Site of the Month: Mesquite (TX) High School: Skeeter Library Online

www.mesquiteisd.org/mhs/library

When Sharon Harman (sharman@mesquiteisd.org), one of Mesquite High School's two librarians, took a Web design class at Texas Women's University in 2000, she understood quickly that it was a librarian's professional duty to make her library's Web site as easy to navigate as possible, and that all its resources should be annotated. The result is the Skeeter Library Online Web site.

A little background: Harman's site is clear and easy to use, with mostly black type on a plain white background, in paragraphs that are brief and to the point. A navigation bar links to all the site's features. When she collaborates with teachers, Harman puts resources for their assignments on the "Class Projects" page.

Librarians know the Net: "When I got here there wasn't a Web site," Harman says, "and the students were attuned to the Internet but didn't think we were." She decided that she would show those students otherwise, and she has. "They're surprised that the resources are right there," she says. She's added a book review section to the site that lets students recommend and rank the books they read. "The more interactive I make the site, the more it's used," Harman says.