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This page contains the content review of High Point High School Library Media Center's website. The focus is on the information presented, audience appropriateness, authorship, depth and breadth, relevancy and currency, and other interesting features of the website.
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| Authorship | Objectives | Information Literacy | Depth and Breadth, Relevancy and Currency | Information Inquiry | Showing student use of technology | Reading advisory | Likes and dislikes |
The author is Nancy LeBlanc Turner. It was copyrighted in 2000. Although it doesn't say directly on this entry page, later pages mention Ms. Turner as the Media Specialist in the high school.
Back to topAs the mission statement points out, the content of this website is geared towards:
They also say they are interested in having a diverse collection in a variety of formats.
Back to topThis site provides interesting information literacy resources that are interactive. These activities are authored by staff in the school. They include a Web Quest on career searching, a boolean operators searching activity, evaluating information resources activity, using databases to research plant uses assignment, evaluating documents activity, and a critical thinking activity. These are very useful activities for a media center to teach and promote because they will help the users become more effective thinkers, learners and library users.
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This website contains a depth and breadth of material to use! They have information literacy materials, pathfinders, college and career resources, search engines, homework help, links for teachers, a mission statement, Big 6 research links, recommended reading lists, websites from the multimedia club, and a "what's new" section. There are also study guides and links to web quests and other external educational sites. This site is geared specifically for the high school student in mind. The reading level and resources for the needs of the average high school student. I like how many of the current event links and search engines are names that you will know and trust for information, such as B.B.C., Washington Post, and Excite.
The site also provides 19 pathfinders, 9 college/career resources, 12 news web sources, 4 search engines, 22 "homework helpers", as well as a link to the Teacher's Resource Page. I like that the pathfinder pages do not just "give the answers" to the students. Instead, they give the students a starting point with a few keywords and pointing them towards more appropriate databases, search engines and physical resources in the library. The college/career resources gives informations about scholarships, financial aid, how specific careers are doing and more. They are so applicable to the high school audience. This practical information that many of them will be looking for as they prepare for their lives after high school. The news/weather/stock links are great because they will provide current and timely information for any social studies class or other areas of study. When thinking of the search engines, I am very glad that they provide more than just Google so students can have multiple searching avenues. The homework helpers consist of general references such a dictionary and encyclopedia, but also more specific information sites about the U.S. government, art, mathematics, and the periodic table. There is definitely a breadth of choices for students in different curriculum areas to explore. The teacher's resource page is just as in-depth as the library entry page itself! The webmaster truly tried to cover as many areas of need and interest as possible.
Back to topThe High Point High School Library Media Center also provides information and activites regarding information inquiry (research). This school has adopted Big6, so activities have been linked for the students' enrichment and instruction. There is a sample Big6 activity, an outline for time management, and a self evaluation page. There is also information on how to cite resources from a variety of sources, including internet web sites. Students can check the Big6 rubric to know how they will be evaluated as well.
Back to topWhen students are ready to use the web as a publishing tool, there are more resources for them at this site. Filamentality is a site listed under the "create web-based products" category, although the underlined words it is linked to are incorrect (Hotlist, Scrapbook, Treasure Hunt). It is an interesting site to connect bits of web information into one web learning site. There is a virtual field trip link where the user can not only explore old ones but create new ones.
Students who have already had instruction in web publishing have found an outlet for their work on this site. I browsed pages dealing with the web design club, favorite cars, information about specific class curriculum, tutoring, and more. Unfortunately, there are many links that no longer work. I assume older pages have been deleted.
Back to topThis library is also concerned about encouraging reading for pleasure. They have a section just for recommended reading lists. I like how they use lists from the local public library, a state award list and a national organization's list like the American Library Association. They will get a broad range of suggestions in this way.
Back to topI like the "new links" section. It doesn't tell the reader how recent the links are, but it highlights content for exploration. One nice feature about the new links is the annotation for each entry so students will know what the links contain.
There are a couple of drawbacks in this site's content. First of all, most of the links are not annotated. You would not be exactly sure what information the link would cover until you go there yourself. Also there is not much variety in how information is presented. It is pretty well text-based, although there are a few non-essential pictures. There is no audio or video components. Lastly, after a thorough exploration, I discovered several links do not work. The webmaster needs to update the site to remove or fix broken links.
Back to topIf you need to download Adobe Reader to view .pdf files, here is a link to do that.
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Web Author: Emily Morris, IUPUI School of Library Science graduate student Page creation date: September 24, 2005 Last revision: September 26,2005 XHTML validation site:W3C Markup Validation Service CSS validation site:W3C CSS Validator Web accessibilty site:Watchfire WebXACT |
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