Dearest LM_NETTERS:
Your responses were great. Thanks so much - LM_NET is an incredible
resource! I feel supported and even bulwarked! I had not intended to
post all of the messages I received, but all were worth sharing. Here
are your emails:
I can't resist responding but please if you share leave my name off.
Perhaps she is a walking carrier of spam. Oh no it has moved from email
to the human.
I have no idea where she got that idea. I've never heard of such a
move.=20
Anne Oelke, LMS, Cambria, WI
LC is for large libraries - I'm not sure any public school library would
qualify.
Patricia Wasiuk, LMS, Richmond, VA 23237
News to me! I can't imagine schools making that kind of a shift - or
the reason why they would want to do so. LC is not very kid friendly.
Jacquie Henry, MLS
Walworth, NY 14568
The best answer to those types of questions is, politely, "Oh,
really?=20
I hadn't heard that. Do you have the source of that information?" =20
If they have the source, check it out. If not (and they usually
don't), and the info. seems reliable, you can always check here or in
other library information sources. Don't feel bad about not knowing
EVERYTHING - you CAN'T! That's why we have such great participation on
LM_NET - there's lots of us who don't know everything, and we have this
great resource to help us out. =20
My two cents. :o)
Patsy McLaughlin,Librarian,Houston, Texas 77090
NO WAAAAAAYYYYYY! I'm sure she knows about principal stuff, but where
did she hear that????
Sharon Hamer, Library Media Specialist
South Boston, Massachusetts 02127
That's the first I've heard of replacing the Dewey Decimal System.
Elementary students would have a devil of a time figuring out LC (imho).
I do know of some places that are arranging books by various Accelerated
Reader categories like book level or test number. In our libraries that
wouldn't work for books with DD numbers because most of our nonfiction
is not AR.
C. Hartsock
Underwood, IA 51576
None of the schools in my district are getting rid of Dewey (though
sometimes kids think books can just go anywhere).
Cher Skiles, Librarian, St. Charles, MO
I think she's misinformed. Becky Mosbacher
I highly doubt it. If it were true, you would have seen it here first.
<grin>.=20
Dan Robinson, Bronx, NY
I have a feeling that this is really about 'leveling' libraries
according to reading level. Several people have posted this year about
their administrators bringing this up. I certainly hope that we prevail
in this!
Jennifer Davidson, MLS
Solomon, KS 67480
Never heard of that, maybe she came from somewhere that placed books
according to Accelerated Reader or some such idiocy.=20
Lynn Mitchell, YOUR Technology/Media Specialist, CRHS
Well, if this were true, then ALL of us would have to convert to a
different system since we'd certainly want to be consistent through all
the grades, and I'm not about to get into that at the High School level.
I haven't heard a thing about this...maybe someone else from the group
can enlighten us. I can't imagine where she would get this idea...is
this a case where a little knowledge is a dangerous thing?! If so, she's
deadly...keep us posted!
Reggie Buresh, Librarian
Mahtomedi, MN 55115-1795
Not to be flippant - but, I would do what makes sense to you and your
library. I have not heard of a strong push for LC in elementary schools.
Dr. Allan O'Grady Cuseo (Brother Donogh Allan, MGC)
Rochester, New York 14617
I have not heard or seen that in evidence in the schools of the 500
school librarians with whom I work. Did she tell you K-8 was moving to
LC, or was that your assumption when she said they were moving away from
Dewey? Some libraries are being rearranged according to Accelerated
Reader levels, but usually against the will of the librarian.
Carol Simpson
If you need to, we are all in a lot of trouble. I can't imagine that we
would begin to label all the elementary schools with LOC. Could this be
a district item in your district.
Darla Grediagin
Not me - LC would be crazy for kids!!!
Dorcas Hand, Annunciation Orthodox School, Houston TX
I'm sticking with dewey.
Raynette Schulte,=20
Watertown, SD
Hi,
This is an interesting question!
Personally, I suspect that the answer is a resounding NO, but I really
don't know.
You might want to re-submit your question and this time try to take a
poll, asking the 15,000+ librarians who participate in this listserv to
reply to you if they are using LC in their K-8 collections.
Maybe Peter can tell you how many of the 15,000 members of LM_NET
actually work in K-8 libraries. Even if he can, I doubt that you could
arrive at any meaningful stats, as many people will not take the time to
reply and many thousands of K-8 librarians are not members........
Suppose you get 100 replies, what does that mean if, say, 5000 of the
members work in K-8 libraries. Probably not much, but it would be
interesting to know. And you would have something to support your views
the next time you talk to that administrator..........
Gordon Walter, Ackley, Iowa
Hi, I haven't heard anything and I certainly have no plans to change.
Our public library uses Dewey as well.
Joanne Proctor, Librarian
Most Pure Heart of Mary School
Topeka, KS
I'm certainly no authority on this, especially since I am a high school
librarian, but perhaps what the administrator meant is that some
elementary schools are grouping books according to topic, or by reading
level, or by class. Personally, I think that's a BIG mistake. Just a
suggestion.
Ellen Nosal, MLS, East Hampton, CT
A few years ago one of the tech people in our school announced that our
school libraries were doing away with the Dewey Decimal System since we
now had all the books listed on computer. I was surprised too.
Paula Bainter, Library Media Specialist, Ellsworth High School,
Ellsworth, Kansas 67439
From ghodur@redshift.com:
I, too, feel that this is a precursor to people wanting to file books by
reading levels. We do AR at all my school sites, and I love it, but I
will NEVER file by reading level, and here are the reasons I give them
for not doing so:
1. The school library has a larger mission than just checking books in
and out. They are to be teaching library skills and organization which
students will use for LIFE. Therefore, they need to adhere to standard
library shelving and labeling wherever possible.
2. Sorting books by reading level means one author's work can be
scattered all over the=20
library. Out job is to encourage kids to know and love the work of
particular authors and=20
sometimes series books. If they are together on the shelf, as they
should be, young readers=20
will spot other books that they want to read - otherwise they may miss
them completely.
3. Not all writing can be "leveled" and leveling is a very inexact
science, at best, and a=20
very artificial way of looking at writing, at worst. What are you
supposed to do with things that don't have a level? Have two totally
separate libraries within a library? Talk about confusing! When it comes
to finding materials, students need a CONSISTENT method of=20
organization that they can count on, which is what standard library
organization provides.
4. Processed items ordered from vendors will come processed in standard
ways. If you are going to label and shelve in a completely different
fashion, you wind up spending many hours of time re-labeling and editing
data in MARC records, so that your catalog is correct.
What we did for AR was to color-dot (which I hate, but it beats sorting
them by level!) and=20
then teaching library organization extensively so that students can
outgrow the color dot=20
method. They are all taught that none of them are still sitting there
wearing baby diapers,=20
because they outgrew the need for them, and that they are going to be
expected to outgrow the color dots, as well, and move on to being able
to find their book in the patron catalog and go get it by its call
number. I have to admit, that when you are first teaching this, the
color dots DO help many students, because you can work with a few people
at the computer and let the others do a general dot search so that they
aren't sitting around waiting. As you progress in teaching students, the
ones that know how to do the computer search will help you teach other
students, until gradually they all know what to do. I try to teach them
to get their AR book first by level on the computer, and then do their
shelf browsing to find their "free choice" book, which CAN be AR but
doesn't have to be.
Aileen Kay, Library Director
aileen.kay@smaa.org
St. Mary and ALl Angels School
7 Aliso Viejo, Ca 92656
(949)448-9027, x230
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