Weaving a Library Web: A Guide to Developing Children's Web sites

Citation

du Preez, M. (2005), "Weaving a Library Web: A Guide to Developing Children's Web sites", The Electronic Library, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 145-146. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640470510582826

Modern children want to interact with information, rather than merely receiving it. The internet and modern technology has also become their main, if not their only source of information and entertainment. Librarians are now confronted with the question as to where the library fits into this digital world and how libraries can compete with the internet.

Weaving a library web is for children's librarians who wish to explore expanding their children's services via the web. It is a practical guide to the development and implementation of children's service web sites. It is broken into sections that deal with the planning process, design guidelines and special technical considerations, testing, marketing and best practices. In it, the award‐winning authors, Helene Blowers and Robin Bryan, share their knowledge and experience gleaned from the development of the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County's family of web sites. It also reports on several other library sites that have joined the ranks.

Blowers and Bryan hoped that Weaving a library web will prompt librarians to think about their library's internet services in this new way. In my opinion they succeeded very well in this objective. They reckon all children's librarians should look at internet services as outreach vehicles that expand their libraries into the lives and world of their users – children – and show how it can be done.

This book advises on how to create appropriate sites for different ages; develop project plans, map out details, and make the user experience easy and fun. Each aspect is well illustrated with sample screen shots from a variety of internet based library services for children.

The authors explore library web sites that provide core children's services using both new and existing content and that group into familiar categories the services that libraries are known to excel in. They pay attention to some of the general guidelines that are important to keep in mind when developing online library services, especially those that apply to children's web sites or online library services. They also consider aspects such as privacy, accessibility, and maintenance and show how their proper incorporation into a site's design help users to take better advantage of the web service offered by the library.

Apart from giving advice on how to manage the project and build a project team, attention is also given to planning and organising as well as testing – and evaluation of the web site. The promotion and marketing of the web site is the last aspect to receive attention. Since libraries generally do not have marketing budgets, chapter 8 sets out to explore inexpensive, if not free, ways to market a library web site.

Weaving a library web is an exciting new book. It is easy to read, filled with information and exciting ideas on how to plan, design, manage, and market online children's library services. It includes many useful references and a very useful index. It is a must read for the developers of web sites for children.