Every library needs a website; we tell you how to get one
On each episode of Linking Our Libraries, we look at some information about a skill you need in your library or archive.
And it's the 21st Century - yay! The world is online now and your library - no matter how small, how obscure, or any other reason - needs to be online too. Yes: even if you are a school library. Yes: even if you are very small. Yes: even if you only have one staff member (you!).
The really nice thing about this is that it's surprisingly easy to build a decent website yourself. Sure, a real pro will make it look cooler; but you can do it yourself and be fine.
In this episode we will talk about another important part of good library service: website design. Your website, or your web-page on someone else’s site, is your online branch. The world has moved online, and every single library, no matter how large or small, needs to be there. It’s an important way to share information and your resources - so let’s work on making it pretty good!
Check out our full show notes here, including links to other helpful information, and links to the books we chat about in this episode.
We start by saying that none of us are website experts. None of us code. None of us have certifications or training. And you know what? We still built our website ourselves!
It’s not perfect - in fact this summer we are doing a pretty big overhaul of it, so keep an eye on things changing. And when things break, we sometimes panic and go to Starbucks for emergency coffee infusions to make it all feel better. In fact, as we were putting together the information for this episode, some unexplained glitch hit our site and we were working on resolving it. We did fix it!
But here we are. We have a site. It’s imperfect, but it’s fine. Problems will always happen, with any kind of program or service - and it is not the end of the world. The goal is just to keep building it and making it better.
You can do this too! And really - you need to do this.
In any type of library, it is your job to share information - and you do this where your patrons are already looking for information. A basic website will be a great help to you and your community!
Success Coach | EduJay LLC
5 年I love what you're doing with your podcast. If you ever need a guest to talk about training or coaching for performance or development, I'd love to "drop by". I worked almost 20 years in libraries with my last stop as the director of continuing education and training at Georgia Public Library Service. Although I'm no longer working in a library, libraries are love to me.