Capstone Project
A New Website
The previous website (linked below) for the McKinney Boyd High School Learning Commons (Library) was built over ten years ago by my mentor, our Media Resource Specialist Mrs. Sheila Frink, using Weebly. While Mrs. Frink still maintains the site, she agrees that it needs a major overhaul to better serve our patrons. In my position as campus Technology Integrator I felt that this project was a great fit for my skills and influence.
My capstone project is a single submission - a new website (linked below)! The new site I've built for this project (with my mentor's blessing) is hosted by our McKinney ISD server and has the same styling as the main McKinney Boyd website. This was a massive undertaking including more than thirty hours of coding and the creation of multiple original tutorial videos. My ultimate goal was to make our library program more accessible to all our patrons including students, parents, and community members.
Standards Addressed
Please view links to view the evaluation reports of each standard addressed.Standard III - Principle 3.G
Please visit the new database page.
The database has been completely redone so that every database (a technology initiative) has a description included. I also created a video on how to find database passwords (since we cannot publish them) so that our students can utilize these phenomenal tools when off campus. Another tutorial video I created for the new website includes instructions on how to obtain a book through interlibrary loan.
Standard III - Principle 4.B
I created tutorial videos on how to use our online "Library Search" and how to download and use Sora, our digital materials app. Each of these videos is linked on the new website. My hope is that by sharing these instructions with both students and parents we might see increased usage by our patrons. I also hope that our ELAR teachers can benefit from these videos, particularly the tutorial on Sora, as it has a font for dyslexic readers.
Standard V - Principle 2.B
Please visit the new library homepage.
This standard was the inspiration for building a new website! I wanted the library's site to be cohesive with the rest of the Boyd site so that parents and community members would know they were looking at correct and up-to-date information. My goal was to ensure the new site included many virtual trainings while remaining user-friendly so that our program and materials would see an increase in use. The top banner on the website includes hotspots (click on the plus signs!) so that patrons can learn about the different areas of our space before ever walking through the doors.
Standard V - Principle 3.A
The McKinney Boyd library program accommodates the learning differences of our patrons in a variety of ways. We purchased stationary reading bikes (shown in the hotspot banner photo above) for our students who experience difficulty focusing. We provide hardcopy and digital audiobooks for our auditory or vision-impaired patrons. One of our more significant additions to support our dyslexic students is Sora, an app that can be accessed from student laptops or personal devices, which offers a special OpenDyslexic font. There is information (including the tutorial linked above) promoting Sora on the new website.
Standard VI - Principle 1.A
Our campus library collection and databases have always been available remotely, however students did not know how to access them when not on school WiFi because the passwords are not published. The database video (above) will support users by showing them how to access needed passwords.
Standard VI - Principle 5.F
The library search video (above) instructs users on how they can search Boyd's collection with special emphasis given to types and availability of materials. Also included in the tutorial are information on district interlibrary loans and a link to the website for the City of McKinney Public Library.
Improved Program Ratings
View my evaluation dashboard here.
By updating the website, adding tutorial videos, and creating the library hotspot banner my library program would improve Standard V - Principle 2 from "Acceptable" to "Recognized" therefore changing the overall rating from "Acceptable" to "Recognized" for Standard V. These improvements specifically address information equity and accessibility and connect resources and services to appropriate users.
Instructing students to properly search and locate materials using our Library Search and promoting our interlibrary loan services will improve our rating from "Recognized" to "Exemplary" in Standard III - Principle 4.
Promoting databases by making the login credentials easier to find (and adding descriptions for each) and linking the new website to the City of McKinney Public Library website our program will move from "Below Standard" to "Acceptable" in Standard VI - Principle 1.