Several of you asked for the following HIT so here it is...
My original question:
I work in a public school system that serves grades 7-12. My nonfiction sections
are out of date but especially the 500 section. Does anyone have advice on how to
find titles to update the section? Where do I look and how do I choose?
Responses:
This is an excellent site
www.sunlink.ucf.edu/weed/
I highly recommend that you contact Mackin Library Services. They are based
in Minnesota but have a wonderful online presence. Just go to
www.mackin.com, or call 1-800-245-9540 and they answer the phone. They can
prepare a customized list for you FREE and send it to you. It would be
great if you get them to do a Collection Analysis for you first. But if
not, just get their title help. They are the best and real people who
employ librarians to help you save time and money. They were always my
favorite vendor.
Start with the curriculum on your campus.
First year
What topics do you need?
How many?
THEN, go to your favorite online catalog. Mackin, Follett or whatever.
Put in the topic you are looking for and narrow the search by year and
ages or whatever to get a nice refined list for the particulars you are
looking. Then print. Now, you can go to Amazon.com and search for the
titles, read the professional and the people reviews. Crossing out or
ranking them as you read the reviews. Then take your refined list to
the teachers of that topic and ask them which of these they would like
to see the library purchase.
As to the old books on the shelf, no information is better than wrong
information. I would start weeding. BUT, before I actually weed, I've
just pulled; I would ask those teachers again to come look. You can
easily put back anything they recommend. Then weed the remainders.
INCENTIVES: Purchasing things they want is the incentive for looking
over your lists. Having goodies for them while they look over the
possible discards is another.
Subsequent years: check to see if you need to complete another
curriculum area, or just for fun things your students are asking for.
It is a never ending process.
What a coincidence. I have just started furiously, ruthlessly weeding
the 500s in my 9-12 public HS. I am up to 540s. I have a large
collection of books whose periodic tables only include 103 elements!
Those are outta here!
As to what to replace them with: Every year Booklist has one issue that
centers around science and technology, so I am using that.
Also: Amazon. You can come up with some pretty good (if expensive)
selections by using the advanced search features as well as their own
category suggestions. No, not all of them will have reviews from our
established reviewing tools, but you can judge quality from publishers.
For instance, Cambridge, Oxford, Princeton Univ. Presses can usually be
counted on. For your younger grades, DK is usually good.
I have yet to tally up a total $ figure for replacements through the
530s, but I'm thinking I'd like to buy two new books for every five
discarded, but I'm not sure if the funding will be available.
It seems as if our curriculum has changed so much that most of my
recent purchases have been in the 600s, so fewer books in the 500s will
not be missed.
I'd recommend using Titlewave (from Follett) to search for titles. It
allows you to search by Dewey number, year of publication, interest level as
well as many other limiters. I found it incredibly useful when trying to
update my 5 and 600 section. I think you have to sign up for an account
with Follett, but you're not obligated to purchase anything. As for
choosing--I'm not sure what advice I can give--my eyes always seem to be
bigger than my budget!
Do use Literature for today's young adults as a helpful guide. By
Kehheth Donelson and Alleen Nilsen.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science publishes Science
Books & Films which provides reviews of materials at all levels.
The other major source for many folks is are the Core Collections series
from H.W. Wilson. Senior High and Middle and Junior High would be
appropriate for your school.
*I would definitely begin with materials that support the curriculum and
then add books which are of interest to the kids.* How about having a
suggestion box near the area or online and promoting their giving suggested
titles?
I like just going to book stores and perusing the science and natural
history areas as well.
It's a huge challenge to keep up with science titles which generally go out
of date more quickly than other areas of the library.
It is so important for the sciences to be up-to-date. I limit my print
holdings only to those items that received rave reviews (Booklist or
School Library Journal); otherwise, it's databases.
H.W. Wilson has two books for you: Middle and Junior High School Library
Catalog, and Senior High Core Collection. These aren't cheap, but are
valuable professional resources for you. Each comes out once every few
years, with annual supplements. Your purchase gets you the hardcover
book and the supplements. The books are organized by Dewey number, and
usually include excerpts from reviews.
Thank you,
Kim Smith-Harber
Salem High School
Salem, Arkansas
Library Media Specialist
ksmith@salem.ncsc.k12.ar.us
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