Week+5+-+May+8

We've spent last week looking at what is in our collection. You've made the case as to why you should get additional funds to buy new books. What are you going to buy?

Mona Kerby states, "In library school, I memorized a hundred professional selection sources. But let's stick to the magic number of three. In my opinion, no matter how poor your school district is, you have current subscriptions to the following three professional sources: Booklist and Booklist Online, Horn Book Guide, and School Library Journal. These three provide an excellent balance of opinions. Some of my students who are practicing school library media specialists prefer Book Links” (10).

I agree with Ms. Kerby on three sources, however, I prefer to use The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books published by the University of Illinois, School Library Journal and Booklinks. You too will develop your preferred set of resources. What’s most important is that you use highly regarded sources such as those we’ll be discussing this week and next.

Next week, our guest speaker will be Diane Foote. Diane has extensive experience in providing library services for children. She is currently a reviewer for Booklist and a member of the 2011 Coretta Scott King Award Book Jury. She was recently a member of the 2010 Newbery Award Committee. She will be sharing her perspectives on reviewing and the variety of sources available to assist librarians in the materials selection process.

Chapter 2, //How Do I Know What Material’s to Buy?,// Chapter 3, //What Sources Do I Use to Select New Materials?// and Chapter 4, //What Sources Do I Use to Fill in the Gaps?// in Mona Kerby’s book.
 * Reading**

If you have not established a Titlewave account, you’ll want to consider doing that. (www.titlewave.com)
 * Note**

Describe your reviewing source that was selected in our first face-to-face meeting. Identify and compare the features of your selected reviewing source in both its print and online forms. Discuss what you feel are strengths and weaknesses of this publication in its various forms. Please post twice during hte week to keep the conversation going.
 * Discussion Post**