Organization of elementary libraries

[Madeline Buchanan <DEMS105@UABDPO.BITNET>]

Lois,
  I tried to mail this directly to you and it kept bouncing back.  Please
excuse my sending it to the entire group.
          Madeline Buchanan
----------------------------Original message----------------------------



  As a librarian who has set up several elementary libraries, I divide my
collection into the following areas:  non-fiction (000-999), fiction, easy,
biography (individual only), story collection, and reference.  One librarian
in our system has two easy collections--one that is really easy for
kindergarten and first graders and another with books that are still
classified as easy but have more words in them.  This librarian also
divides her non-fiction the same say.  She color codes her spines to
make shelving easier.  (I taught summer school in her library once and
shelving was a nightmare!)
  I find that using only a few categories makes it a lot easier to shelve
books than dividing the easy and non-fiction books into two sections.  At
the first of the year I pull the very easy books and put them on a book
truck for the kindergarten and first grade students.  As the first graders
learn to read, they can select books from the easy bookshelves.  These are
the only students I actually pull books for; all the others go directly to
the shelves to select their books.  I am in a K-5 school.

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   MADELINE L. BUCHANAN           BARRETT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
   LIBRARY MEDIA SPECIALIST       7601 DIVISION AVENUE
   DEMS105@UABDPO.DPO.UAB.EDU     BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA  35206
                                  PHONE (205) 838-7644

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