What makes an exemplary school library media website? If you’re planning to revise your school library media website this summer, be sure to look at Joyce Valenza’s blog. She recently submitted her dissertation on the topic and is getting ready to defend it. She looked at how school library media websites have been changing since 1996. Here are the questions she was hoping to answer with her study:
1. What models of exemplary practice exist in school library websites?
2. What common features are presented in sites representing exemplary practice?
3. What common organizational structures and design characteristics are employed in exemplary school library sites?
4. From the models observed in sites identified as exemplary practice, can a functional descriptive taxonomy of features be developed?
5. How are school library sites evolving? How do the features and services offered by exemplary sites in 2006 differ from the state-of-the-art of the randomly selected sites last studied by Clyde in 2002?
6. To what extent do exemplary school library websites present features devoted to: information access and delivery, learning and teaching, and program administration, as expressed in the context of the current national standards document Information Power (AASL & AECT, 1998)?
She discusses what she found in several posts–so far–and I’m sure there will be more. Interesting findings and some great ideas for your own work here!
Here’s just a quote she made after reflecting on her dissertation topic about her own site–which I think is EXCELLENT!!
“I must rethink my website. My study convinced me that it is time to do some shifting. I am going to spend some of my summer making the site more interactive. I am going to move many of my pathfinders to wiki format to facilitate easy updates and to encourage collaboration. Pathfinders ought to be wikis!” (quoted from Joyce Valenza on her end of the year reflections via her blog.)
Yes, Joyce is the “founding mother” of TeacherLibrarianNing, and she’s also just added an LM_NET annex, a wiki-based site where you can upload and download files. (You can’t do that in LM_NET so check out the annex.) Some good stuff there already from some of our colleagues who are willing to share! Booklists, lesson plans, handouts, pathfinders, etc.
Thanks Donna of Sunlink Blog. You are moving way up on my blog radar as a favorite!
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