This post was written by Michelle Rago of the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress launched a new home page last month. In case you missed our announcement in early November, we’d like to take a tour of new features. We are really excited about this new design because it allows us to highlight more of the resources that are available for you. The page will change often and we hope it keeps you coming back to learn more about what is happening at your nation’s library. What does this mean for teachers?
Increased exposure to collections
K-12 teachers are a very important audience for the Library of Congress. We want to make it easy for you to find and use primary sources with your students. To that end, we will feature collections and individual primary sources in several places on the new home page. The top of the page will feature new or updated collections, or collections we want to make sure you know about, in addition to other key resources. For example, you will find the Rosa Parks Papers in the top spot for all of December.
The Trending section will include a Featured Item from the collections. In early December we selected a photo of sailors decorating the graves of fellow sailors killed at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
Above the Featured Item is a set of Top Searches on the Library’s site. These searches tend to be people and events in American history. The rest of the Trending section will be a dynamic space connecting you with more resources and voices from around the Library including blog posts, webinars, services, videos, and more. Check back often for fresh connections and content!
The bottom of the page will include items from the collections that the Library believes are free to use and reuse. Right now we are featuring a set of the popular WPA posters. (View the entire WPA poster collection.) We are working to make it easier for you to find content that is rights-clear or in the public domain.
Increased exposure to content for teachers
While a new home page gets a lot of attention, we want to make sure you know about other changes on the Library’s site that we hope make it easier for you to find resources. Many teachers use LOC.gov/teachers to find classroom materials. We also want you to access those materials in context elsewhere on the Library’s site. Relevant classroom content will be available from collection home pages in the “Teaching Resources” section as in this example from the Rosa Parks Papers.
Selected individual item displays will also include classroom materials as in this example of Waldseemüller’s 1507 world map, the first map on which the name “America” appears. Look for this information on the bottom right of the page under “Articles and Essays with this item.”
If you want to learn about other website improvements subscribe to the Library of Congress Blog which features a monthly post about new content and features on loc.gov.
What do you think?
Do you have questions or comments? We are very interested in your feedback. Please post your thoughts in the Comments section below. Thanks!
Comments (3)
Thank you.We will pass this helpful overview along!
Thanks for this. It will be useful to include this blogpost link as required reading for future PD.
thanks for the overview so much to learn