Provides elementary and middle school library media specialists with criteria for evaluating poetry collections, including balancing contemporary and traditional poetry and responding to children's preferences; discusses ways to promote poetry with both students and teachers; and includes a selected bibliography of 60 recommended poetry books.…

Discusses the importance of books that combine quality illustrations with quality stories of a multicultural world that are suitable for elementary school students. Includes suggestions for librarians and teachers who are selecting books and evaluating collections. (LRW)

This digest examines changes that are involved in an elementary school library media program when the school's instructional methods move from a basic skills to a whole language approach. These changes are discussed in terms of three curricular foci--theme studies, process writing, and literature-based reading--and new demands that are placed on…

Examines aspects of censorship that professional educators do not usually acknowledge--a silent, self-imposed censorship. Asks at what point book selection policy becomes a means to justify rejecting the purchase or provide for the removal of specific titles from the bookshelves. Suggests a solution: a written selection policy at the school and…

Outlines the European Picture Book Collection project designed to help young children understand more about Europe. Contains preparatory stages of the project, discussing the first symposium in France (1966), the establishment of a European picture book collection, the initial evaluation of the materials in U.K. schools, the second symposium in…

Library media specialists, 55 from each of 5 states which have organized child-choice state award programs--Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Carolina, and Texas--were surveyed to ascertain their position on the question of whether library media specialists should purchase Caldecott/Newbery or state award books. The survey consisted of two…

Designed to serve as an access point to children's literature for researchers, librarians, teachers, parents, and young people, this single-volume guide covers reference materials published from 1985 through 1997. More than 325 information sources have been identified, reviewed, and individually evaluated, with entries ranging from theoretical…

Because the media emphasize how females look rather than what they do, it is important for children to encounter strong girls in the books they read. This article provides an annotated bibliography of picture books for primary grade children in which African and African-American girls exhibit admirable traits. Suggests class activities in art and…

Includes 15 articles that relate to Canadian children's literature, including the power of literature; using Canadian literature in Canada; the principal's role in promoting literacy; Canadian Children's Book Centre; the National Library of Canada's children's literature collection; book promotion; selection guide; publisher's perspective; and…

This study describes a survey of public elementary schools in Wake County, North Carolina that examined what picture books that include mixed-race characters or mixed-race families are available and which are most commonly collected in public school media centers. Of the 79 elementary school media centers in the Wake County Public School System,…

Offers suggestions for building school library collections in English and language arts. Discusses how the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) tests for proficiency in three purposes of reading and how it can be used to evaluate a library collection; and includes four annotated bibliographies of books suitable for elementary…

Selection and development aids emphasizing materials for children through sixth grade are examined and the main categories (evaluative, non-evaluative) and subsets (current or retrospective, specific or all subjects, format) are noted. Factors to be considered in examining selection tools are discussed: organization, information provided,…

This book focuses on the selection of books in an elementary school and on the resources designed to help in that process. Resources that support other aspects of collection development are identified, along with a number of established surveys of children's literature that discuss specific titles. The following chapters are included: (1)…

Discusses the lack of African American biographies for elementary school libraries and reports the results of a study that surveyed publishers from the Children's Book Council. Examines book reviews, discusses the number of sports figures included, and considers problems with a lack of appropriate materials to support the curriculum. (LRW)

This descriptive study investigated the numbers of unique and overlap titles in selected elementary schools which may influence resource-sharing decision making. A convenience sample of seven elementary schools in DeKalb County, Georgia, using the Follett Software Company's "Circulation Plus" system was used. Each school printed a shelf list…