I feel the necessity of a homepage for a school library continues to increase as directly as we integrate technology into our everyday lives.  When considering the issue of access and our demand for instant and relevant information in most aspect of our lives, our students should expect no less from their primary academic institution.  Whether it is to do banking, looking up restaurant menus, public swims, recipes, music lyrics or information about any other topic that is of interest to us – access to the internet and knowing where to go to get the information we need is part of our daily experience either from a stationary computer, portable tablet or smart phone.  Whether the access is available in homes, schools, public libraries, coffee shops and many WI-FI wireless areas our students today are part of the first generation (since about the mid-nineties) that have had the power of the internet part of their lives and culture from birth.  Whether is it the fact that our students have seen their parents and teachers steadily increase their use and reliance on the internet to meet the needs of daily life or as they themselves use the internet to carry out daily functions (social comm., info. searches, games, etc.) there is no dispute that here in Canada the integration of technology (internet and the access it provides) is part of most people’s everyday life.  Now off my soapbox.

Your library’s webpage can be a tailored, safe, reliable and scaffolded means through which students can access information that meet curriculum needs, and help them gain a general understanding of the world around them and other valuable resources that can help them make meaning of and understand their world.  Through a webpage a TL is not only able to increase access to relevant information for their school community but also is able to provide opportunity to develop information literacy skills as students are encouraged and supported to locate and use relevant information.  From this vision, I do not see the issue of grade levels or size of school impacting the need for a homepage, however, how it will be organized, and the linkages included should be appropriate and relevant to the age group it serves.

Most important elements of an attractive, usable school library homepage would be interesting and relevant graphics, clear organization of components, and current information are all important parts of a website that would encourage usage.  But most of all I feel the information contained in the website should serve a need – the student should find it useful – otherwise they will not waste their time to visit it!

A few things that I would consider essential components of a webpage – or if you will the starting point would be:

. Being part of the bigger school homepage and the library website should be designed with the specific needs and interests of the users in mind. 

. Remote access to our OPAC, and our licensed on-line databases, e-journals.

. Linkages to other local public libraries, university library and news agencies. 

. Course specific resources, information literacy skills tutorials.

. New additions or program initiatives in the LRC (graphic novel club, etc.).

. Community groups for volunteering, museums, culture groups.

. LRC hours of operation, policies.

. Opportunity to converse with the TL for queries, ideally a blog but at the very least the availability of email.

As with many of the decisions we make as TLs and how best to use our time (and how much time) really needs to be driven by what we see or vision as our role as a TL.  Personally, I am committed to increasing access to information that is relevant for my school community which encompasses mainly my students and teachers.  Harnessing the power of resources available on the internet allows me to provide a wide breadth and depth of resources which due to housing and budget I would never be able to do in the confines of just four walls.  Providing an organized way of presenting this information, and designing a categorization of these resources to facilitate an ease of use, to a large number of my students when they need it (24/7) can be accomplished through a website – and therefore I would see this initiative as being a very worthwhile use of my time to meet the goals of my role as TL.