Ashley Sherman
MEDT 7477
Blog #3- MC Web Pages: The Power
of the Media Specialist
The whole point in creating
a web page or an entire website is to gain an audience and attempt to appeal to
that audience using the best methods possible. Media specialists need to consider the most effective
methods possible to promote the usage and traffic on the media center web page.
What information needs to be provided to the patrons? How can I promote a
variety of elements that are present on the SLMC web page? There are many factors
to consider, and students are not the only user group that needs to be
targeted; parents, teachers, and administrators may need to visit the web page
for information as well.
First, it is important to
ensure the web page is kept as updated as possible. Many times I visit web
pages for media centers (or just the entire school), and the web pages are
significantly outdated. If the information is current, the visitors or users
will know they can continuously check back to the page because it provide them
with current information and resources. According to Jurkowski (2010), “The
advantage of the library website is the immediacy of updates” (p. 69). Media
specialists have the opportunity (and power) to update the users quickly and
effectively regarding any changes or updates to the media center or the media
program.
The downfall to keeping the
media center web page updated (that I’ve found most common) is that the media
specialists are not the ones who make the changes or have admin privileges to
the web page. Fortunately, there are other FREE resources out there for media
specialists. They could simply provide the administrator for the web page or
the school page with the direct link to the media center blog, wiki, or other web
source. By creating their own space for the media center web page, the media
specialist may even have more control over the collaborative efforts with
teachers and students. Perhaps the media specialist wants to start a digital
book club for avid readers, the media specialist would be able to do this with
a wiki where students can comment and interact in a safe, controlled, online
environment.
While keeping an updating
web page is important, the information and links located on the web page are
equally important as well. The media specialist wants to provide their users
and web page visitors with the most information and the most useful information as possible without
overwhelming the user. Too much information, or disorganized information and
details could distract a student searching for the GALILEO password or the list
of teacher blogs. Warlick’s article, “Building Web Sites That Work For Your
Media Center” (2005), provides advice when constructing the media center web
page or web site. Some tips include: indent the content and use headings and
subheadings, “keep paragraphs short,” bullet any lists you have, use a variety
of fonts-but use the different fonts when needed, add “eye magnets” that
capture the user’s attention (p. 14-15). All of these elements will help increase
the ease and usability of the media center web page or web source.
Additionally, some elements
to avoid on a media center web page include selecting fonts or type that aren’t
easy to read. Another mistake to avoid includes not being able to easily
navigate through the web site or the web page; there should be a clear area
(preferably to one side) that includes the titles of the links or other pages available.
While the physical layout
and look of the web page are important, the media specialist needs to ensure the
information provided is pertinent and relevant to the users. The students,
parents, teachers, or administrators are probably searching for something specific
when they visit the page, and the media specialist should ensure they can find whatever
they are searching for easily and quickly.
References:
Jurkowski, O. (2010). Technology and the School Library: A
Comprehensive Guide for Media Specialists and Other Educators. Lanham:
Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Warlick, D. (2005). Building
Web Sites That Work For Your Media Center. Knowledge
Quest. 33:3,
pp. 13-16, January /February 2005.
I wholeheartedly agree with everything said about layout. As much as individuals would like to admit that content overshadows aesthetics, it is simply untrue. There are plenty of content rich websites (many of them being school and media center pages) that are so saturated that the user has no idea which place to look first. While earning my bachelors, I can remember my digital design teacher saying that SEO (search engine optimization) is a wonderful thing because it can help get eyballs to your site, but to never forget that it is your responsibility to also keep those same eyes interested in your site. There is so many times when I hear teachers or my media specialist say that something was listed on the website and the student or teacher did not see it. Regardless of whether or not the content was actually on the page, the question is, was the content presented in a user friendly manner? Organization is critical and ease of use even more.
ReplyDeleteI learned a lot from David Warlick's article too! As I'm searching other media web sites, just as you stated in your post, it's frustrating to click on a resource and find it's outdated. Or, look at the date of the media page and it's been several years since they have updated any information. I agree with you that the information on the media page needs to be relevant to your stakeholders. I've seen a lot of pages that look too busy! I liked your idea of having a digital book club using a wiki that students can get to from the media page. Also, in this day and age of accountability-having a media web page as part of your documentation is a good thing to keep in mind.
ReplyDeleteRemembering all of the stakeholders who might use your Media Center website is important to the success of the site. One must include things that each of these groups would find useful. If there is nothing for parents, I'm not sure they will take much time to review the site on a regular basis. It is so much more than getting people to look at the site one time. You want them to want and NEED to come back often.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with Ashley, Vickie and Casey about outdated sites being frustrating, I have found the problem for me is finding time to keep a site updated. I use Weebly for my media center website, and so I never have to wait for changes from a website administrator to update the media center website. Updates are automatic as soon as you click "publish". The more details in a media center website, the more time it takes to check all the links are still in working order. I would like to find a volunteer that might help me review the site on a weekly basis. Maybe I could create a checklist that I could give the volunteer to use to guide their review of the site? If I have a parent volunteer that can't come into the media center but would like to help from home, this might be the perfect job for him or her. This assignment got me searching for a solution to website issues. Hmmm -- I wonder if this will work??
