Shelving by book level WAS: Restricting areas of the library

[Elaine Willis <drewillis@PLANTTEL.NET>]

Brook,

Please do not level your media center at the middle school.  One of our
responsibilities is to teach information access skills for the real world,
not just in your center.

Our center serves grades 6-12.  When I came last year, our center was
leveled.  I did not want to make any major changes the first year, so I
planned to leave it that way.  I last less than two weeks.

We pulled every book off the shelf and reshelved it by fiction/Dewey
decimal.  Now I can teach the kids how to find a book based on accepted
procedures rather than reading levels.

Our elementary school media specialist still levels her center.  It
infuriates me and the teachers that the 6th graders come to us and have no
clue how to find a book even in fiction.  I don't expect the kids to know
the Dewey nonfiction designations.  That is one thing I am teaching as we go
along.  For example, if they ask about a drawing book, I tell them they are
found in the 700s with the other art books.  When they want a dog or cat
book, I tell them they are found in the 600s with the other domestic animal
books.

I want them to see there is a method to the arrangement.

Sorry for going on so long.  As you can tell, you have hit one of my sore
spots.

Elaine
L. Elaine Willis, EdD
Media Specialist
Irwin County Middle/High School
Ocilla, GA
drewillis@planttel.net (home)
ewillis@irwin.k12.ga.us (work)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Brook Berg" <booklady@UNITELC.COM>

*snip*

>With this in mind I decided to level
> the books in my prek-6 media center.

*snip*

>Now I have moved to a middle school and am considering the benefits of
> marking levels on the books there too.

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