Canton (MI) Public Library's Youth Page
By Walter Minkel -- School Library Journal, 5/1/1998
This colorful, friendly home page greets visitors with a large, but quick-loading, image map that kids like to study before clicking. As part of the Canton (MI) Public Library's Cyber Kids program, profiled in the September 1997 American Libraries, the site aims to make the Web easy for young users. Because CPL's Youth Page does its job well, I've selected it as the SLJ Online Web Site of the Month.
Like most other youth services sites, this one lists recommended sites, but there's more -- including a photo tour of the youth department where you see the Cyber Kids room with its seven PCs, 135-gallon saltwater aquarium, and, of course, Emma the gerbil.
CPL's site committee selected bright colors and large icons "to create a 'CPL youth department look,'" said Youth Services Department Head Judy Teachworth. "We opted not to use frames or animation."
The Hot Topics page features links of up-to-the-minute interest, such as Titanic sites, the Detroit Red Wings site, and sites for "Current Assignments." When staff hear about big assignments, they add links to relevant sites.
There's also a great Internet scavenger hunt where students will find questions -- all easily answered with a little wit and resources on the site -- to solve a riddle.
The goal of Teachworth and her colleagues is to bring the library out of the building and into the community. "What you see on the website," she told me, "is a reflection of what you would see if you visited the library." -- Walter Minkel (wmink@teleport.com), Multnomah County (OR) Library School Corps Technology Trainer.
