Website Evaluation 5

Website:  Library of Congress

Website Address:  http://www.loc.gov/index.html

Copyright date and/or Last Update:  While I could not locate a copyright the site is regularly updated and was last updated on 10/20/2010. 

Author/Organization Credentials:  The website is maintained by the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.  The Library of Congress is an agency of the United States Legislative branch.

Web Site Design and Ease of Navigation:  The website is user friendly although it can be a daunting task to navigate the multitude of links contained therein.  The site is a U.S. government website so it contains no pop-ups or ads.  The main page is very easy to navigate although the font is quite small so it can be difficult to read at its default size.  There is a search bar located at the upper right hand corner of the webpage.  Also along the top to the left of this search bar are commonly used links such as ask a librarian, digital collections, and library catalogs.  There is a column of navigational links on the left hand side of the page.  Just underneath the search bar in the upper middle portion of the webpage there is a slideshow of featured links that automatically transitions from link to link.  Underneath this are several more links separated by sections; Library Highlights, News from the Library, Popular Topics and Collections, The Library at Work, and Did you Know.  Once you click on the one of the links the information is displayed in the center right of the page with the navigational links staying put on the right.  At the bottom of the page there are also connectors to Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter.  While this website contains a large amount of information the layout is very simple and easy to use, minimal navigational instruction should be needed for most high-school age students.  Once you click on the one of the links the information is displayed in the center right of the page with the navigational links staying put on the right.       

Response and Recommendation for Use:  This website is an excellent source to find authentic digital copies of many of our nations founding and historical documents.  This website would be appropriate for use in high schools due to large number of links available.  The audio and video resources available make this site ideal to use for in class presentations, whether by the instructor or the students themselves.  This site also makes an excellent reference resource for students doing history projects or research papers.  The digital collections section of the website is immense and contains massive amounts of useful and interesting documents.  You can easily spend hours looking through the digital collections and not even begin to scratch the surface of what's available.  I would certainly utilize this website during most if not all of my history or government lessons throughout the year.