[LM_NET] AR Label placement--spine-- HIT #3

[Robert Joyce <virginialibrarymediaspecialist@YAHOO.COM>]

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ORIGINAL QUESTION :



I  need to make a decision about the location of AR information label on
books.  I have two choices - large or small labels.  They are the same
price.  The large label contains full title, author, and AR information.
The small label just has the AR info.  The large one usually goes on the
outside front cover or the inside front cover.  The small one goes on the
spine above the spine label.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?  Pluses? Minuses?

I am thinking placement on the spine alleviates the pulling of the book from
the shelf except for the thin easy/picture and nonfiction and fiction books
.  I am in a preK-5 school.  The small label can be seen as the child
approaches the shelf.

Your quick reply to me OFF the listsev is appreciated.  I want to make my
decision first of next week.

Thanks!

Robert Joyce
School Librarian/Library Media Specialist
Pittsylvania COunty
robert@gcronline.com


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REPLIES

1.
Go for the small one on the spine.  That makes it much easier for the little 
ones to identify without pulling the book off the shelf.  Make sure they are 
color coded.


2.  I didn't use the AR labels.  The AR program will print labels using the 
30 per page address label size commercial labels.  I marked books with a 
yellow label on the spine to show that it was an AR book.  All other 
information (title, level, points) is on the labels I printed and put in the 
upper right hand corner of the title pages.  I did this because I didnt' 
want to teach students to judge a book by its cover or by its point value 
(no color coding or reshelving by level either - one concession to this is I 
created a "Favorites" shelf for books that grade one could read 
independently - still didn't put the grade level info on the shelf or 
outside of the book - didn't want to discourage older readers.  I just told 
grade one that these were some of the favorite books of first graders).  I 
teach students to choose books by the title, opening them up and looking at 
them in term of their interests, looking at the words and thinking about 
readability and understandability.  Lot of stuff along these lines and 
didn't want AR to cause my kids to look at books in an unhealthy way.



3. We use Reading Counts - but it's the same setup: large informative label 
or small spine label. When I came to my present school three years ago they 
had the spine labels. (Unfortunately they did not always put the correct 
spine label on the books) I found that between the call number, a color code 
strip and the RC spine label the spine would be covered with labels! I opted 
for the large informative label - with the book's name - inside the front 
cover and a small color dot that denotes the level. I try to teach the 
students to look for a book they like - the level is only to help them, not 
restrict their choice.

4.  In our school we don't get the labels-- we have our own sticker system 
that
we put on the spines of all AR books:
Various colored foil stars (silver, gold, green, red and blue) for the lower
levels (.0? to 5.0) and fluorescent circles (hot pink, yellow and green) for
6.0 and up. I keep small charts around the library with the levels = color
coding on them so students can refer to them. This does take extra
processing time for me but we've been doing this for 5+ years and it seems
to work. I also have a notebook with titles by level and by alphabetical
order. Our new circ system (InfoCenter) also has AR reading levels for our
books when a student does a patron search.

5.   I make my own that has the info on it I have them on the spine and they 
bend around the front cover.  Having the children to quick spot these books 
on the shelf by seeing it on the spine is a definite plus.

6. We have always purchased the labels for the spine.  This way students can 
identify if the book is Accelerated Reader before even pulling it from the 
shelf.  It has worked well for us.  We purchase the fill in labels and write 
the name of the book, book level, and number of points on it.  That 
information shows on the front of the book as the labels wrap around.

7. I use the AR labels that you need to write grade level, book number and 
points on (I don't mind writing the info on them).  I place the AR label on 
the bottom of the spine right below the spine label so if students look at 
the book spine on the shelf, they see about 1 ½ inch of the blue part of the 
AR label right below the spine label.    The AR label wraps around the 
bottom of the spine so if you look at the front of the book you see the part 
I write on and the back of the book has the rest of the blue part of the 
label.  I also cover the AR label and the spine label with Scotch book tape 
(2" x540 ") that I cut in strips a little bit longer than the AR label.  I 
also trim the spine labels so that this one strip of tape covers both the 
spine labels and the AR label.  I've been doing this for years and don't 
have many problems with it.


8.
I would use the large that has the title of the test.  Sometimes the book 
title and test title aren't the same.  For example it might be The B. Bears 
in... in stead of the Berenstain Bears...
Also, if you put them on the spine and kids can see level and points (if you 
put points) they can decide if it the right book for them with out taking it 
off of the shelf.  Much less wear and tear...

9.  I am in a primary school (500 students prek- 2nd grade) no aide, 
sometimes a volunteer 1 day a week so I use two labels in order for the 
students to be able to help themselves locate an AR book.  It is time 
consuming  "up front"  getting the labels taped on, but really saves time in 
the long run because the students know exactly what they are checking out. 
I put the blue and white label purchased from Ren. Learning on spine above 
the call  # ( It just says AR) & I color code the spine with a purchased dot 
that I put on the very top of the spine.  I use red for K, blue for 1st, 
green for 2nd, etc.  This helps the students spot an  AR book on the shelf 
and it's reading level.  I make a big reference chart and put in on the wall 
for the students to refer to showing which levels/colors.     This reminds 
them what each color means.  On the inside back cover of the books, I put a 
printed label that gives alll possible info, AR#, BL, author, title, etc. 
There will be times when you will need all of this info.  Ex.  Wrong label 
is put in book,  quiz won't come up using title or author for some quirky 
reason, but will come up with AR #.  Additional hint:  I teach the students 
to type in AR quiz #. It is quicker and more accurate for the "little ones". 
Typing in the title for example, may bring up several books, then they will 
end up either not knowing which is their book or assume they know and take a 
quiz on the wrong book  The students are taught to use the label in the back 
for typing in info when they take the quizzes. For students who "get it" I 
teach them how to narrow their reading range by looking at the label in the 
back.  For example,  when moving from 1st grade books into 2nd grade books, 
I will show them how to read between 2.0 - 2.5. 


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