Worth the Effort?School Library Websites

Kirchmyer, G. (Webmaster). (2014). SMMHS Media Center Website [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.smmhsmediacenter.net

FACT: 60% of secondary level U.S. school librarians report having a library

website (Chu, 2013)

FACT: 10% of those have no more than an OPAC (Chu, 2013)

FACT: Over 17.7 million students are currently enrolled in post-secondary

education and a projected 20.2 million students will be enrolled by

2023 (U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences National Center for Education

Statistics, 2014)

! PROBLEM:

Few American students have a familiarity with library resources or a genuine

understanding of information literacy (Harris, et al., 2003). Instead they

demonstrate:

• Difficulty in framing questions for inquiry

• Little knowledge of how to use online catalogs and databases

• Ineffective use of web search tools

• Limited web site evaluation skills

!

INTRODUCTION 1

!

(But what about the websites?)

QUESTIONS:

• How are U.S. secondary school librarians utilizing websites

• What guidelines are in place to assist in the creation of these sites

• How are students and teachers currently using these sites as a

resource in their researching endeavors.

Kirchmyer, G. (Webmaster). (2014). SMMHS OPAC

[Photograph]. Retrieved from http://library.hcde.org/

opac/signalmtnmhs/index.html#menuHome

Conte.A. (Webmaster). (2014). EHMHS Website.

[Photograph]. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/kq7jg2x

Rox, A. (Webmaster). (2014). OHS Website. [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://https://sites.google.com/site/ooltewahhighschoollibrary/homepage/kq7jg2x

2

?Success [Graphic]. Retrieved from http://www.collegeparents.org !

=

Kirchmyer, G. (Webmaster). (2014). SMMHS Media Center Website [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.smmhsmediacenter.net

+Students [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.gru.edu/finaid/studenttypes.php !

?

!!PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY:

The purpose of this study was to understand how and why school library media

specialists were using websites, and how that use affected student achievement.

3

Literature Review:

The library is

no longer a p

lace to work passiv

ely, nor

is it a place w

here you only

work within the walls of

the facility (T

odd, 2009).

!!If scho

ols don’t teach stud

ents how to pro

perly find

information,

they’ll resort

to Google (Barack

, 2014)

!!“inform

ation-literate

students are products of

a

coherent info

rmation literacy

curriculum that f

eatures

a process appr

oach, course-

integrated instru

ction,

inquiry-based

learning, and

collaboration be

tween

teachers and media spec

ialists” (Harri

s et al., 2003,

p

219) !Although students flock to the internet for

school research, they don’t use databases unless

the assignment requires it (Chu, 2013).

!!Student needs should be first and foremost

when creating a site (i.e., high school sites need

to be appropriate for high school student

needs) (Herring, 2011)

4

!

(the big picture)

!Studies tell us !

that students want !to use the internet, !

but they don’t really know how, so it is the librarian’s !job to create appropriate, academic sites for them to

find information so they !can successfully use !

that information.

5

!

6

Conclusion: Through quantitative and quantitative research, it was determined that school library websites are almost non-existent. In order for students to have exposure to the types of information access they will encounter in their years beyond their regular schooling, it is imperative that elementary and secondary school librarians begin creating and teaching the functions and features of library websites.

!

7

Bibliography

Babbie, E. (2013). The practice of social research (13th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. !Barack, L. (2014). Study ties college success to students’ exposure to a high school librarian. School Library Journal.

Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/nmwq2uj

Baumbach, D. (2005). The school library media center web page: An opportunity too good to miss. Knowledge Quest,

33(3), 8-12. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/lu9n3oc

Chu, W. (2013). Library exposure from the prior years: An examination of public high school library websites. The

Journal of Academic Librarianship, 39(5), 392-400. doi: 10.1016/j.acalib.2013.03.003

Clyde, L. (2004). School library web sites: 1996-2002. The Electronic Library, 22, 158-167.

doi: 10.1108/02640470410533425

Harris, F., Arp, L., & Woodard, B. (2003) Information literacy in school libraries: It takes a community. Reference &

User Services Quarterly, 42(3), 215-223. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/mdxlsv7

Herring, J. (2011). Web site evaluation: A key role for the school librarian. School Library Monthly, 27(8), 22-23.

Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/o2ptktp

Kazanawa, M. (2011). An analysis of children’s web pages in public library web sites in Japan. Public Library

Quarterly, 30(4), 270-285. doi: 10.1080/01616846.2011.625587

Padgett, R. (2006). Essential readings condensed for quick review. Education Digest, 71(5), 54-55.

Todd, R. (2009). There is knowledge to be gained. School Library Media Activities Monthly, 25(10), 55-58. Retrieved

from http://tinyurl.com/kskoxuw

Undergraduate enrollment. (2014). U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences National Center for

Education Statistics. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cha.asp