I am considering submitting the following to the American Association of
School Administators for publication. Tell me what you think!
If Your Library Is The Heart Of Your School
Why Isn’t It On Your Website?
Principals often like to show off their school library to
visitors. They describe it as the “heart” of their school. Rows and
rows of gleaming books, perfectly aligned. Computer card catalogs.
Internet access. Beautiful displays. But check out the school’s
website and there isn’t a link to the library. Principal’s message?
Yes! Mission statement? Yes! Links to faculty? Yes! Parent
information? Yes! Athletics and activities? Yes! But no link to the
resources that are available to students at school, and most likely,
from home. No link to what should be the heart of any school—the
library.
My suggestion to principals—take a second look at your school’s
main page. If there isn’t a link to the school library you need to talk
to the person responsible for maintaining your website and tell them “I
want a link to the library now!” A “virtual” library is just as
important to your students and parents as is your showcase “real”
library.
Research has shown that students look to the Internet for information
more than they do a physical library. If your library is not pointing
students in the direction of quality resources on the Internet it is
doing a disservice to your school.
So what are you waiting for? Often the webmaster may not be the
school librarian. They receive input from the administrative staff as
to what should be on a school website. Perhaps the school librarian is
not technologically gifted. That’s where the webmaster comes into play.
Let him or her know that the library and it’s resources are important
and that a link from the school’s main page is expected.
What to put on the library’s page? If your school, district, or
state pays for access to subscription databases these should be front
and center on the library site. School access is fine, but why let
those resources sit idle the rest of the time? Perhaps you have a
subscription to Grolier Online or Opposing Viewpoints or Newsbank.—why
let access be limited to school hours only. Put direct links on the
library’s home page. We solved the problem of limited access by
providing every student with a laminated strip with all of the different
product IDs and passwords that they can tape to their home computer.
What a positive public relations tool! You are telling students and
parents that research, good research, not just “Googling” is important.
What else is important? Your physical library is a warm and
welcoming place. Your librarian cares about students and guides them to
great literature and teaches them research skills. So why not do this
online as well? It isn’t hard to post digital displays of bulletin
boards or student projects. Perhaps a teacher has a controlled number
of reviewed links for a particular assignment. Why not post them on the
library page? Maybe your library is featuring a special event, perhaps
an author visit. Why not take a picture of the author and add links to
his or her home page?
Another idea—something we call “pathfinders”. A teacher will
come to us with an assignment and will want us to research quality sites
for students. So much of the Internet is garbage, shallow and
unattributed. As librarians we search for quality, just as we do book
selection for our physical libray. Students then have resources that
have been evaluated. Isn’t his the expectation of any school
administrator? Your librarian is the information specialist, why not
call on them to find quality information for your students and staff?
As administrators you need to know that, if your librarian is
Internet savvy, students will come to them for assistance, as they
always have in the days of print and say: “ You are the genius!”
Research is research as it always has been, sifting the chaff from the
grain, and a good librarian will do this for you and your students
whether it is in print form or on the Internet. Google in all its
capability will never replace a human who can talk to student and
analyze what he or she is desperate to find!
So tomorrow, look at your website, your pride and joy, and check
to see if there is a link to the library. If not, call in your
webmaster and your librarian and say: “Our library is the heart of our
school and I want our school website to reflect that!” It will bring
you, your students and staff, and your parents together, just as
libraries have always done for generations.
Adam Janowski
Library Media Specialist
Naples High School
1100 Golden Eagle Circle
Naples, FL 34102
E-mail: NHSWebmaster@collier.k12.fl.us
Phone: 239-430-6644 Ext. 390
Fax: 239-430-6673
Library web site: http://collier.k12.fl.us/nhs/lmc/
School web site: http://collier.k12.fl.us/nhs/
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