This paper examines the usefulness of poetry book prizes as a selection tool by evaluating their fairness, meaningfulness, and reliability as an indication of quality. The results of two surveys, one collecting data on poetry book prizes and the other asking librarians about their collecting practices, suggest that selecting on the basis of prizes…

Updated to include the 2012 award and honor books, this new edition of the annual guide to the Newbery and Caldecott awards gathers together the books deemed most distinguished in American children's literature and illustration since the inception of the renowned prizes. Librarians and teachers everywhere rely on this guidebook for quick reference…

Selecting materials for school libraries has always been a challenging task, but it has become much more complicated in the 21st Century. A school librarian at a junior high in the late 1990s could allot a certain portion of her budget for reference books, the general circulating collection, a few audiovisual materials, and newspapers and…

Updated to include the 2011 award and honor books, this new edition of the annual guide to the Newbery and Caldecott awards gathers together the books deemed most distinguished in American children's literature and illustration since the inception of the renowned prizes. Librarians and teachers everywhere rely on this guidebook for quick reference…

Specific curriculum is taught at every grade level and it is the job of library media specialists to know subject area content. Library media specialists should develop collections to meet the content associated with curriculum standards. To ensure that these collections meet school needs, collection mapping with specific curriculum related to…

This paper reports on a study of librarian initiated publications discovery (LIPD) in U.S. state digital depository programs using the OCLC Digital Archive to preserve web-based government publications for permanent public access. This paper describes a model of LIPD processes based on empirical investigations of four OCLC DA-based digital…

Genre is a hot issue in readers' advisory (RA) circles right now. Many people are looking at how genre functions and morphs. Studying a genre is not a new idea. Over two decades ago, and even longer in less formal ways, librarians began gathering to study genres--asking such questions as in what genre does this book fit and why, what are its…

The Bibliotherapy Education Project began as a teaching collaboration between faculty at Oregon State University's Libraries and School of Education. The project's evolution from 1999 to 2004 was previously described in this journal (McMillen 2005). The core of the project is a book evaluation tool, which builds counselor skill and knowledge in…

A school librarian and book reviewer argues that buyers, reviewers, editors, and publishers need to look more carefully at series books. Discusses series and reviewing tools and ways reviewers can help colleagues make the best choices for students. Recommends two social studies series, and suggests questions to ask when buying series books. (PEN)

Designed to help library students gain an understanding of building library collections for specific communities of users, this text presents the process of collection development. Emphasizing collection development in general, rather than the process in any particular institutional setting, the book provides a discussion of needs assessment,…

Core-reference collections are the small number of sources which meet the basic needs of all libraries, and the purpose of this guide is to assist libraries in the selection, acquisition, and use of these resources. Section I, structured like an annotated bibliography, focuses on the selection of those works which should constitute the main…

This guide provides a representative selection of biographical dictionaries and related works useful to the reference and collection development processes in all types of libraries. Three criteria were used in selection: (1) each item included was published within the past 12 years; (2) each item has been included in American Reference Books…

This book is a comprehensive guide to children's picture books, and provides the necessary help to make the task easier for teachers, librarians, and parents. It includes more than 18,000 titles cataloged under more than 1,000 subjects. The book can be used to obtain information about children's picture books in two ways: to learn the titles,…

One of the hardest administrative duties for teacher-librarians seems to be collection development. One would think that the selection of books would be effortless, especially with the number of online bookstores offering used book discounts or free shipping for large orders. Deepening budget cuts and limited or untrained staff means collection…

This book provides a straightforward approach to finding and recommending good novels based on what sparks a reader's interest. With emphasis on award-winning fiction, the guide features more than 500 novels published between 1990 and 2001. This companion title uses the same easy-access organization used in the original "Now Read This: A Guide to…