Media Center WebPages are important to the overall function of the media center. It is a place where patrons can go to locate pertinent information related to the media center like policies and procedures, program events, and OPAC. The media center at my current school does not have a webpage. I think it would be a valuable resource for the teachers at my school if we did have one. I was reading the blog of Traci Williams about her media center webpage and liked her idea about scheduling media center time. This is something I would like to have implemented at my school. We often run into the same problems she mentioned like teachers forgetting when they are scheduled to come at my school. An online calendar gives all parties easy access to the schedule.
Another problem we have at my school is just time…period. We have several reform models going on in the building which make it nearly impossible to get good, quality media center time. If OPAC, media center program events, and other resources were centrally located on a webpage, teachers and students could access the information from their classrooms or home. In essence, the media center would still be able to be used without patrons physically being there.
Now that I think about it…Having a media center webpage would be very helpful in respect to media center usage period. If patrons don’t have time to go to the media center, they could get most of the information they need from a well organized webpage. For instance, there could be a needs assessment link available on the webpage. Teachers could go there to request resource information or technology assistance from any where in at school or at home instead of having to physically come to the media center to fill out a form. Previously created resources like wikis, powepoints, and flipcharts for our school wide units in Social Studies and Science could also be assessable through the webpage. Teachers could also request materials found through searches for on OPAC. I could gather those materials and send teachers an alert when they are ready for pickup. A media center webpage could help busy teachers utilize media center resources.
The possibilities of webpages are endless. It really makes media center resources accessible to all patrons at any given time. I really hope my media specialist begins to take the time to bring the technological services offered in our media center up to the 21st Century.
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A webpage for a media center is very valuable. It is a great resource for both parents, teachers and students. It is an easy way to find out information about the media center. At my school, we have a calendar where we sign up for times to use the reference area. The media specialist finds out what we are working on so that she can provide extra resources for the students. So for our 3rd graders last year, we did an informational paper on one of the 9 famous people that they have to learn about in Social Studies. Ms. Mattocks, our media specialist, found websites on each of these famous people and linked them to her website. So the students were able to access her site from home to continue working on their paper.
ReplyDeleteYou are right in saying that the possibilities are endless for a webpage. It is an excellent resource for students, teachers and parents if maintained correctly.
I really love the idea of having a calendar on the media center website. My school, just like yours Shondria, does not have an active site. I know that it is just because our current MS does not take the time to update it. I love the idea of having a calendar on the site with the teachers media center times on it. I am going to keep this in mind when I become the media specialist. I really LOVE the idea of teachers requesting materials off of the site. This could really be helpfull
ReplyDeleteI agree that the media center webpage is very valuable to all of the school's stakeholders. Since time is so precious, it is imperative that there is a way to relay some of the important information from the media center to those in the school. I think it is a great idea to post different activities that can be done at home or in the classroom for those who don't have the chance to spend a lot of time in the library.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was doing some of my field experience this summer, the media specialist who I went and worked with said that he posted lots of information on the website, but did not allow anyone to sign up for anything online. He said that it sometimes caused a confusion because some would sign up in the media center and some would sign up on the website, and a lot of times they were double booked. I feel that is good advice as far as that goes.
I don't feel that any media center is complete without a website because it allows people who would not normally get a chance to come in the media center the opportunity to see all of the wonderful things that are going on.
I agree that media web pages are very helpful to students, teachers and parents. One of my students this year is a reluctant reader and his mom uses the media web page as a connection to the school library. She emailed our media specialist and asked that the AR books available in the media center be available through the media page as a database to pull from at home. That way she can get the books from the bookstore and/or public library and have her son reading over the weekend. I would really like to have the media web page connect to the OPAC, but our school does not do the AR or OPAC links. It would be really great for a teacher to have the capability so that we can create a list of books on a particular reading ability and genre for students to read from. These are just a few of the many ways that media pages could be used to bring resources to the stakeholders in our school.
ReplyDeleteShondria, I totally agree with you on the importance of the Media Center web page. There are several ways that I look at. A well thought out media center web page can save teachers time in their over-stretched schedule and it can give students the resources that they need to work more efficiently. The possibilities are endless. I also look at it from a parent’s perspective. I am the school web site for my children virtually every day. There are many times that I am not very impressed with the school’s web site in general, but the media center web page is very informative and contains links to a lot of useful information and resources. I think that this shows where the media specialist “gets it” and the school hasn’t quite caught up yet.
ReplyDeleteI know that my school’s media center web page is not where it should be. There was basically a transitional year where no one kept it up. Hopefully, we can get it back to where it once was.