Virtual School Libraries - The Gateway to the Information Superhighway

My Virtual School Library (VSL) for the Latimer Road School Community.
Explore it by clicking here.

I have been inspired to look at Virtual School Libraries in a new way after reading and reflecting on the book entitled "The Virtual School Library: Gateway to the Information Superhighway" edited by Carol Kahltahu. The way I see it, as a gateway to the information superhighway, a virtual school library can be the begin point of all library programming, information literacy lessons, online information searchers and other educational initiatives and at the same time organize a plethora of useful tools and sites that enhance teaching and learning.

In the elementary school setting, a VSL has the potential to organize web content, support classroom curriculum, motivate recreational reading, inform parents in how they can support their children, bring educators together to collaborate on lessons and other teaching initiatives and many other initiatives. In short, a VSL can be the go-to place for members of a school community. The teacher-librarian who creates and maintains the VSL has the opportunity to impact the school community by being in tune with the needs and desires of the teachers, administrators, students and parents.

When I created my virtual school library (or VSL) for Latimer Road I began by reviewing many VSLs that were already functioning. I was most inspired by Joyce Valenza's well developed, thorough, and curriculum supporting VSL for her high school library. View her site by clicking here. I especially love how colourful and fun her homepage is. I think it is inviting, exciting and still well organized and useful.

It took me over 100 hours (I really did keep track of this - it is not an exaggeration) to create and tweak my VSL last fall. Why did I do this? So people in my school community would use it to assist in their teaching and learning and to assist in creating a school culture of community. I am proud of my work but a year later recognize that there are changes that I need to make in order for it to be an even more useful tool. Some of these ideas come from exploring new sites this past week and some come from the observations and experiences I have had this past year using my VSL with students, staff and parents.

From using the site this past year, the greatest lesson I have learned is that no one is going to use your VSL unless they are directed to it and taught how it can be useful to them. This goes for all my focus audiences...students, teachers, support staff, parents, administrators and other TLs in my district. You can make all these people aware of the VSL but they will not use it unless they are motivated in some way to do so. In learning this, I have make the VSL the homepage on all library and computer lab computers and have taught students how to access the school library catalogue through this page. In this teaching, I have also informally highlighted the monthly contests held on the VSL, the "See What We've Done"page, "Latimer's Top 10 Picks" page, and other fun pages that students may be motivated to visit for fun.

Also for students, I have integrated the learning pages (i.e. research process and lessons, homework tips, studying tips, database and website links) into lessons that are taught during library classes as well as collaboratively taught units and lessons. What I have not done yet but plan on doing soon is incorporating some of the web 2.0 tools I have learned about in my masters course this term to make the lessons and information pages on the website more interactive and user-friendly. For example, I would like to include YouTube videos on writing a bibliography instead of just a link to a website that will help in its creation. I would also like to create a blog on the page that lists our school top 10 book check outs (or picks) to allow students to comment on the books as they have checked them out or ask questions to other students if they want to check them out.

For teachers, I promoted the site at first in a staff meeting and then offered an after school workshop on how to use the VSL to support learning and the teaching profession. It was a time of personal exploration for the teachers and the provided me with very valuable feedback and new ideas of how we as a school community could use the site.

To inform the parents of the VSL, I advertised the URL and some of the pages and tools they would find useful in our school newsletter. Also on meet the teacher night and open house, I had computers in the hallway outside the library displaying the VSL and encouraged students to show their parents the pages they like to visit.

This week as I explored VSL's I came across new sites that inspired me to make changes to my existing VSL. I found a site that lists a ton of VSLs to view in the state of Connecticut - not all of them are exemplars, but some have great ideas. Check it out by clicking here.

Here are some ideas that I have after reviewing these sites:
1. The VSL for Barbara Bush Elementary School in Mesa, AZ includes a photo gallery of pictures of events, activities, assemblies, visitors, students and staff. I can imagine that after an event at the school, students are visiting this page to review pictures posted. This personal touch motivates students and parents to go to the VSL and look through the pages. I feel this idea will attract more users to my VSL. Even thought I had this idea before of posting photos and write ups of library events, in order for my VSL to be the superhighway it could be, it need to include school wide events - even if they do not originate or take place in the library. So I will re-name my "Upcoming Library Events" page to "Photo Gallery" and include this feature to attract more users.
2. The SSES VSL includes links to classroom projects as well as sites to visit by each grade! The Calvin Leete VSL has a similar idea with each grade having their own virtual school library that is a page of links. I love the idea of organizing sites to visit by grade as opposed to subject. Right now on my page "sites for students" I have the curriculum subjects listed with links to websites and brief write ups of them. I think it would again make it more personal and useful to organize these sites by grade to match the curriculum and interest/reading level.
3. The Pine Point VSL includes a link to the teacher-librarian's (or librarian's) blog. The blog is full of links to sites, podcasts, pictures and even includes a contest called 'mystery photos'. It looks like students leave comments on the blog as to where they think the mystery photos were taken. It is obvious the instructions to the contest were given by the librarian which shows there is education being done to use the VSL.
4. At the Mclurg VSL, there is a link to a page that includes community links. What I love about this idea for my school community is that our location is on the border of two cities (Surrey and Langley) and therefore does not have a recreation or community center nearby. I think a community links page, could outline and encourage community events, recreation centers locations and other school community events all on one page. After all, school libraries being the 'heart of the school' can also be the 'heart of the community'!

The common learning theme for me this week to turn my VSL into the 'Gateway to the information superhighway' is to personalize the site further and continue educating students, staff and parents on using the various pages. In order to maintain and keep current my VSL, I may seek out a few of my interested library monitors and train them on updating specific pages. This would promote users and ownership of the VSL - another way of personalizing the site.

The Gateway to the Information Superhighway (my VSL) does not need widening but rather re-painting and possibly garbage pick up and clean up. I am still very proud of my work but am looking forward to hearing your comments on how you think I can increase the traffic on this highway. Looking forward to hearing from you!