HIT: Reference books for small libraries

[Sylvia and Stillman Jacquard <sjacquar@FOX.NSTN.CA>]

Dear Netters:

Many thanks to all those who replied to my question. I especially thank
Johanna Halbeisen for sending my the results of the hit she had posted
last June.

Sylvia

Kane's First Facts, Kane's Facts about the Presidents,
and the Guinness Book of World Records.
World Almanac
World Book Encyclopedia
Encyclopedia of Animals (I like Groliers)
Encyclopedia of Endangered Species (Groliers)
Junior Book of Authors
Biography Today
An atlas
General References on Mammals, Plants, Trees, Amphib., Reptiles,
Insects, Birds, etc.
Student Dictionary and Thesaurus
Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs

Definitely World Book Ency., World Almanac and World Almanac's new Kids
Almanac (that's not the exact title, but close enough).  The Childrens
Atlas'
CultureGrams
Experiments on File
American Biographies
Oxford Dictionary of the American Theatre
World Book Encyclopedia[World Book,1-800-621-8202], World Almanac[Ingram],
Marshall Cavendish's 13-vol. set: Wildlife of the World[800-821-9881],
Golden Field Guides, ASPCA pet guides (Dorling Kindersley), Berlitz foreign
language dictionaries (to put on the regular shelves rather than
reference), Rand McNally Road Atlas[Ingram], Rand McNally Quick Reference
World Atlas (paperback, because the info. changes so fast!)[Ingram],
several dictionaries at different levels from pictorial to unabridged (or
college level, at least) Webster's Biographical Dictionary, Webster's
American Biographies, Webster's New Geographical Dictionary [Follett],
Clear and Simple Thesaurus Dictionary (Grossett and Dunlap), Children's
Books and Their Creators by Anita Silvey, The series of five books on
children's authors and illustrators by McElmeel [Libraries Unlimited].
I've noted in brackets places to get some titles.  The rest, except for 2
Webster's and the Silvey, you can get from Permabound, 800-637-6581.
Webster's Bio, Amer, & Silvey might best be gotten from a bookstore or
Baker and Taylor or Mackin Book Company, but I'm not sure.

Subject:      HIT: BEST REFERENCE BOOKS FOR ELEMENTARY
Date: Tue Jun  4 09:47:06 1996
>
> World Almanac and World Book Encyclopedia.

> Lands and Peoples is an enecylcopedia of continents and countries I feel
> is a necessity.  It is published by Grolier, I believe.
> Nat. Geog.'s Exploring our World and Our 50 States are nice as well
 The World Almanac and Book of Facts
Guiness Book of World Records
Statisical Abstract of the United States
Depending on your curriculum, Marshall Cavendish's sets of
encyclopedias for international wildlife and mammals are great for wide
grade-level use.  International Wildlife Foundation's set on endangered
species
is also very useful.  Kane's Facts about the States/Presidents (not
sure of the exact title) were "bibles" for our enrichment teacher.
>
> Raintree Illustrated science encyclopedia
> World Book Encyclopedia or the Children's Britannica
>
> For CDs try  Encarta '95 or '96
>              World Book
>              Canadian Encyclopedia Plus
> Try Jr. Authors & Illustrators for information about, guess what, authors
> and illustrators!  Each bio in the volume is written by the authors and
> illustrators themselves.
World Book,
Grolier Student Encyclopedia,
Authors and Illustrators for Children and Young Adults,
World Almanac, Rand McNally Classroom Atlas,
Zoo Books,
Amazing Animals,
Encyclopedia of Endangered Animals,
Petersen or Audubon field guides,
American Heritage dictionaries,
Millbrook Sourcebooks sets - Colonial Period, Civil War, Westward
> Expansion,
Biography Today.

