Thing 15: Web Presence

What perfect timing for Thing 15! One of my professional goals for this school year is to make my library webpages more dynamic and pleasing to the eye in hopes of raising usage. I was already familiar with the top 3 suggested sites: WordPress.com, Blogger.com and Weebly.com

WordPress was introduced to me at a conference I attended some time ago, and although I created an account, I never used it.  Blogger is what I use for this blog, and I have a working knowledge of how it works.  I used Weebly extensively as the web-editer of a non-profit I volunteer with... so these were not new for me to explore.

HOWEVER.... I am one of the lucky few librarians (it seems) that CAN edit and manage my own library webpage. Considering my professional goal, and the task at hand for Thing 15, I decided to take the initiative to learn how to update my own library webpages (for real!) for my thing 15 project.

I contacted my tech support guy at OPALS (my library webpage provider) and set up a couple of webinar training sessions with him to learn the "ins and outs" of my webpage. I knew there was a lot I could do, but just hadn't made the time to learn how yet.

After the webinar sessions, I played around with what I had learned and began updating my Middle School library webpage. After a few minor "goofs", I was able to start updating the site with my own design plan - I learned how to add items, move items, re-size items, add web links, you name it!

Since I manage two buildings, it's easy to see the change in my page.

I've gone from the District-issued generic site still visible for my High School at:
 http://www.millbrookcsd.org/highschool/library

to my new and improved OPALS version, now active for my Middle School library and viewable at
http://mms.dboces.opalsinfo.net/bin/home

My Middle School page is still a work in progress, as I want to add more student content as well as images, but I feel it's much better than my old page!  Next up will be the update/migration for my High School page to OPALS as well.

I think it is crucial for library's to have a web presence. Students expect it. They look for resources online, and want that instant availability they've grown used to. My goal for my library webpages is to be informative, visually appealing, and at the forefront of student & faculty thinking when starting a project.

As for a professional portfolio, the way I organize my teaching materials could be easily manipulated into a portfolio. I use keynote presentations for most lessons and units of study, so I could easily pull highlights from each of my courses to compile an electronic or printed portfolio. I could also upload the files into one online source if I chose to.

Thank you, "Thing 15" for motivating me to finally get my webpage updates underway!

Thing 14: Media Skills

Wow! I could have easily spent double time on this "thing" - so much great information and tools to try out! I started by browsing through all of the content to get a feel for what Thing 14 was going to be about. I checked out the "Copyright Friendly Toolkit" which I will definitely keep handy as a reference. Then I played around with "1 second Everyday" and found it to be an interesting concept; so much so that I even tweeted about it through my @MCSDlibrary Twitter account. Unfortunately, even though I downloaded the app on my phone, I haven't kept up with it. I'm wondering if will still work even if I use it simply as "1 second on days I remember!" :-)

From there I played with the Animated GIFS. I read/viewed the "10 GIFs to Learn Something" link and was amazed by the animations there - especially the formation of the human face! Very cool! I tried to follow the "Easiest Way to Make A GIF" directions on my SmartPhone 6, but didn't have the same version/tools as in the demo. I did end up learning how to make a slideshow with music right on my cell phone though during this activity!

I also ensured that I know how to take a screen shot on my MacBook Pro as evidenced below. This has come in handy a few times already, including just this morning when my Assistant Principal inquired about pricing for some books vs. eBooks. I used the screen shot feature to snap of photo from the vendor website to include with my response.

The last thing activity I actively played with was the Pablo image link. I liked it immediately after browsing through some of the others on the list because it looked easy to use, was free, and didn't require me to make an account to utilize and download. I selected a dog photo from their image library, and added one of my favorite quotes. I then played with text size and location to create the image you see below. I will definitely use this with my 6th grade classes.

Overall, I found Thing 14 to be super informative and entertaining both. Many of the suggestions in this thing can be incorporated into my classroom. I can't wait!