Reflections on my School Library Website Design

    The school library webpage that I developed was for a hypothetical school. While the school is hypothetical, I used subscriptions and local information from my current school in Fort Mill, SC.   I was hesitant and nervous about creating my own website.  The website evaluations proved beneficial from earlier in the semester, garnering the information and material I wanted to include on my library website.  I appreciated working on the website in increments, mulling over the decisions, and then going back to the website to add additional tweaks. It was a definite process for me to channel my creativity and incorporate aspects of library websites that I discovered helpful.  

     I geared the website towards an elementary school that operates on a fixed rotation schedule for related arts.  The school that I currently work in operates on this schedule and it is what I am most comfortable with.  I included this schedule on the website because I found it important for students, caregivers, and teachers to reference when they will be visiting the library, based on the specific color day.  Another aspect that I found helpful from other websites was the insight into the library functions and news.  I included this in a section with pictures from the library and student involvement.  For student resources, I included links and descriptions to the online catalog, so that they could research from school or at home the books available to them in the school library.  In addition, I included the SC Discus link, which is a school subscription, that could assist with research needs with a plethora of resources.  Teacher resources included my digital curation project on makerspaces, which could help teachers incorporate makerspaces into their classrooms.  Also, teacher resources included videos to use with students on citation basics, logging into our digital account of SORA for the first time, and a video on how to use the SC Discus subscription.  The parent section of the website caused me to ponder what information I would appreciate from my children’s school library.  I included an article for caregivers on helping their children appreciate and enjoy reading and a link to our local library webpage.  In addition, I think that parents must help their students with digital citizenship. I included resources for caregivers on digital citizenship and how they can help their children with their online presence. Finally, I included a link to a survey for caregivers who are interested in volunteer work in the library.  I would like to stress the importance of caregivers’ involvement in the library to increase exposure to the library and the events.  

    I feel that I did not include a few items on the website pertaining to the curriculum standards.  I did not include curriculum-based resources only because the school was hypothetical, and I am not currently working as a librarian with other grade-level teachers.  Collaboration with grade-level teachers is an aspect of elementary education that I am most interested in pursuing. I foresee myself including this information on the library website when I am employed as an elementary school librarian.  In addition, I did not include a social media account with the minimum posts.  This is another aspect that I am excited about creating with my future library.  As we have learned and discussed in class, social media has a vast potential for community outreach.  This is another element that I will be incorporating into my future website.

    In conclusion, the process of developing a library website was daunting at first. But as I broke it down into smaller increments and pondered the elements that I wanted to include, the process became more manageable.  The link for my website is:   https://myoviparousanimalresearch.my.canva.site/welcome-to#page-0