Canandaigua (NY) Academy Virtual Library
RSShttp://www.canandaigua.k12.ny.us/academy/library/
Staff -- School Library Journal, 05/01/1999
Canandaigua (NY) Academy Virtual Library
http://www.canandaigua.k12.ny.us/academy/library/
As I wander the Web, I occasionally find school library sites with well-designed resource directories that play the online role that good, brick-and-mortar libraries have always played: efficiently steering users toward the materials they need. The Canandaigua (NY) Academy Virtual Library does just that. Its simplicity -- and the effort that's gone into achieving that simplicity -- is the reason I've chosen it as the SLJ Online Library Web Site of the Month.
Canandaigua Academy is Cananandaigua's district high school. Library Media Specialist Mike Nyerges (Mnyerges@wfmail.canandaigua.k12.ny.us) launched the school's library site in 1996. Its design is a basic three-column table, with the main curriculum resource, arts, career, and higher-education links located in the center column. The side columns offer research resources, such as periodical indexes, like EBSCOHost, and a directory of search tools. There's also a page on evaluating Net resources.
Teachers regularly contribute to the Virtual Library by recommending sites and requesting that pages on specific topics be added. Nyerges learns what adjustments to make to the site by watching teachers and students use it. He also believes in the importance of marketing, which he does by talking about the site to groups of local educators.
The Virtual Library is "very much a labor of love and of professional pride," says Nyerges.
-- Walter Minkel (wmink@teleport .com), Multonomah County (OR) Library School Corps Technology Trainer
