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In this final assignment, we were asked to create a website for a brand new school library. The more I thought about the number of hours that I would be spending on the project, and never actually using the website, the more it made sense to me to just create one for my existing library at Watson Elementary School.

Although I had created a website for my school library a few years back, it needed to be completely overhauled. So, I started over and created a website that attempts to showcase (some of) the learning I have done in this course. I must emphasize that it is very basic, more of a jumping off point, that I can add to and expand over the years as I become more comfortable with website creation tools. Here is my website:   http://watsonelemlibrary.weebly.com/

I liked the clear, concise, simple design of the Smith Elementary library site, found on the list of recommended library websites that Professor Cho directed us to: http://www.mesquiteisd.org/library/smith/.

I based my design on the Smith Elementary library website, using the same navigation links across the top of the page. In my opinion, the fewer things to look at, the more I want to actually look at the page.

An example of a website that completely baffled me (too much information, opposite from the Smith website) from the recommended list was Underwood Elementary: http://uwe.leesummit.k12.mo.us/lmc/.  I hardly knew where to look, there was so much print in varying fonts, colours, sizes and shapes!

My design sheet is more like a rough notes page. I knew that I wanted to have five navigational buttons across the top, so I made notes as I went to remember certain aspects I wanted to add.

: 

My five navigational buttons across the top of my website homepage are as follows:

WELCOME – introduces the library staff, hours of operation and an important event coming up.

STUDENT RESOURCES – this is the page I spent the most amount of time on. Since my school doesn’t have an online catalogue, I wanted to acknowledge that and speak to that issue. I included a link to the Fraser Valley Regional Library, as a new branch has just opened up around the corner from my school and I have partnered with them on several projects and events. I added a link to free audio books and then at the bottom I redirected students to our Watson Elementary website, where dozens of links have been created for research, study tips, online catalogues, etc.

HOME READING – a huge program at Watson. This page includes a link at the bottom to print up more home reading sheets.

READING LINK CHALLENGE – a very popular book club that I facilitate at Watson, had to include it on the website and added a link to FVRL for more information.

BOOKS & AUTHORS – love this page, simple and fun. My goal is to eventually have students create book trailers and be able to add them to the website.

I enjoyed creating the website, and I hope you like it. Even though it is basic, it is my first attempt at adding links to open access resources, web resources, etc. I intend to add much to it over the year and hopefully it will one day become the “virtual center” of my school.

 

 

Website analysis – Assignment #3, Part 2 & 3

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Part 2: Analysis of my website: http://watson.sd33.bc.ca/

I chose to do an analysis of my school’s website.

I am going to dissect the website level by level, as this seems to be simplest method. In the articles that I read and in the website surfing I have done in the past, I learned that simple is best when creating a website (http://www.grassrootsinternetstrategy.com.au/keep-your-web-design-simple/).

This Watson website is basically simple, but has several confusing sections, which I will discuss below. I will refer often to the taxonomy I created of the website.

Level 0 – Homepage for Watson Elementary School. The Watson website is divided into three sections, which I will call left, center and right. It has a left-hand navigation system, which is recommended by most website designers and analyzers (http://www.upassoc.org/upa_publications/jus/2011august/faulkner2.html).

It also has extra navigation links in the upper right section that are accessible throughout all levels of the website: Search/Home/Contact.

Also on the right section are three “repeated links” that are already found embedded in the left-hand navigation links. I found these quite confusing, as they are worded slightly differently but contain the same information.

In the center, there are tidbits of information also found embedded in the left-hand navigation links, which confused me because when I was reading the information, I wasn’t sure if it was new or repeated information.

If I was consulted on the website’s information architecture, I would have put a slideshow of photographs in the center section and put some interesting facts about the school on the right hand section, thus eliminating the extra unnecessary, repeated information.

Level 1 – There are 12 links in the main left-hand navigation section. Two of the links (Calendar & Field Trips) end at this level, and the other 10 continue on to the second level. Below that is a link for the Chilliwack School District website, which I actually didn’t know was a link, as it doesn’t light up when you drag the mouse over it, nor does it look like a “button” (http://www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-testing-1995-sun-microsystems-website/).

So, adding the Search/Home/Contact links, there are actually 16 navigation links on the first level. This is what is termed a flattened hierarchy, and although recommended for being user friendly (http://www.nngroup.com/articles/flat-vs-deep-hierarchy/), it is difficult to create a taxonomy for.

I started my taxonomy on poster board with sticky notes, and soon ran out of room. I then went out and bought mini sticky notes, which also didn’t fit on poster board. I then discovered the back of a roll of Christmas wrapping paper, and was able to create a flattened hierarchy taxonomy on it. The photo of my taxonomy is a panoramic shot and has a few wobbles in it because it is hard holding the iphone that steady!

Level 2 – As shown in my taxonomy, level two looks fairly straight forward, but it was actually quite complicated. I had so many questions about the hierarchy levels and cross-linkages.

