser, goes to his school library web site,
clicks on the pathfinder created collaboratively by his
library media specialist and classroom teacher. Using
their suggestions, he finds basic information in an
encyclopedia through Grolier Online and journal
articles and newsletters from the SIRS Knowledge
Source and Infotrac Student Edition. Through the
library’s online catalog, he reads portions of a few
Follett eBooks on genetics. To finish off his research,
he visits a couple of the web sites suggested in the
pathfinder. Works cited? Referring to the works cited
section of the school library web site, he soon has his
references listed in complete MLA format.
Make the Library
Connection:
The School Library
Media Center Web
Page
What to Include?
Information Access
and Delivery
Online Catalog
CCPS OPAC
Hampton High OPAC
North Elementary OPAC
Subscription Databases
School and/or Division
Western Albemarle High
Damascus Middle
FindItVa
Reference Collection
Gale Virtual Reference
Library
Greenwood eBooks
Sample list
Internet Public Library
Librarian’s Internet Index
Local Links
Libraries
Public
Local colleges and
universities
State
Local government
Information Access
and Delivery
Website collections
Nettrekker
MarcoPolo
WebFeet
Professional
collection
Kathy Schrock
Eduscapes
Library of Congress
Learning Page
National Digital
Science Library
VDOE/SOL resources
Ebooks
Project Gutenberg
Bartleby.com
International
Children’s Digital
Library
Follett eBooks
NetLibrary subject
sets
Learning and Teaching
Information literacy
skills instruction
Elementary tutorial
High school
instruction
Search tools and
their effective usage
Research process
guides
Citations and ethical
use of information
Reading
Book lists
AR lists
Book reviews
Online book
clubs/Blogs
Pathfinders
Manchester High
WebQuests
Ask-a-Librarian
Email
Chat
Program Administration
Program mission
and goals
Information about
upcoming events
Information about
past library events
Staff
Contact
information
Hours/Policies/
Procedures
Impact studies
Parents’ Page
Link to school and
division pages
Forms
Sample Pages
Elementary
Mt. Erie Elementary, Anacortes, WA
Agnor Hurt Elementary, Charlottesville. VA
Middle
Walter Reed Middle, Los Angeles, CA
Virtual Middle School Library
High School
Thomas Dale High, Chester, VA
Springfield Township High, Erdenheim, PA
Considerations
Audience?
Content?
Design?
Media and format?
Layout?
Invite returns?
Link from school page!
Put URL on everything!
Multilingual?
Gunston Middle School, Arlington, VA
Good Web Design
Design consistent with school page?
User-friendly? Easy to navigate?
User-centered wording?
Font readability? Effective use of
graphics?
Important information in upper left hand
corner, across, left, and across?
Scrolling required? Continue text “below
fold”?
Universally accessible
Run through Bobby/Watchfire
What NOT to Include!
Login and password information for
databases
Outdated or soon-to-be outdated
information
Pictures that are extremely slow to
load
Depending on division policy,
photos of students?
Think Before You Include…
Long Flash animations at the opening of
the site?
Music or sound not easily controlled?
Frames?
Distracting animated gifs?
Links that don’t work?
Poor grammar, punctuation, or spelling?
Unpleasant/unreadable colors and
fonts?
Alternatives?
Much of this through the OPAC?
Link to eBook, following title search
Link to Web site, following subject
search
Federated searching software
(common user interfaces to facilitate
metasearching) such as TLC’s
WebFeat
Some statistics…
Linked from school’s home page!
Midway Elementary, Church Road, VA
Williamsburg Middle, Arlington, VA
King’s Fork High School, Suffolk, VA
Baumbach study, Spring 2004
School library media center web sites
(FL, NC, SC, GA, AL, MS)
State
No link from
school home
page
Link to SLMC
from school
home page
Total
Florida
12
8
20
North Carolina 14
6
20
South
Carolina
13
7
20
Georgia
12
8
20
Alabama
19
1
20
Mississippi
18
2
20
Six States
88 (73%)
32 (27%)
120 (100%)
School Library
Web Page Links
Virginia Department of Education
Library Media section
School-Libraries.Net
International Association of School
Librarians Award winners
HOW?
Write in html? Use FrontPage,
DreamWeaver, Netscape Composer,
Microsoft Publisher?
Load it (have it loaded) to the
school/division server.
Follow division policies and procedures
Page content
Page layout
WHY?
Library Web page is library’s presence
outside of school…
Page provides opportunity for teachers
and parents to see you as information
specialist
Page is public relations/advocacy tool
with administrators, teachers, students,
and parents
Page connects you to curriculum and
instruction of school, at point of need!
“Create a Web site to serve the
community and to provide that
community with essential
content…”
Carolyn Karis, Knowledge Quest,
January/February 2005
Herring’s Internet and Information
Skills: A Guide for Teachers and
School Librarians, 2004
Plan the Web site to serve users’ needs
Locate resources and designs to serve
needs
Use design resources to effectively convey
information and resources to users
Self-evaluate to maintain quality and
effectiveness of Web site
“The goal of a Web site should be
to make the school library media
center and its Web page the first
choice of information by students
and teachers. Do whatever it
takes to make it happen.”
Donna Baumbach, Knowledge Quest,
January/February 2005
Resources
Abilock, D. (2005, January/February).
“Focus on the user,” Knowledge Quest
33(3), 6-7.
Baumbach, D. (2005,
January/February). “The school library
media center web page: An opportunity
too good to miss,” Knowledge Quest
33(3), 8-12.
Born to be wired: The role of new media
for a digital generation. (2003).
Retrieved February 17, 2005, from
http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/pr
omo/btbw_2003/btbw_execsum.pdf
Blowers, H., & Bryan, R. (2004).
Weaving a library web: A guide to
developing children’s websites. Chicago:
ALA.
Davidsen, S., & Yankee, E. (2004). Web
site design with the patron in mind: A
step-by-step guide for libraries. Chicago:
ALA.
The digital disconnect: The widening gap
between Internet-savvy students and
their schools. (2002). Retrieved February
25, 2005, from
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/67/r
eport_display.asp
Herring, J.E. (2004). Internet and
information skills: A guide for teachers
and school librarians. New York: NealSchuman.
Karis, C. (2005, January/February).
“Booking library web site redesign,”
Knowledge Quest 33(3), 58-61.
Lippincott, J.K. (2005). “Net generation
students and libraries” in Educating the
Net Generation. Retrieved October 31,
2005, from
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf
/pub7101m.pdf
School library media centers: Selected
results from the Education Longitudinal
Study of 2002. (2002). Retrieved March
3, 2005, from
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.a
sp?pubid=2005302
Tapscott, D. (1998). Growing up digital:
The rise of the net generation. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Teens, technology, and school. Retrieved
October 31, 2005, from
http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_In
ternet_and_schools_05.pdf
Warlick, D. (2005, January/February).
“Building web sites that work for your
media center,” Knowledge Quest 33(3),
13-15.
Wilson, A. P. (2004). Library web sites:
Creating online collections and services.
Chicago: ALA.
Contact Information:
Audrey Church
Coordinator, School Library Media Program,
Longwood University, Farmville, VA
Email: churchap@longwood.edu
Phone: 434-395-2682
Web page:
http://www.longwood.edu/staff/churchap