Tag Archives: Design

Training Tips: Making Your Website Work

Websites are awesome. And they are necessary for sharing information with your community members. We are an information profession; our whole purpose is to help patrons find information they need. A handy website is one important tool in making that happen.

Check out this week’s Advocacy Alchemy for some ideas and encouragement on getting started with your website.

So now we are ready to design that website – yay!

Any good website needs a few basic things to make sure your website works for your community members. Include these things to make your site usable and user-friendly.

  • Readable. The type needs to be big enough to be read easily – even by little old ladies like me who can’t see small type. Also add in a bunch of white space so it’s not too cluttered. You want the important stuff will be be immediately obvious.
  • Look pretty. You want a site that looks nice. Don’t add in lots of flashy things, blinky things, or other annoyances. Colors are nice, but you want to keep one or two; don’t over-decorate. Graphics and videos are nice – but remember: Everyone hates audio and video that self-starts. Don’t inflict that on your community.
  • Limit clicks. I can tell you from personal experience that once you start adding webpages, it’s surprisingly hard to stop. Just keep in mind the very basic usability idea that people should never have to click more than three times to get where they want to go. More than this, and people will get frustrated and move on to another information source.
  • Trendy. When you spend your days browsing websites and online resources, you get a feel for what other people are doing with web design. While you do not need to copy someone else’s site directly (copyright!), it’s okay to use popular design elements to help encourage your patrons to find what they need.
  • Fast! You know that in the online world, speed counts. If a patrons has to wait three seconds for a page to load on their phone – they are gone. You web host may be able to give you suggestions on speeding up your site’s loading time.
  • Good information. Think about what your community members will want to know. Hours are basic, your phone number is good, a web map is handy. Clearly, you want a catalog front and center. A staff page, or at least an email people can use to contact you.

 

Setting up a good website is going to be a little more work than just these things. But you have to get started somewhere!

CMLE members: we can help you to set up a basic site. Please get in touch with us today, and let’s get started sharing information with your students and other patrons!

 

Cool ways to display your books

Bookshelves are awesome!

Library people love books, and they usually tend to own quite a few. Keeping these books organized can present challenges, especially if you own a lot of them.

This article from Buzzfeed has some really unique, yet totally do-able ideas for organizing and displaying your books. Check it out and discover:

  • using an old ladder as a shelf and wall decoration
  • incorporating plants into your bookshelves
  • using rope lights to highlight your collection

Follow the hashtag #bookshelf on Instagram for more pretty inspiration, or check out this article that features 15 Instagram accounts especially for book lovers.

And of course, Pinterest has a wealth of bookshelf ideas to enjoy. Just be warned – you could spend a lot of time perusing all the shelving options!

Orville watches over some of the books and plants here at CMLE Headquarters. Do you have your books or bookshelves organized in an interesting display? Send us a picture!

 

AASL Recommended App: Content Creation: Canva

canvaIn June 2016, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announced their 25 Best Apps for Teaching and Learning. The apps encourage qualities such as innovation and active participation, and are user-friendly.

The design tool Canva provides fonts, design templates, layouts, and more to use on social media or slide presentations. The app has more than a million images to choose from, and also allows you to use pictures uploaded from your camera roll. Great for use on school websites, flyers, and social media branding. The Canva site also features helpful tutorials.

Cost: Free
Level: Middle and High School
Platforms: iOS

The blog Disrupt Education has a great article about how to incorporate Canva into the classroom, with relation to teaching 21st century learning skills like succinct writing and using creative commons. Another site to visit that discusses the usefulness of Canva in schools is Ed Tech Teacher. Their article about using Canva includes examples, videos, and links to additional resources and articles.

Watch their promotional video:

Just for Fun: Cool Library Chairs

Image by Tulane Public Relations. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image by Tulane Public Relations. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

Are you dreaming of a new look for your library, and does that dreamy look include new furniture? Check out this fun collection of library chairs put together by Flavorwire. My favorite? That would be #12, a design they call OpenBook, although the white is a bit worrisome with doodlers and dirty snow slush this time of year! Check it out at http://tinyurl.com/lvk4obt

Decorate Your Desktop

Image retrieved online from MakeUseOf 12/16/13.
Image retrieved online from MakeUseOf 12/16/13.

While the spirit of the holidays abound, don’t forget you can spruce up a computer desktop as well. Select from one of these 10 Festive Wallpapers to Prepare Your Desktop for the Holidays by MakeUseOf (December 2013.)

If you don’t care for these images, just for fun click on 5 Websites with Awesome Christmas Wallpapers (December 2013) to extend your holiday search.