2.8+Project+Selection+Tools


 * 4-10 FEBRUARY - BOOK SELECTION - 30 POINTS**

No time to read reviews for the material you are adding to the collection? This is the kind of thing that might be waiting for you behind door number three. My question is: "What basis was used for adding the material to the collection in the first place?"



BACKGROUND: Below is a list of selection tools that are most commonly used by librarians in selecting books for the library. Whew! What a list. The problem is that librarians don’t have a lot of time to read through lots of reviews to select material and often depend on a variety of shortcuts in the selection process. A favorite shortcut of the harried librarian is to simply take the catalog from a vendor like Baker and Taylor, Follett, Mackin, etc. and start ordering. The downside to this process is that rather than selecting something that matches the objectives your school is trying to meet from a professional reviewer (which may be another librarian in the field) you are starting the purchasing process with a business whose objective is to get you to buy something they want to sell.

The harried librarian scenario reminds me of a colleague who was opening a new library (in the K.C. area – my lips are sealed) who was given no time for selection and her way of dealing with the need to get orders off before school was out was to request copies of book orders that surrounding librarians were making that spring so she could add those books to her ordering list. Needless to say, the books that came in from other librarians had probably nothing to do with what was going on in her school.

Here are what several librarians had to say about ordering recently on LM_NET:
 * @https://www.evernote.com/l/AA2CXSEwIQJNhImPV-u0VYdJfKYZvXWhLOQ
 * @https://www.evernote.com/l/AA0DrdDVu-9J9qKptmFfZcz8vtrwUqbtXe0
 * @https://www.evernote.com/l/AA0MYGXk7HhBUIOH104lg0eM_V5XBmsgJeE
 * @https://www.evernote.com/l/AA2Ac-mzVNdLqr5VqUc3gBl5pC0YfYl_85U

As if ordering print books wasn’t confusing enough, add to this decision process the issue of ordering e-books, e-audio books (Playaways, for example), audio books on CD, or maybe not ordering books at all but putting your budget into something like Overdrive which means the books are not housed in the library at all. Making this particular issue even more complicated is the fact that you know not all of your students will have devices on which students can read or hear a book – let alone knowing if students would want that format for reading in the first place. Because this area of selection is changing almost daily, any research that you do has to be done with **current** information.

Here are some comments on this issue:
 * @https://www.evernote.com/l/AA12UkvXEphHBaIKamgdWsGPZ4WfRHIlxyk
 * @https://www.evernote.com/l/AA0jS--KEVpAIKDbvysOFizIFefIG4JDOc4
 * @https://www.evernote.com/l/AA3CensUiExAXLFX6QbYdU6LIMYeKSKvTbc
 * @https://www.evernote.com/l/AA3GYY-WP3FOabh3mG_U2x5rsYul5Wv9Pmk

What are you going to do? Keep in mind that your budget is probably shrinking and whatever you do it has to be the biggest bang for the buck.

ASSIGNMENT: Now that I’ve created some of the alternatives, you need to do some research. > > >
 * 1) I want you to go to //Library Literature & Information Science Full Text// (one of the JCKL databases) and find articles about some of the issues of schools dealing with non-print books such as audio books, e-books, e-audio books, books on CD, etc. Write a **one** page summary of your findings which will guide your thinking of whether or by how much you will be jumping into the non-print book world. There is no one correct answer and one article will not give you enough background to make a decision. (10 points)
 * 1) Look at the list of book selection tools below and discuss one tool from each of the five divisions that you think you would use as a selection tool for guiding your purchases for the next school year. In a one-page summary discuss the characteristics of the tool that makes you think it would be valuable. It is imperative that you describe enough of the characteristics of the tools to let the reader (that's ME!) understand the unique characteristics of the tool vs. other tools in the category. Don't tell me that they give book reviews -- I know that -- that's what these tools are for. So what makes this tool and its reviews signficant for you? (10 points)
 * 1) Give me a separate page with your Works Cited for your sources of information that you used to draw your conclusions written in MLA format. Remember that for my classes you have to include the URL for any free Web citations. ((10 points)
 * 1) Your project will be no longer than three pages. This will be uploaded to the ASSIGNMENTS link in Bb.

Books are our brand. There is nothing that even comes close to what the average person thinks of when describing a library. As a librarian it is your ethical, professional, and financial responsibility to select the best materials for your library. In order to this you need to consult a variety of reviewing sources starting with those reviewing sources which have high credibility for objectivity and which are not subtlety or even blatantly pushing an agenda.

Any selection tools I give you for this assignment identified as not belonging to JCK Library will have some kind of Web presence. There should be enough information on the Web to give you an idea about the kinds of material reviewed (most review materials in addition to books) to give you an idea of the kind of reviewing tool the Web site is. You may have to work through the site in order to get a good feel for the quality of the services offered by the site or title; however, there should be enough information about the site to give you a good start on analyzing the value to the tool.
 * You can always go to the LM_NET archives to see what other librarians have said about this product if you are having trouble figuring out what this tool is.
 * If you are having trouble understanding what, exactly, you selection tool does, go to a JCK Library database to find professional review(s) on your assigned tool.


 * PROFESSIONAL SELECTION TOOLS **
 * Booklist (You may copy my example)
 * Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (BCCB)
 * Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database (JCKL database)
 * Cooperative Children’s Book Center @http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
 * Horn Book Magazine @http://www.hbook.com/
 * Junior Library Guild
 * Publishers Weekly
 * VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates)

These titles are particularly valuable because the reviewed titles can be selected from the categories of (1) Most Highly Recommended; (2) Core Collection; and (3) Supplementary Titles. This can be very valuable particularly when you are building a collection in a subject area where you don't know any of the core titles that would be good to build a collection around. All of these are published by H. W. Wilson (often referred to as the Wilson Core Collection) and available through JCKL's EBSCO databases.
 * PROFESSIONAL SELECTION TOOLS: CORE COLLECTION **
 * Children's Core Collection
 * Middle and Junior High Core Collection
 * Senior High Core Collection
 * Graphic Novels Core Collection


 * PROFESSIONAL SELECTION TOOLS AND IMPORTANT SOURCES OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT**
 * Library Media Connection
 * School Library Journal
 * Teacher Librarian


 * ORDERING TOOLS **
 * Bound to Stay Bound
 * Brodart @http://www.books.brodart.com/Content3.aspx?P=99
 * Follett’s Titlewave
 * Amazon or Barnes and Noble (you can choose)
 * Mackin @https://www.mackin.com/corp/


 * FREE TOOLS FROM THE WEB**
 * Bookfinder.com
 * Federal Resources for Educational Excellence http://free.ed.gov
 * Reading Rants! Out of the ordinary teen booklists @http://www.readingrants.org/
 * YALSA best books lists @http://www.ala.org/yalsa/bookawards/booklists/members
 * Green Bean Teen Queen http://www.greenbeanteenqueen.com
 * Ms. Yingling Reads @http://www.msyinglingreads.blogspot.com
 * No Flying No Tights @http://noflyingnotights.com/