Reflections on my website project July 21, 2007

I am so glad to have had the opportunity to learn the basics of HTML and put it to use in the design of a simple website.  I chose to design the site about the Literature and Lunch Book Clubs I offer at my school for 4th and 5th grade students.  I wanted something simple enough for kids to look at and be able to read. 

As for design elements, the “Look & Feel” is consistent on each HTML page. I have green swirls as the background on each page.  The navigation bar also ties each page together.  Under each main heading, I have 3 links to the other pages that are flanked by a simple book design.  On each page the navigation bar is right under the heading.

 I understand the mechanics and detail involved in adding colors, italics, etc. much better now.  However, don’t ask me to add anything more than a simple table!  That one gave me fits!  The first day I worked on the website I was frustrated.  I ended up asking a lot of questions of my tablemates and Michael.  Everyone was very supportive.  If they hadn’t been, I might have thrown in the towel right then and there. Slowly, after each session, I felt more confident with the basics. 

The exercises we did in class were good introductions to the formats we needed to do the project.  The storyboard was a valuable exercise to do before starting the coding.  Even if I changed the design in the middle (which I did), I was able to always refer back to my storyboard and see what I needed to include.  Like many things on the web, it is very easy to get caught up with trying different formats and colors and graphics, and…   I just needed to say “Stop!”, “Enough!”, this looks good.  Because of all the practice, I learned to troubleshoot for that one missing quotation mark or slash.  I found it very helpful to have book resources available at my fingertips.  I purchased The Web Wizard’s Guide to HTML which was very useful.   I know this sounds goofy, but one of my proudest moments was making the pdf all on my own!

I hope to work to make my own little website for my school library.  Whether I do it on my own or use a design program, I feel more educated on the nuts and bolts of HTML.  I am pleased to have tried my hand at another new technology that may come in handy in my position as school librarian.

Post #5 – A Librarian’s Responsibility July 21, 2007

I recently read a blog posted by Kathryn Greenhill on librariansmatter.com.  It was a post entitled “20 reasons why learning emerging technologies is part of every librarian’s job“.  Wow!  It sure hit home.  I must say that I came into Internet Fundamentals and Design rather oblivious to Web 2.0 and all of the technologies out there.  I now feel grounded enough to continue exploring and experimenting.  There are some librarians out in the world who may want to hide their heads in the sand and ignore the emerging technologies.  If that is the case, they are not doing their jobs.  The 20 reasons listed by Ms. Greenhill are all very valid.  I would like to highlight a few important ones. Core business.  We chose to be librarians to link people and information.  We have to use all the technologies available to do this, not just the ones we learned years ago that is outdated.  Understanding all formats.  What if our users come to us and we have to tell them that we don’t use or know a certain format?  Well they use it and can’t get the help we are there to provide.  We have just lost a patron.  Finding out what other libraries are doing. We can enhance our library and programs by finding out what libraries around the world do.  However, if we don’t understand a certain technology, it is our patrons that lose out.  The other 17 reasons are worth a look.  See if you agree.

Sometimes librarians need a push even when they know they should become more familiar with technologies.  The Public Libraries of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Counties in North Carolina has developed a program to support Learning 2.0. It is “a discovery learning program designed to encourage staff to explore new technologies and reward them for doing 23 things.   23 Learning 2.0 Things  has broken the task into do-able pieces.  Asking librarians to try out a few things each week such as posting a blog, starting a wiki or subscribing to an RSS reader.  It is self-directed with a few people available for assistance.  The prizes are just the carrots dangling to entice people.  It is amazing that some libraries have to go to this extreme to have their staff learn new technologies that are needed for their jobs now and in the future.  Any more procrastinating on some people’s part and libraries could lose a large portion of their users.