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Best way of creating a new school library website

I am moving to a new school in September after 9 years at this one. It is so hard to disengage myself from all of the tech stuff that I have done over the past few years - wikis, websites, blogs, del.icio.us etc.

My present website - LRC Online - was written with Dreamweaver and laboriously uploaded at home as our school firewall blocked all ftp. As I wrote it mainly at school, it belongs to the school, although a new librarian will have to move to another host if he/she wants to continue with it as it is all in my name.

So, what I am asking is - what is the best way to build a new site? I want to be able to edit it in a easy and quick way as I will be the sole worker in the library. I have thought of wikis and blogs - but I would rather have something hosted safely. Free things are OK for something that you don't mind losing if the company closes. I have also thought about using a free CMS that I could pay to have hosted.

What are your thoughts? What would you use if you were starting completely from scratch? Where are the best school library sites with the most innovative ideas? I really want to "wow" my new school as I will be the first ever "real" librarian in post, the resources are really poor and most of my impact will have to be via the web at the beginning.

Many thanks
Anne

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Permalink Reply by Anne Robinson on July 25, 2008 at 6:59pm: I think that I have finally got it!!! The support technicians seem to have sorted out the image problem - also, I did a couple of things myself.

Anyway, I have had a little play around and this is the first version at the beginning of a whole new project:

http://library-online.org.uk/

I like the blue theme as it goes with the school colours. I have a lot more to do - and I am sure that I will change things around a lot. But at least I can now make a start. Thanks for your help.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Anne Robinson on September 11, 2008 at 9:45am: Just to update this thread. I have now been developing the site for a few weeks. Obviously there is a long way to go, but I have now been in my new job for almost two weeks and my new school are very happy with the site.

Please let me know what you think and let me know of any more useful Web2.0 stuff that I can add to it.

Thanks for your help with this project.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on September 19, 2008 at 9:32pm: This looks like a great alternative to the steep learning curve of Frontpage or Dreamweaver and finding a host server. Synthasite is an all in one deal with webpage editor and hosting. It makes a nice looking webpage. Check it out http://www.synthasite.com/; ▶ Reply to This