While I looked at all the websites in this week’s sandbox briefly, I chose two elementary school library websites and one middle school library website to examine in-depth. I think the virtual learning format that looks likely to happen this coming fall means that an excellent library website is a must. It will be the only way I can communicate with my students whose parents chose the entirely virtual option the school district is offering instead of the hybrid option. I updated my website this spring to offer some at-home options for my students, but I feel excited about adding ideas inspired by this class with tools I’d never heard of before and the websites I looked at this week. The website I was proud of before this class started (https://www.staffordschools.net/Page/2421) now looks lame, and I’m excited to use some of the great ideas I saw to overhaul it, as all I’ve done so far is add my Bitmoji library.

THE MAKALAPA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LIBRARY WEBSITE

The Makalapa Elementary School Library website https://makalapalibrary.weebly.com/ is appealing – bright and colorful with enough white space to keep it from being overwhelming. I first clicked through the links on the Home tab starting with the Library News Page – the end of year report infographic is genius. It is a great way to show students, parents, and administrators what’s going on in the library and using this appealing infographic is an awesome way to do it! This is excellent PR and a good way to encourage funding. I also like the video on selecting a book along with the 5 finger rule infographic and I LOVED the video on using a shelf marker that I found on the Hours and Rules page!

Makalapa also has a several excellent resource databases (PebbleGo, WorldBook Online, and Britannica Online School Edition along with a few others) as well as a Tumble Books subscription. These might be useful as school resumes in part or in whole online, depending on if students are able to use them outside of the school building. There is also a very extensive collection of free websites that have already been vetted and linked on the page – such a well-organized, curated list!

The Makerspace tab is wonderful – such a fun chance to see what these students have done with the challenges they’ve been given. That said, I wouldn’t feel comfortable using pictures in which my students’ faces are visible, so I’ll have to figure out how to photograph things like our OzoBot projects and MakeyMakey challenges while preserving their privacy. (This is not to say that the librarian there doesn’t have permission, it’s just not something I’m comfortable with on a public website as a mom or a librarian.)

THE NEWBURY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LIBRARY MEDIA CENTER WEBSITE

The Newbury Elementary School Library Media Center website https://neslibrary.weebly.com/ is very different from the Makalapa website, but it also has some excellent elements that will certainly serve as inspiration. I particularly like the way that the website has individual pages for K-2, 3-4, and 5-6 and I am impressed with the breadth of the Symbaloo created for each of the grade groupings – it is a good way to make resources easily accessible and the fact that Symbaloos work with icon buttons instead of just text means that even the youngest students can use them! I am encouraged to offer many more resources on the Symbaloo I posted and possibly differentiate by grade levels to make them as targeted as possible.

Newbury, like Makalapa, offers list of its library policies, which would be helpful not just for students but also parents and teachers who are new to the building. I also love that this website suggests that parents are welcome to contact the librarian to volunteer. I think I’d like to use a Google form on my website as a way for prospective volunteers to get in touch and indicate their scheduling preferences.

My favorite aspect of this site is the Summer Reading Padlet that appears at the bottom of the home page. This allows students share what they are reading this summer and comment on their peers’ posts.

THE SOUTH ORANGE MIDDLE SCHOOL MEDIA CENTER WEBSITE

The South Orange Middle School Media Center Website https://www.somslibrarymediacenter.org/ has a welcoming video message from the librarian that serves as a virtual tour of the space and discusses its policies while familiarizing the viewer with the library’s collection. The SOMS site also has a comprehensive list of distance learning websites and resources. There are several subscription services, but the usernames and passwords are directly under the link which will enable the students to use them whether they are in the school building or online at home. The links are large and colorful logos which is both appealing and attention grabbing.

This middle school website also provides a link to the library media center website of the high school these students will attend so that they can also use the resources provided there. This is a great idea any time, not just in our current situation. Anything we can do to make students comfortable in the library as they move from elementary to middle school and from middle to high school is worth doing. The same goes for sharing the public library information on school library webpages. The more familiarity with libraries both online and in-person we can give our students, the better. Kids like what they know and are comfortable with, so we should endeavor to bolster their knowledge of and comfort with libraries.