National Cathedral School
By Walter Minkel -- School Library Journal, 4/1/1998
Because private schools are less constrained by districtwide technology policies, many can design Web sites their own way. One such school is the National Cathedral School for Girls in Washington, DC.
The site, created by Upper School Librarian Kathleen Craver (kathleen_craver@smtp.cathedral.org) has a simple design and wide selection of resources.
Craver and staff spent six months developing their Internet Database (www.ncs.cathedral.org/library/upper/ncsid/), a collection of hundreds of sites. The database's topics are familiar, and the sites, unfortunately, are not annotated. But the selection of sites makes it a resource for other libraries to study.
The "Homework Help" page, for example, features a collection of "Ask a" sites: Ask a Science Expert, Ask a Volcanologist, even "Ask the Amish"! (Well, you don't really ask the Amish, who don't use PCs; you ask an "Amish expert" at the Mennonite Information Center in Lancaster County, PA.) Craver says the database allows the school to seamlessly integrate the Internet into the curriculum. "We designed this 24-hour-a-day online library to prevent our students from becoming 'mouse potatoes,'" said Craver. "Mouse potatoes are Internet users who download thousands of useless sites and spend hours trying to find relevant ones."
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Walter Minkel is Multnomah County Library (OR) School Corps Technology Trainer. |
