50 Feet From the Cutting Edge in the Northeast Kansas Library System
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Trivia question for you - How many tiles are there in a standard Scrabble game?
Clue: It’s the same number as the number of websites recently selected by PC Magazine as classics. Most of my favorites are there - are yours?
In other news, Tonganoxie has given their website a new look and I like it!
I was reading an email from Arla Jones, the media specialist at Lawrence High School, and was struck by the signature block at the end of her message. Like many librarians, her email signature includes her name, her contact information at the library, and a literary quote. But Arla’s signature block also includes the following sentence, ” Take a look at our cool web page! http://library.lhs.usd497.org“. Reading that inspired me to take a look at their site (and it is cool).
You may have heard that the Johnson County Library unveiled its new library website this week. Clean design, content that makes sense from a user’s perspective, and fun details, too (hmm.. what happens when I click on the word surprise???). The staff at Johnson County Library has worked hard on the site and deserves to be proud!
I know there are libraries out there who don’t feel proud of their website, but instead feel a little ashamed because it is out-of-date or incomplete or dull. In fact, I think that feeling was the norm for several years (after the advent of the web but before website creation tools had become truly friendly). I’m seeing a change though… more and more libraries are finding ways to create websites of which they are proud; sites that are up-to-date, attractive, contain good content, and are fun, too. (If you’re a NEKLS public library and want an easier way to maintain a web presence, consider becoming part of the KLOW project (contact us at NEKLS for more information).)
Maintaining a web presence of which you are proud is time-consuming, which can be a challenge. Even if the technology is easier, creating and updating content still requires a lot of time. Liz has been working on a complete revamp of our NEKLS website (watch for it soon!). The launch of that site will just be the beginning; after that we’ve got to make an ongoing commitment to adding to it and continually working to make it really useful for our members.
It’s exciting to realize that almost every library now has a virtual branch. Is yours what you want it to be?
(Do you read the Unshelved comic strip?)
Ten years ago, many library websites consisted of a picture of the library, the library’s address and phone number, and not much else. Now, many library websites are truly functioning as a sort of “virtual branch” – helping local libraries connect to their communities.
We have talked about the Kansas Libraries on the Web project here on this blog before. It’s a project that was created to help small public libraries easily maintain an up-to-date, useful, and attractive web presence. We’re seeing a lot of great content and innovative ideas and thought it would be fun to highlight some examples here.
Many libraries in Kansas have a physical Kansas room on-site, which includes local history and documentation. Atchison Public Library has gone beyond that to start creating a virtual Kansas room, too.
Also, check out the recent post, What the director is reading, which inspired some online book discussion. And also see the online storytime info - wow!!
The smallest library in the NEKLS region has one of the liveliest websites! Moving images, local weather, and a “word of the day” feature add interest and content to the site.
The library staff spice up the clean look of the site with images. The Morrill Public Library site is regularly updated. All of the posts are categorized and can be browsed under the Library News and Views section.
The library recently encouraged contributions to a local cookbook and posted a historical photograph, creating a true feeling of local connection.
This site is regularly updated and visually appealing, too. The library staff recently used the website to give special thanks to a local family.
Many libraries promote upcoming events on their websites. Richmond, however, took that idea to the next level and posted photographs as a follow-up to a recent Mother’s Day event.
When the Mary Cotton Library staff received word that the local sales tax increase vote for the library had passed, they posted the exciting news with a big note of thanks on their website. Other recent content includes the story of a young boy’s job shadowing at the library and memorials.
Summer Reading Program is on everyone’s mind this time of year and Seneca Free Public Library uses their website to promote this year’s events.
Web 2.0 is a popular topic in the library world and Tonganoxie is a small library making a big impact using some 2.0 tools. Browse their site for lots of examples. Be sure to read about the online book discussion group they are starting.
I’m at a workshop in Manhattan, KS today and the guest speaker is Jessamyn West of librarian.net fame. She’s talking about all kinds of library 2.0 topics and during her presentation she highlighted some Kansas sites and projects — including Tonganoxie Public Library’s website. If you haven’t seen it, take a look! Cool things are happening in this library (in a town with a population of approx 3500) - both in the building and also virtually. Instant messaging with patrons! Regularly updated content! Photos of people (not just buildings)!
Tonganoxie Public Library is one of the libraries participating in the statewide Kansas Libraries on the Web project (which uses Wordpress software, just like this blog). Some of the other sites include: Morrill Public Library in Hiawatha and Atchison Public Library. It’s exciting to see fresh content and connection to community happening in the world of library websites….
NEKLS’s recent pilot project using WordPress for easy-t0-create, easy-to-update and easy-to-maintain web pages for libraries appears to be a harbinger of things to come. Another such project, announced in late April, is called EngagedPatrons.org./
Q. What is EngagedPatrons.org?
A. We provide website services for public libraries. We enable you to offer your users a more engaging and interactive web presence. EngagedPatrons.org (EP) services fit seamlessly into your existing web site. To your users, it appears they have never left your site!
Read the rest of the FAQ at their web site, and learn more about this exciting development in improving library access for everyone!
Sorry for the lack of posting… I’ve been busy on a new and fun project! (I won’t abandon you, I promise)
I’ve been saying for months that I’m going to turn the NEKLS Technology website (http://tech.nekls.org) into a Wiki.
Well blast it all I finally got it started and it’s really looking and working great! The Wiki makes an outstanding platform for knowledge base type applications, and so far I’m really happy with it.
We’re using Mediawiki, by the way. (http://www.mediawiki.org)
Any suggestions?
Don’t let this put you off weblogs, but this article has many great pointers on how to make your weblog more usable for people. Usablility is often ignored for fancy functionality, so it’s good to at least know how to avoid the major potholes.
Read more:
Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes (Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox)
Also check out this year’s top ten design mistakes from the same people.
And, in other news, the NEKLS Tech blog will be getting an “about us” page. 
Perhaps of more interest for our School librarians, Blackboard, makers of the industry standard online courseware software, has bought out their only real commercial competitor, WebCT.
We’ll have to see how this affects open source project Moodle, a project that includes much of the same functionality as Blackboard and WebCT.
Someone was asking about this at this year’s NEST conference in Valley Falls (a whopping good time, by the way). Its a tool that allows you to create dynamic content on your static website by pulling headlines from your blog using javascript and RSS.
This means, basically, that anytime you post on your blog, if you’ve inserted the code this tool will generate on your home page, the headlines you post on your blog will appear on that web page.
NEKLS is using this to put the headlines from our Currency Weblog on our home page.
