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Part of our role as library teachers is to help the students learn how to locate the information and materials they need or want. In order for that instruction to be retained, the students must practice the techniques and skills we teach them. We do them no favors by making the process easier for them. Instead of separate shelving for the series, we should focus on helping the students learn the authors of the series and where books by those authors can be found in the normal library configuration. In addition to the knowledge and ability to locate materials, we can also use the opportunity for instruction on authors and illustrators. When a student likes a series, we can (try to) expand their reading to other materials by the same author or introduce them to authors of similar materials. For non-fiction, if a student is interested in cars, sports, pets, origami, or drawing, etc., we should be teaching them the Dewey classification where those materials can be found. And yes, even elementary children can learn these skills. It may just take more reinforcement on our part. Properly instructed at the elementary level, the more literate students and researchers they will be in high school and beyond. We are teaching them life-skills, not just how to find a particular book during their limited library time this week. On a related note, I also disagree with the genre separations in the public libraries. Some of my own favorite authors write in different genres and I find it frustrating to have to go to different sections of the library to select a book. Yeah, I know, that's basically laziness! When I worked in the public library, we had some complaints (from patrons and employees) when it was decided to combine the Juvenile non-fiction section with the Adult non-fiction section. You can probably guess, I sided with the "convenience" of having all books on a particular topic being together, rather than the "children shouldn't see this" argument. This is where I feel parental supervision should come into play, rather than changing the public library layout. (And no, I don't mean for this to get into a discussion of challenged materials... that is a completely different topic! I present this example solely related to layout and organization of materials in a library collection.) Carolyn Emde, Library Media Specialist (currently assistant @ Columbus Elementary, Tulsa, OK) carolynemde@msn.com<mailto:carolynemde@msn.com> -------------------------------------------------------------------- All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law. To change your LM_NET status, e-mail to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL 3) SET LM_NET MAIL 4) SET LM_NET DIGEST * Allow for confirmation. LM_NET Help & Information: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/ Archive: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/ EL-Announce with LM_NET Select: http://elann.biglist.com/sub/ LM_NET Supporters: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/ven.html --------------------------------------------------------------------