Stratford (Ontario) Public Library

The site

This site seemed so promising. OK it’s not super cool but it seemed pretty simple and sleek, but perhaps a little childish. The site covers a broad range of topics: magazines, entertainment, books, sports, online resources, study sites, jobs, college and your library. I was very disappointed to find out that all the pages were just sets of links. There was little original content and some of the links were sort of questionable. I found that the original content that did exist was rather condescending discussing things like how they will work with you if you have fines, or how it’s “HIP” to use the library catalogue.

Audience: 14+ according to website (12+ according to me)
Ranking: 2/5

Seattle Public Library – Teens

The Site

This website is for the Seattle Public Library system and does fit within a corporate branding. I do like the branding as it very clear and easy to use. There is a panel where the teen librarians can highlight resources for a specific topic, like Black History Month. Also at the centre of the page there is a place to highlight YA News, which seemed to be upcoming events. The site had most of the standard pages including homework help, databases and websites as well as job listings. One of my favourite features of this site was the “Teens’ Reading Lists”. Not only does this site list general fiction for high and middle school but it also has some special interest lists, like African American Fiction. I loved that it includes a huge number of “top ten reads” in a variety of genres, including adult books for teens, adventure, biography, humour. These lists include short reviews of the books, cover art and a direct link to the catalogue. I also liked that some of the lists were a bit more general like “his reality” and “her reality”. The librarians also have a list of picks under there name. I liked that each of the teen librarians are allowed to have their own personality and are referred to by their first names. This way teens can know that they tend to like the books that Amy picks, but not those that Chance does. Allowing the librarians to be individuals (rather than the “librarian”) makes them more real and approachable.

I liked that this library site provided print, electronic, in-library and on-line resources to the teens. I much prefer the fact that they give the patrons the choice of how they want to access the information rather than assuming that teens will do it all on-line. Many of the website links provided are very interesting including health sites, games sites and serious homework sites.

Audience: 12+
Ranking: 4/5