I determined that the Watson website made things more difficult than need be. I understand that the creators of our website (former administrators) wanted to make it as easy as possible for parents to be able to contact teachers and administrators, find the school calendar, etc., but the information is repeated in so many sections that there basically is just TOO much information on the site. Parents barely read single page hard copy newsletters, so for them to be overwhelmed by the repeated information in this site is, in my opinion, a definite negative.

Level 3 & 4 – In my opinion, the website should end at the third level, but there are several links that continue onto a fourth level. In the picture of my taxonomy, you can see some dotted lines in a triangular shape. I used this to show that the links are to other websites, which means the levels could continue on forever.

In conclusion, I would have to say that this website is based on a pure hierarchy. It is not cross-linked in a meaningful way, but rather just repeats the same information in several different sections. If I was in charge of its information architecture, I would simplify it (in the ways mentioned above) and add a picture slideshow instead of repeated links. The labeling in the site is fine, except for the link to the Chilliwack School District site (as mentioned above).

 

Part 3: Site Map

 

School Information                  Parent Information                       Student Information

   Bell Schedule                              PAC                                                  Study Tips

School Staff                                    PAC President                              Links for Students

Admin                                          PAC Newsletters

Teachers                                      Volunteer forms

Support Staff                           School Growth Plan

School & Office Hours                School Planning Co.

Code of Conduct                        School Supplies

Principal’s Message                    Links for Parents

 

Calendar                                   News and Events                             Newsletters

Announcements                        Monthly newsletters

Upcoming Events

News Stories

Adopt-a-Road

School Day

School Calendar

Watson Beacon

 

Classroom News                       Programs                                          Library  

Mr. Petkau                                  Strong Start

Mr. Lodders                                Sardis Montessori

Mr. Hoeppner                             YMCA

Mr. Monchalin

Mrs. Holliday

Mrs. Foreman

Ms. Jackson

Mrs. Hysniu                               Galleries                                         Contact Us

Ms. Weber

Ms. Hugh

Mrs. Cochrane

Ms. Bartel

Ms. Vriend

Mrs. Duval

Ms. Charlie                                  Field Trips                                     Chilliwack School District

Mr. Nachtigal

Ms. Delisle

Mrs. Moreh

FRBR Case Study – Assignment #2

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After reading all of our professor’s suggested articles on building an FRBR model, I decided to choose a picture book that I had at home in my collection. I began with The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg and browsed the online catalogue of the Vancouver Public Library (VPL). Next, I looked on amazon.ca. I soon realized that the number of expressions of The Polar Express was so large, I knew I would not be able to fit all of its manifestations on my flowchart.

I went back to my shelves at home and found another favourite picture book entitled My Mother is Weird by Rachna Gilmore. Again, I checked the VPL online catalogue and on amazon.ca. This time, I had the opposite experience and found only one manifestation of thework, a paperback.

Back to the drawing board. I decided to choose my all-time favourite picture book, The Paperboy by popular American author Dav Pilkey. After looking on the VPL online catalogue and on amazon.ca, I went onto Microsoft Word and chose a flowchart design that I liked and began by inserting a picture of the book’s cover at the top of the chart. After fiddling, adjusting and finally getting the picture inserted, I was feeling a bit frustrated with how slow it was taking me. I would soon discover that that would actually be the easiest part of the whole assignment!

After completing the flowchart to the best of my ability, I have concluded that I have far more questions than answers when it comes to this assignment. But since I have only 500 words or less to write this synopsis, and my computer count already says 279, I will answer the assignment questions as succinctly as possible.

1. What went through my mind as I was building it? The question should be what DIDN’T go through my mind! My biggest challenge (after reviewing how to insert/edit data on a Microsoft Word flowchart) was trying to decide what constituted an expression and what constituted a manifestation. It was very helpful to look at all the posted assignments on our student blogs. I compared and contrasted the eight flowcharts posted so far and this helped me gradually understand the difference between the two.

I thought that The Paperboy would have more expressions than it did. I searched the VPL, the FVRL, amazon.ca, ebay.com and googled for no less than two hours. If you look at my flowchart, you can see that I have only one expression but four manifestations of it. I stumbled onto a fifth manifestation on YouTube, which was an audiobook that was also animated. However, because I couldn’t find it for sale or for loan on any site, I didn’t include it. I’m still not sure if it counts if only found it on YouTube!

2. Challenges for teacher-librarians using it? Teaching students how to understand a flowchart and the amount of time it would take to create a flowchart for each resource are the two biggest challenges in my opinion.

In conclusion, I found this assignment to be very challenging, as I am not a particularly savvy computer person. I learned quite a bit and with each assignment, I feel just that much more knowledgeable about the intrticate world of cataloguing.

