Using review for media selection

[Konnie Wightman <konda_wightman@MAIL.LMO.BISMARCK.K12.ND.US>]

        I want to thank all the people who sent me replies on the
percentage of time they rely on reviews for selection.  It was very hard
for people to put a finger on the percentage of time they use reviews,
unless they relied heavily. I needed the information for a presentation to
elementary principals to show them that the 16 elementary library
assistants in my district are following about the same pattern as most of
you are.
I'm unable to cut and paste from my presentation so I'll just type out a
summary of what I gave them:
        Seven people said they use reviews for fiction between 0-25% of the
time; 9 said between 51-75% of the time; 30 said they use them 76-99% of
the time.  For non-fiction, 7 said 0-25% of the time; 3 said 51-75% of the
time; and 7 said 76-99% of the time. For the rest of their selections
people said they relied on other sources for a percentage of their
selections:  18 said they relied on teacher recommendations 0-25% of the
time; 4 said they relied on those 51-75% of the time; 0 said they relied on
teacher recommendations 76-99% of the time.  They also put a percentage of
time they relied on sources such as book stores, conventions, previews,
publishers catalogs (and I lumped all these together):  19 said they rely
on those other sources 0-25% of the time; 7 said 51-75% of the time; 2 said
76-99% of the time.
        What I summarized for the principals was the fact that most
librarians who responded did rely on reviews a greater percentage of the
time for fiction and not as much for non-fiction, but still over 50% of the
time.  Most of those reponding mentioned how they are quick to fill
teachers' requests because the teachers know what they want and will use
materials that are ordered for them.  I wanted the principals to know that,
although we don't use reviews 100% of the time for every selection, we do
rely on them most, but we also go to other sources to fill out our
selections.  This information really helped me because it showed that we
follow the same procedures that many of you do. Our elementary libraries
are staffed with assistants rather than certified librarians and they are
doing an excellent job.  Hope this information can be of value to someone
else and I thank you so much for your help!




Konnie Wightman
Elementary Library Coordinator
Bismarck Public Schools
1107 Airport Road
Bismarck, ND  58504