Dori says in Finding Nemo, "When life gets you down, you know what you gotta do? Just keep swimming..." So that's what I do, I just keep swimming. School is hard. There is a ton of work that has to be done and not a lot of time to do it. I often feel like I'm drowning. I know what your thinking..."Here comes the Pitty-Me-Parade!" It's not like that. I don't want pitty, I just want to be done with school. So I keep swimming and hope for the best.
How do you build a good website for your library? That is the $100,000 question of the week. I think David Walbert put it best by saying "What few people understand is that building a good, usable, accessible, attractive school website that meets the needs of students and teachers is every bit as difficult and as complicated as building a good, usable, accessible, attractive school building that meets the needs of students and teachers." That statement sums it up beautifully, and until you realize the truth in it, you are doomed to have a bad website. The fact that it is hard to create a good, usable website is lost on some people. There is software out there that makes creating a website easy. With a few clicks of the mouse anyone can make a website. Making your website any good is the difficult part. Knowing that the task of creating a good website is hard work is the first step in having a successful website. Only after you realize that it isn't going to be easy can you begin to construct. Then it's a matter of setting out a plan and executing. I always thought of myself as someone who is good with computers. Before reading David Walbert's "Best Practices in School Library Web Design" (http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/969) I would have been that guy just banging out a website trying to make it look good but not giving much thought to accessibility and usability. Now I know what it takes to make a good website. This is a must read for anyone who is associated with a library and wants to extend their reach beyond their walls.
No comments:
Post a Comment