I like the idea of having a blog on the media center website. If the media center or school has a Twitter account, you could post a tweet that alerts followers that there is a new blog post. A link to the blog could be inserted in the tweet as well. While I haven't tried this yet, I have noticed some of the media specialist I follow on Twitter doing this exact thing.
One aspect of the layout of MC webpages you discuss is linking to outside sources such as wikis, especially when the MS does not administrative rights (or as much as they would like) to the initial webpage. I have seen this backfire on a couple of occasions when the number of links to outside sources becomes overwhelming and impossible to keep updated. I have also visited webpages that send you to a blog which then sends you to a wiki...very frustrating trying to navigate through even when the intention is good! I am all about "less is more" as my attention span seems to be deteriorating as I continue to hang out with 4th graders...
ReplyDeleteI like your opening sentence about the point of a website being the audience. It really emphasizes the point of what a website is. When someone develops as website they have a clear goal of what the achievement will be from the website. The media center website is supposed to be a tool for its patrons. Therefore it needs to be as effective as possible. In order to make sure this is accomplished a lot of thought needs to be put into the creation process. I agree that students are not the only focus of the website. I am in an elementary school and these students need a lot of support with technology at this age. The media center website is a perfect place to communicate with parents and provide tools they need for the extra support at home. Your first point about webpages being up to date is a key factor in getting patrons involved. If users can tell it is updated regularly then it will be used more often. How many times have you gone to a site that is out of date and decided you won’t go back? We feel that it wastes our time, so we move on. I can see how the media specialist not having control of the site would be difficult. When you have to go through another person to update a website this delays the process and can sometimes become such a headache that it is not done as often as it should be. Luckily when I discussed this with my media specialist they have complete access. I am not the current media specialist, but I am on the technology team for our school. I am able to take part in updating the media site. The main point that I liked about your post was that media websites need to be organized in a user friendly way. I think a great idea would be to post an optional survey on the site for users to take. This way you can have continuous feedback to help improve your media site.
ReplyDeleteAshley,
ReplyDeleteI wanted to add to what you said about media specialists struggling to keep their websites up-to-date. Not only do some media specialists not have administrative rights to the website, others (especially those who are the sole staff member in the media center) simply do not have time to keep it up-to-date. According to Jurkowski (2006) media center webpages are most likely to be kept up-to-date when there is more than one staff member in the media center. Keeping up with the daily activities in the media center is so challenging that a website update may seem insignificant or, at least, it can seem like something that can wait. Yet, in this technological age, the website really is the face of the media center. My media specialist has a full-time paraprofessional, and she also has student aides that report to her during 1st, 3rd, and 7th periods. Student aides are ideal for checking that the media webpage is up-to-date and that all links are working properly. The media center website should be exciting, useful, and accessible. This can only be the case when the webpage is kept up-to-date.
A webpage is great to have in a media center. As it was mention, a webpage should not be only for the students but for all of the learning community. Parents and teachers can benefit from having a webpage. Parents can view the webpage to find out what is happening in the media center. Students can use the media webpage to add their ideas and their views on a book.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that the webpage needs to be updated. It does not look professional to view a webpage and the information is old and outdated. People will not look at the webpage if the information is outdated. I will not read an articles or a topic if the fonts is too small. This is very important that the media center make sure the font is a size that makes the readers want to read the article.
A webpage can be use for several other vital reasons. A webpage can be use to updated the stakeholders on what is going on in the media center and what is needed to help make the media center more productive. The community people can found out about the media center and learn what is happening in the media center.
A webpage can be very important to a media specialist. This tool is a great way to communicate with anyone who will read it.
You speak about knowing what information needs to be provided to the patron and this is the key to creating a website that will be used. Collaborating with teachers is one of the most effective ways to learn about what students need. Meeting with parents on a regular basis helps the media specialist know what their needs are.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with your comment about keeping webpages up to date. Unfortunately, many teachers are required to produce a webpage but unless they buy into the usefulness of webpages many teachers’ pages remain stagnant. As you noted Jurkowski (2020) related the importance of frequent updates. It is helpful if the one who maintains the website has the skill set to make changes. It is also helpful if the site they are required to use is user friendly. Years ago, our school district used FrontPage and it was very easy to maintain. We now use SharePoint and updating not as easy as it was with FrontPage.
When adding resource links it is important that these links are checked periodically to make sure they are still active. Nothing is more frustrating than opening up several dead links in a row.