Flowchart

 

 

MARC records – Assignment #1

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The book I chose for this assignment is The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields. It is my own copy, from a bookshelf at home. I began the assignment by looking on both the Library of Congress and the UBC Library websites. I read our instructor’s instructions on how to access the MARC records and was frustrated that I couldn’t seem to find them! I then posted a question about it in the discussion forum and still couldn’t find them. So, I gave my sister a call and asked her if she could give me a one hour MARC records tutorial. She is in her fifteenth course of her Library Tech diploma and has already delved deep into the world of MARC records.
Upon arrival at my house, we looked at the recommended sites, and I was embarrassed to find out that you actually have to type the name of the book in the Search line first, and then click on the MARC records link. Duh. I was confused because I thought there was a direct link to MARC records on the Home page of the two catalogue websites! Yep, that’s right, my MARC records knowledge is THAT shallow.
My sister went through the entire article A Summary of Commonly Used MARC 21 Fields with me and explained everything in a very basic way. She answered my questions and helped me create a table for my book, which I don’t think I could have figured out on my own. Now I feel slightly confident, like I could take the information given us by our instructor and the skill given to me by my sister and create a MARC record for any book in my home.
Here is the table that I created for The Stone Diaries:
010 ## $a ###93030239#
020 ## $a 0394223802
100 1# $a Shields, Carol$d 1935-
245 14 $a The Stone Diaries /$c Carol Shields.
260 ## $a Toronto :$b Random House,$c 1994.
300 ## $a 361 p.$b ill. ;$c 20 cm.
520 ## $a Born in 1905, Daisy Goodwill drifts through the chapters of childhood, marriage, widowhood, remarriage, motherhood and old age.
650 #0 $a Women$v Fiction.

Starting from knowing nothing about MARC records (except for what the acronymn stood for), I learned quite a bit from this process! The MARC 21 Record article was helpful, in that it laid out fairly easily what each of the different tags and sub-fields were for. After finishing my table, I printed out both the UBC Library and the Library of Congress MARC records for The Stone Diaries and was pleased with the results, as I had included the tags that both sites had included. Where I had left out a tag, I realized it was because the edition they had used obviously had many more features and editions.

Here is the MARC record from the Library of Congress website:

LC Control No.: 2008028398
LCCN Permalink: http://lccn.loc.gov/2008028398
000 01514cam a2200349 a 450
001 15342311
005 20090901064704.0
008 080624r20081994nyua fj 000 1 eng
906 __ |a 7 |b cbc |c orignew |d 1 |e ecip |f 20 |g y-gencatlg
925 0_ |a acquire |b 2 shelf copies |x policy default
955 __ |a lh22 2008-06-24 |i lh22 2008-06-24 |e lh22 2008-06-24 to CIP (Dewey completed) |a xe07 2008-10-17 1 copy rec’d., to CIP ver. |f bc05 2008-10-22 Z-CipVer; |g bc05 2008-10-22 to BCCD |a rg04 2009-01-12 copy 2 to BCCD
010 __ |a 2008028398
020 __ |a 9780143105503
020 __ |a 0143105507
020 __ |z 014023313X
020 __ |a 9780785799542
020 __ |a 0785799540
035 __ |a (OCoLC)54835987 |z (OCoLC)223803226 |z (OCoLC)228130965
035 __ |a (OCoLC)ocm54835987
040 __ |a DLC |c DLC |d DLC
050 00 |a PR9199.3.S514 |b S76 2008
082 00 |a 813/.54 |2 22
100 1_ |a Shields, Carol.
245 14 |a The stone diaries / |c Carol Shields ; introduction by Penelope Lively.
260 __ |a New York : |b Penguin Books, |c 2008.
300 __ |a 361, 10 p., [8] p. of plates : |b ill., geneal. table ; |c 20 cm.
490 0_ |a Penguin classics deluxe edition
650 _0 |a Women |x Fiction.
655 _7 |a Domestic fiction. |2 lcsh
856 41 |3 Table of contents only |u http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0821/2008028398.html
856 42 |3 Contributor biographical information |u http://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0902/2008028398-b.html
856 42 |3 Publisher description |u http://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0902/2008028398-d.html
Here are some of the comments/questions I had on the tags that we were asked to focus on:
020 – I found this interesting, as the LOC had 5 different numbers listed under this tag. I figured out that new numbers are assigned with new editions
250 – my copy of The Stone Diaries had no edition statement in it, so didn’t include it (and neither did UBC/LOC)
260 – my copy of The Stone Diaries said that it was originally published in 1993, but listed 1994
as the date further down. I figured it made most sense to choose the most recent date.
300 – I wasn’t sure what part of the book I was to measure but decided to do the length, which
made sense when I looked at the measurement given on the sample, as it would be hard
to envision a book 20 cm. thick!
490 – we were asked to focus on this tag, but since my book isn’t a series, I didn’t include it (neither did UBC/LOC)
520 – I looked for a book summary and couldn’t find one. I used the information on the back of the book to write one. I noticed that UBC/LOC’s summaries were quite lengthy, but my sister explained they should be one sentence, so I kept mine to that.
700 – there wasn’t any other name of a secondary author or illustrator, so I kept this tag out (as did UBC/LOC)