Re: GEN: requests for help

["J. Kimball" <jakimball@MINDSPRING.COM>]

I agree with Alice Yucht (quoted below) that we should say where we have
already looked when we ask for bibliographical help. Then our helpers won't
waste their time. And as professionals we should know the names of good
references, or how to find them, and we should attempt to use such sources
first. Right on, Alice!

On the other hand, a goodly number of us are not in libraries with large
budgets, nor are we near a college or public library that has good
reference books.  So, I just want to say that we SHOULD NOT BE EMBARRASSED
to ask this list for help if our resources are limited to, for example,
vendors catalogs, such as Permabound and Follett, and our textbook from
Children's Lit!

I do like Alice's list of resources. Her citations that I personally find
most useful:
1)  Freeman's -Books Kids will Sit Still For- (which is o.p., but -More
Books Kids Will Sit Still For- may still be in print); and
2) -A to Zoo-.

-Bowker's Best Books for Children- is very good.  And I would not be
without the catalogs from Permabound (800-637-6581) and Follett
(800-435-6170). And I can't do without the Follett online catalog site ---
for which, though it's free, you have to sign up (www.flr.follett.com) ---
and the Amazon site (www.amazon.com), and the online catalog of our local
public library system (mln.lib.ma.us/MARION).  And that's not all.  I also
use the lists developed by Dale Copps which are now maintained by Nancy
Rundlett  (www.concord.k12.nh.us/schools/rundlett/rl) and the online
catalogs from several school library systems including OCM BOCES in NY
(http://netcat.library.net) and SUNLINK in Florida
(http://sunlink.brodart.com/search/fl/fl_ex.html). And I can't say enough
good things about D. K. Brown's site, the Children's Literature Web Guide
(www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/index.html), especially its lists of teacher
resources, including a great Cinderella variances page.

By the way, one of the most useful elementary and middle school library
sources for finding poems is the -Index to Poetry for Children and Young
People-.  The latest edition came out in 1998.  It costs $63.00 + s.h.,
from H. W. Wilson, and if you buy it, try to order 10 to 20 of the books it
indexes right away because anthologies of poetry go out of print pretty
fast. (Wilson: 800-367-6770.)  It is great for answering questions such as:
"Where can I find poems on snow?" or "Where can I find a copy of the poem,
'Homework'. I imagine a lot of libraries can't afford this poetry
reference, and may rely on our forum or the nearest reference department of
the public library to help them with poetry questions.

Also, I imagine that there will be more and more fools like me who retire
and love trying to track down the answers to questions from you busy people
in the field who mostly, counting home care as one, have two full-time
jobs.

All the best, Joan Kimball

On September 29, 1999, Alice Yucht wrote:
>A word of advice to all who post "send titles" requests to LM_NET:
>Tell us what bibliographic resources you've *already* checked,
>in your search for books for a teacher, your grad. school project,
>dissertation, workshop presentation, etc.
>As an information professional (or about to be one), we'd like
>to assume that you know about the standard resources in the field,
>and have already looked in them. . . .  and are not just asking the
>rest of us to do your basic research for you.
>For example, did you check the indexes in:
>Children's Catalog
>Middle/Junior High School Catalog
>High School Catalog
>Elementary School Library Collection
>Books Kids Will Sit Still For
>Genreflecting
>A to Zoo,
>and all the other PROFESSIONAL RESOURCES published
>by Bowker, H. W. Wilson, Libraries Unlimited, Linworth, et al,
>for your topic, *before* posting your request to LM_Net?
>
>Tell us what you've used so far, so that we don't waste our time.
>
>Thank you.
>
>Alice H. Yucht, Librarian and Teacher of Librarians
>Heritage Middle School, Livingston NJ
>Aliceinfo@aol.com

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