Evaluation of the Design process and Software used.

This website was created to address a need for online reading material that catered for young adults who are not interested in the traditional book. This occurred to me increasingly during my dissertation research and my career as future information professional.

WordPress was instrumental in the creation of a website that met users needs and website goals. “Graphically Yours” was created using one of the templates offered by WordPress as it is very straight-forward and easy to navigate. I was very pleased with the options that were available and the templates were very helpful as it showed pre-designed websites that you could choose and modify.

This free website builder was indeed a great tool that assisted me in completing this assignment.

 

Evaluation of the Strength and Weaknesses of the Website

There are many strengths associated with designing this website. “Graphically Yours” is very appealing to readers as the online books can be accessed any time of the day, as long as you have access to an internet connection. Readers can participate from home, school or any other public place.  

The website is easy to navigate and the language is straight-forward which will not overwhelm the user. “Graphically Yours” has several books that covers different genres and everyone will find something that will appeal to them.

However, “Graphically Yours” is fictional in nature and therefore highlighted many weaknesses associated with the website. For example, the website cannot be paired with any social media accounts because it is not real. This would reduce the authencity of the site to browsers. Although the website is operational, the web address is not valid as it is does not have a registered web domain.

The website is also not searchable through Google or any other search engines and as such can only be visited through a shared link.

I also sought to be as careful as possible to avoid copyright issues and even though some of the books came from items that already exist, the art work is original. Some of the books are also fictional and was created for the purpose of the website.

Personal Reflection of Project

This project was very daunting, as even though I have created a blog, I have never created a website. However, with the assistance of WordPress, YouTube and a colleague of mine, I was able to navigate the basic techniques to construct and complete an operational website.

I also decided to incorporate my daughter’s creative talents as she is the creator of some of the book covers highlighted on the web page. I loved her input and felt that it gave the site more focus. One  book in particular, ” Untold Story: The Day that changed the nation,” is an original creation, stemming from an historical event that occurred in Trinidad and Tobago during the 1990s.

Even the image in the header of the website is an original as the photo was taken by my daughter of one of the graphic novels that is on the shelves of the National Library. She took note of the copyright issue and decided to take photos of the reading material while they open.

Reflective Blog

“Graphically Yours” is an online book club that was created as part of an assignment to complete my BSc Information Studies.

This website is basically a gateway for reading material that are in  graphic novel format, in order to appeal to a reader who does not like to read the traditional book, but may enjoy seeing it in picture format. In addition, the staff of “Graphically Yours” consists of information professionals who are aware of the emerging technologies and use them to both enhance physical book clubs and to replace them with online ones.

In our more modern, technologically-savvy and visually oriented world, traditional library book clubs have been undergoing a quiet revolution. The internet is where the current generation live their lives, how they tell their stories and most importantly how they read.

Technology has provided opportunities for a new type of literacy to emerge and literacy in our lives has become increasingly multi-modal.

The website was constructed to be an online community for young adults, who, at any time they want can instantly discuss any book they may have read with other people who read the same book.

As a future information professional and as a mother of two teenage children, who exist in this current generation, it was important to me to create this website so that they can find reading material that they may actually enjoy and learn from. It was also ideal to name the website, “Graphically Yours” as all the reading material will be graphic novels in one place and where they can freely interact with their peers.

 

 

Creativity in the Library

A collaboration between one of class mates and myself was a fantastic experience. It showed me that even though there are concepts that our young people are not aware of when it comes to computers, they are eager to learn about something new, once there is creativity involved.

History and Fiction Coming Together

The library recently received only two copies of a book called, “A Wish After Midnight.” Now I am always looking for fresh literature for our young adults to read and the cover of the book looked interesting. Even though it has been out since 2009, it isn’t really talked about but as I read it I couldn’t put it and I actually found myself feeling emotional. The book tackles themes in American history such as slavery, class, love, economic deprivation but in a way that allows the reader to become immersed in it. Admittedly there were some weak points, but the author points it out and there is a sequel coming soon.

After I read it, i asked one of our young adults to read it and our opinions were on the same page. I took the time to put both the cover of the book and her review together and I am definitely going to try to get some more copies so that we can host a book discussion with it.

Staff have talent too.

The public tends to think that library staff have no talent, however i was extremely proud to be a part of the team that recently put together and put up a display on Divali. We did everything from scratch which means that we researched the information on dress, food and other traditional aspects of Divali. Everything was printed onto different pages, before being put together like a large jigsaw puzzle.

Mother Lakshmi and Ganesh were also printed onto simple pieces of paper, before being put together as well and backed with cardboard.

The rice decoration in the center, however was done by another member of staff, who takes her work very seriously but is modest about her talent.

The public tends to think that displays are easy to do, but it’s not. Hard work, sweat, steady hands and straining eyes all go into the successful completion of our displays.

Creations should include food

Libraries are considered places for boring creatures. They wear glasses…..I wear them too but that’s besides the point, they wear ugly shoes (they’re more comfortable) and they can rattle off boring information from books.

However, things are slowly changing, they also get tattoos, I have more but they’re in other places.

The public will also see us soon launch a new venture. (However future brainstorming sessions should have food if only to keep people awake.)

This is a sneak peek of the  results of food less meeting.

Teaching is an interesting experience, I’m not jealous of teachers

So there’s a well known secret that throughout Trinidad and Tobago, libraries offer free computer classes to citizens young, old and in between. However it is rarely utilized at least, among our young adults. The majority may be very skilled in using Facebook, Twitter, and various other social media, but when it comes to researching for LEGITIMATE information, then formatting and finalizing their projects, they do not know their elbows from their toes.

At the library where I work, I had the responsibility of teaching some of our young adults programs such as Ebscohost which will greatly assist them in their assignments and the other links that the website has such as the e-books. The classes first started with twenty students, however on this day there were only five students and I could distinctly see the bored expressions on their faces

There was only boy genuinely interested. So while I was wishing I was getting excitement , I was really getting this:

Misconceptions about being a Library Assistant

Everyday I am faced with the same comments and questions:

What do you do all day besides check in, check out books?

Work.

Do you read books all day?

No

Is it boring shelving all day?

I don’t shelf all day.

How come you’re not older?

Or the classic: You’re pretty for someone who works in the library.

Like really?!!

This blog is about sharing what other activities that goes in the library. Some of it is boring, some cool, some just plain freaking weird but at the end of the day, you’ll see the library might be a pretty cool after all.