Magazines - When to discard and when to keep

Question: How long should we keep magazines? What about SDA periodicals? What are some good periodicals for a school?

Response: This is a great question. I will give you some guidelines, but please note that you can do what you want! If you want to keep magazines or other periodicals and you have the space for them, keep them!

That said, some weeding guidelines indicate to discard periodicals after two years unless they are indexed for reference. For example, if you subscribe to “Model Airplane News”, those could be discarded after two years since the information is likely dated. “American Girl” might be very popular in your school and you may choose to keep them for 4 years or even longer. If you subscribe to “Cobblestone”, that magazine can be kept as long as you would a book. I have Cobblestone magazines from the early 1980’s in my library.

SDA periodicals would be treated the same way. Discard after two years unless you have space or want to keep them longer.

Here is a list of periodicals that might interest you. I have put them in categories that might be helpful. You likely will not be able to subscribe to all of these. This list is just a guide to get you started. Look at the websites and you can get a feel for the magazine. Ask for preview copies of those that look good, but you aren’t familiar with, preview it, and choose the ones that you feel will best serve your school. Donating a subscription is a great way for church members to help, too.

Miscellaneous
American Girl
Consumer Reports
Crinkles – focuses on one subject each month
Health
Highlights for Children
Kids Discover – focuses on one subject each month
Mission Frontiers - free
Popular Science
US Kids

Sports and Activities - These are popular at our school, but we watch the advertisements in the back and throughout and rip them out if they aren’t appropriate. Sometimes scantily clad women are promoting the products.

Model Airplane News
Model Railroader
Motocross Action
Mountain Bike Action
Radio Control Car Action
Ski
Sports Illustrated for Kids


Cricket Group – These are great magazines to have. The subscriptions are a bit pricy, but might be worth the cost especially if you keep these for a long time and treat them like a book.

Appleseeds – history for younger grades – 3rd and 4th
Cobblestone – history – grades 5 – 8+
Dig – archaeology – middle grades
Faces – people and places – middle grades
Spider – younger, easy stories – grades 1 and 2
Odyssey – science subjects – middle to upper grades


Teacher Resources
Bookbag – Literature units and other activities with books
Booklinks – Book Reviews
Horn Book Magazine – Book Reviews
Mailbox – Intermediate
Mailbox – Grades 2 – 3
Mailbox – Kindergarten
Science and Children
Teaching Children Mathematics
Technology and Learning


Scholastic magazines – can purchase classroom sets if you like
Career World
Choices – family, life skills – grades 7 - 12
Current Health 1
Current Health 2 – similar to Current Health 1, but for junior high and above
Current Science


Nature
Canadian Geographic
National Geographic – someone might donate this to your school after they are finished reading it.
National Geographic Kids
National Wildlife
Ranger Rick


SDA periodicals
Adventist Review
Guide
Listen
Primary Treasure
Insight
Winner

Have a great week,
Audrey

Hello,
Welcome to my blog for Adventist librarians.

My first tip of the school year is this. Go to Amazon.com and make a wish list for your school. All you have to do is to browse books and when you see one that you would like to have for your school or classroom, click to send it to your wish list. THEN, publicize this list to your parents, church, or wherever you like. You might be surprised at the response you get. If someone purchases a book, that is one less book you will need to buy. Then, put a donation bookplate in the front to state who donated the book to you.

I hope you have a great school year. I’ll be sending out a weekly email with ideas, list of books you might like, and other information. If you have any questions, please send them to me. I’ll respond to those questions very quickly.

If you know of anyone who would like to receive these emails, please have them email me or let me know their email address so I can add them to the email list. Check out my blog with last year’s emails. Sdalibrarian.blogspot.com

Audrey

Organizing Your Library

Hello,
The school year is now underway and things will be settling down soon to a regular routine. When you feel you are settled into the year, take a look at your library. Do you have one? Or do you have a few shelves that just have some books on them? How is your library area organized? How do students check out books? If you have a few shelves with some books on them and no organization plan, it is time to get one going. Last year I reviewed two different library automation programs. Maybe this is the year to choose one and get your library automated. You can see the pros and cons of each on my blog in the February archives. sdalibrarian.blogspot.com.

Don’t be overwhelmed by this task. Also, don’t feel like YOU have to be the only one to do it. Chances are there are people in your community or church that would be very willing to help with the organizing and people who can help you make the decisions. I taught at a school where two retired women volunteered to help with the school library. Students may also be a good resource for you. They may be able to help organize or help with other tasks. I have a group of students that volunteer one lunch recess a week to help in the library.

Find out who and where your resources are. Maybe you have a university or college nearby. Check the local public library or public school libraries. It is possible that the librarian knows of someone who is able to help. You may have a student who you trust to follow directions. Put a request in the local church bulletin asking for volunteers to help organize the library.

When the job is done, don’t forget to thank those who were a part of the job. Put a thank you in the church bulletin naming the volunteers, send a nice card in the mail with the students’ signatures, or dedicate a new book in your library for each volunteer with a nice bookplate inside. There are many other ways to show appreciation. Let me know of other ways that you have shown appreciation for your helpers.

I hope you have a great school year. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help you.
Audrey