Your library can serve your learning community everywhere, all the time when you have an online presence including;  a web opac, a blog, wiki, curation site or other virtual library service.

image by Horia Varlan

Contents

Setting up a school library blog or wiki
Examples of school library blogs
Instructions for setting up your own blog or wiki

Setting up a school library blog or wiki

Before embarking on creating a library blog or wiki, do some research about how these tools can most effectively support your users, including exploring these and other questions:

• What will be its main purpose?
• What kind of content will you include?
• Will you be the sole person managing the content and keeping it up-to-date, or will this involve a team?
• How will you promote it?

Talk to your IT people, collaborate with key teachers, and (if in a secondary school) discuss with your students. By using a team approach you will be able to produce a plan, linked to learning outcomes, showing ways the library can best provide support through the wiki or blog.

Your wiki can be designed to be an excellent tool to support Inquiry learning.

If you are thinking of setting up a wiki or a blog, here are some links to further information, and step-by-step instructions:

7 things you should know about blogs  (PDF) - what they are, how they work, what the downsides can be, and implications for teaching and learning.  

There are many free platforms for setting up your library blog.  These include but are not limited to:

• wordpress
• blogger
• weebly
• google sites

7 things you should know about wikis (PDF) - what is a wiki, how it works, why wikis are significant, implications for teaching and learning - an easy-to-follow overview.

Examples of school library blogs

• Raroa Intermediate School Library blog
• Fendalton Open Air School Library blog
• Springston School Library blog
• Instructions for setting up your own  wiki

Back to top

• Making your own wiki

  PDF (44Kb)