[aisle] library webpages

[Amy Grabowski]

 Hi Carla,I thought the same thing!  Now more than ever I wanted our website to be effective.  I just published the first phase of my new site, it took me about 2 days to get it completed.  Its nothing fancy, but my goal was a simple, effective, scalable, and user-friendly site.  Our school is about 75% in person, so my first goal was to get a solid foundation in place for the new site, and then to reach out to the in person and remote teachers to see what they think and what I can add/modify to support them all.  https://sites.google.com/itasca10.org/franzenlibrary/home
These were my main takeaways from the process, in case you're interested:

- Leaving the school's content management system - Our CMS was not supportive of the type of site I wanted to create, it needed to be user friendly enough for me to make changes often in order to keep it up to date.  It also needed to support a modern look and feel and use responsive design.  I moved to Google Sites and am happy with the decision.- Starting with a strong site map/menu structure as the basis - I took the existing links and information on our site and the new information I wanted to add and basically created an outline/sitemap in a google doc.  This helped make it clear what the main menu items should be before actually starting to build the site.  I tried to highlight the core functions of my library (at this point in time) as the main menu items, while keeping in mind the need for growth and change.  I tried not to get too hung up on this though, in the end, if I do need to modify, it won't be hard since its in Google Sites now.  - Steal from others! - As always, the librarian community has so much information.  I looked at other school library websites and used them for inspiration to build something that would work specifically for my community.  (Shout out to the original creator of the Bluestem bookshelf idea, I added a Thinglink version to my website, kids saw it today and said, 'That is so cool!', so thanks!!!)- Simplicity of content - I tried to use images, buttons, and links effectively and to be as concise as possible with blocks of text.  My goal was for users to find what they need with a quick glance, I knew that too much information would make the site just as bad as not enough information.
It was super satisfying to get the new site up, I'm going to start introducing it to kids and staff in the next couple of weeks, so that will be the real test!
Good luck!-Amy

    On Wednesday, September 9, 2020, 03:26:45 PM CDT, Buell, Carla via AISLE <aisle at list.railslibraries.info> wrote:  
 
  
Has anyone recreated their webpages for their school library to reflect new ways of learning due to COVID? If so, can you send or share with me off the listserv? I was just talking to my team about how our pages could be better used to support virtual learning. 
Thanks! 





 
Carla BuellBook a time with Mrs. Buell 
School Library Information SpecialistFearn Elementary and Schneider Elementary
Twitter:@Fearn129LmcTwitter:@Schneider129LMC
Our Mission:"To inspire curiosity, a strong sense of community, and a vibrant connection to curriculum."  MAILMAN_MIMEDEFANG
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