> Webster's New Biographical Dictional,
McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Biography,
Young People's Animal Encyclopedia,
a good Thesaurus,
> unabridged dictionary,
World Almanac,
Famous First Facts,
all the Golden Guides (mostly written by Zim),
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations,
Webster's New Geographical Dictionary,
reference stuff about your state and county and town,
Culturgrams,
Encyclopedia of American History,
Encyclopedia of World History,
World Book Encyclopedia,
The Wars of America
all the reference stuff from your state's conservation department on native
> plants, animals, insects, fish, amphibians, birds, etc.
>>
> 1. World Book Encyclopedia
> 2. Almanac
> 3. Atlas (If possible one for each student in a class-I ordered
inexpensive
> ones from Rand McNally) 30 for $120 or so.
> 4. Unabridged dictionary and abridged dictionary
> 5.  Thesaurus
> 6.  Biographical Dictionary
> 7.  Geographical Dictionary
>
Subject:      HIT> Elementary Reference
Date: Sat Oct 26 03:22:08 1996

Here's the all the repsonse I got from my question about essential Reference
materials for a K-3 library.  Thanks!  =)
~~Michele~~

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The reference source used most frequently by our students in K-3
is World Book's _Childcraft_ encyclopedia.
I would highly recommend it as a beginning encyclopedia.
Marcia Garman Zorn
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I suggest you check the latest edition of the Children's Catalog.  It is
supposed to be the Bible for a balanced collection.
Victoria Lo Brutto
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I recommend that you look through the World Almanac catalog. They have a
very good selection of reference books and list grade level. National
Geographic also has great kids atlases.
Jane Scott
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
My first goal was to get a decent World Book.  I also like the Golden Book
Encyclopedia for a relatively easy read (not a lot of info, but some). I
also
like to have a set of field guides (the Golden Guides are good for lower
els).
Johanna Halbeisen
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Try--Grolier's Amazing Animals of the World, The Kingfisher Science
Encyclopedia, The Great Dinosaur Atlas by William Lindsey, The World Almanac
for Kids, The doubleday Children's picture dictionary and the doubleday
children's thesaurus for starter's.
Carolyn Mattern
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
buy one copy of the latest World Almanac (or Information Please, if you
prefer it) every year...the paperback edition is usually available at my
local bookstore much earlier than I can get it from a catalog and it's not
expensive.  It answers so many questions for me!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have added a separate set of Grolier's Nature's Animals set and a
few others.  Most of my reference is on CD Roms!  A new
set of World Book would be helpful and an updated World Almanac!
Mary Rose Morris
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Of all my reference books here are my favorites- and the most used besides
encyclopedias:
oddly enough they are both Facts on File publications
Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes  by Carl Waldman [1 volume]
Encyclopedia of the Animal World
    12 volumes- mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, etc.
Sue Marley
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Suggested K-5 Reference Titles


About half the respondents asked to see the results.  It was a great way
to put a list together!! Thanks to all.

The suggested titles are listed in order, with those at the top of the
list receiving the most "votes".  In all honesty, after the first 10
suggested titles, the remainder were only suggested one time each.

When specific titles/publications were suggested, I have included them;
otherwise they are listed "generically", i.e. unabridged dictionary.

One more thing (takes me a long time to get to the point?), if you know
where I could locate Book of Costume and the Rules of the Game, please
let me know...


Guiness Book of World Records
Eyewitness series (Dorling Kindersley)
Webster's Biographical Dictionary
Webster's Geographical Dictionary
Biography Today (Omnigraphics, 1-800-234-1340)
Endangered Animals (8 v. set, Marshall Cavendish)
Animals (21 v. set, Marshall Cavendish)
World Almanac
electronic encyclopedia (Compton's and Grolier's were each suggested twice)
field guides (Peterson's and Zim's were recommended)
U.S. atlas
world atlas
Junior Author series
National Geographic's Mammals
Information Please
Book of Costume
National Geographic's American Indians
Famous First Facts (Wilson)
Timetables of History
New York Public Library Desk Reference
Rules for Games
thesaurus
unabridged dictionary
quotation book
Index to Poetry (Wilson)
science, computer and math dictionaries
ABC-CLIO's Kaleidoscope
SIRS, Jr.
Primary Search
Facts About the States (Wilson)
Facts About the Presidents (Wilson)
Lincoln Library Encyclopedia of Sports
Grolier's Lands and Peoples
Book of Popular Science
play index


Sylvia Jacquard
Central Kings Rural High School
Cambridge Station, N.S.
B0P 1G0
(902) 538-3135
(902) 538-8934