Greetings!
I have thought about a few things that I missed throughout the postings this year or thought of some items that really didn’t fit in the theme of the post each week, so here is my catch up day.
Dictionaries
It is my opinion that dictionaries for children or ones that say “Student” on them are often almost useless. Words that children want to know how to spell aren’t in them and they feel frustrated. I recommend that your school have a few copies of a really good dictionary. I bought The American Heritage Dictionary, 4th edition a couple of years ago and just love it. Yes, the children can go to the internet and find the words they need, but knowing how to use a dictionary is a life skill that is useful. This particular dictionary has lots of extras that you won’t find in most dictionaries. The pages before the dictionary words actually begins has lots of information. Regional Patterns of American Speech, Variation and Change in Our Living Language, Indo-European Roots, Semitic roots, and word history notes. I used this dictionary for a small group and we studied etymology of words and found some very interesting and very cool things. The dictionary also has many color photos and illustrations throughout the entire book. I really think you need one or two of these.
Encyclopedias
It is so easy to find information on the internet now, that encyclopedias are mostly online now. We all have access to the ones that the NAD or our unions subscribe to for us, but if your internet is not reliable at all times, you might want to keep one set. Keep your newest set. Toss the others. If anyone protests, ask them if they want their child learning from encyclopedias that are 25 + years old. If they do, give them the set!
Bibles
I know there is a particular Bible recommended for the Bible curriculum and it is great for each student to have their own Bible to use for the schoolwork. I also think it is good to have copies of other versions for comparison. I also recommend the Andrews Study Bible. One or two copies in your library will really be helpful. Each chapter begins with a page or two of historical information about that particular book. The footnotes are what I really love about this Bible. Cultural notes are included so I have learned a lot about the time period and it helps me better understand certain passages. Keep an eye out in a few weeks for campmeeting specials.
I hope you have had a great year. I enjoy meeting you when the occasion arises. Please introduce yourself to me if we do meet and let me know that you are on my list. I was returning from the last NAD Teacher’s Convention in Nashville and while waiting in the airport, I noticed a group of teachers that seemed to be going to where I was going. We started talking and eventually introduced ourselves. When I said my name, one of them cried out, “You’re the LIBRARIAN!” Why, yes I am. It was fun to meet them.
Have a great summer! Let me know if you have any questions. I occasionally check this email and I am looking for new material to write about.
Audrey
Monday, June 1, 2015
Friday, May 29, 2015
Working with Dewey 800s and 900s
Greetings!
This week we will do both 800s and 900s.
The 800s will probably be your largest section to work with. For the most part, you will have three basic sections. We will ignore 820 – 890 since you will probably not have any literature in Old English, German, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Greek, or any other languages. An elementary school library will probably only have literature in English, so we will concentrate on that.
808 Collected stories
This includes books that have multiple stories in them such as Uncle Arthur, The Children’s Hour, Guide’s Greatest, Shoebox Kids, Really Truly stories, and others. It may be that you decide to put these collected story books in with the 813s and that may be what works best for your library. One thing you need to know about these books. Some sets such as Guide’s Greatest stories are written by multiple authors. If you want to keep them all together, catalog them by just one author. We started out with a few that had Lori Peckham as the editor, so now all our Guide’s Greatest books are catalogued as if she were the editor so the series can be shelved all together.
811 Poetry
Look for books on poetry with poems that children would enjoy reading as you add to this section. Keep older poetry books if you need to locate a poem from there, but consider putting in some Shel Silverstein, as well.
813 Stories, Fiction (If you don’t like the word ‘fiction’, use the word ‘story’ instead.)
When adding to this section, look for books that will appeal to boys. I have a few posts on ideas for books for boys on my blog. Sdalibrarian.blogspot.com. For some reason, boys will not read books about girls, but girls will read books about boys.
Weed out books that are in bad shape, missing pages, or marked up. If a book is important to your school or community, replace it with a newer, better copy. Weed out books that aren’t circulating at all. At our school we have years that some books never move, but other years that they are checked out. We won’t weed them because they are being used every other year. If your library is automated, you can begin by compiling a list of books that haven’t been checked out in the past five years or so and then examine those books to determine if they are shelf-worthy.
One thing I have done regularly is to take books that I am considering weeding out and putting them on a special cart or table with a sign to the effect in that these books are in danger of being kicked out of the library, or endangered books, or something clever like that. I have also requested that students take a book and read the first few chapters and let me know if it is a good story and worth keeping in the library. Most students are willing to help in this way. Also, they usually like the story and actually read the whole book, so that is a nice trick to have up your sleeve.
The 900s are geography, history, and travel books.
In the 900 section you will put general history or geography information. This would include books that have information about all fifty states or a history over time. If it cannot be cataloged to a specific historical time period or a specific area, put it in this general section.
910 Geography and travel, pirates, shipwrecks, Titanic, atlases, maps, charts.
913 Geography of and travel in the ancient world
914 Geography of and travel in Europe
915 Geography of and travel in Asia
916 Geography of and travel in Africa
917 Geography of and travel in North America
918 Geography of and travel in South America
919 Geography of and travel in other areas
920 Biography (or put in a separate ’B’ section which is much easier for kids)
920 Collected biographies (books that have more than one story about a famous person)
927 Sports biographies (we have all our athletes biographies here)
929 Genealogy
929.9 Flags
930 History of the ancient world
940 History of Europe – Middle Ages, castles, WW1, WW2
950 History of Asia; Far East
960 History of Africa
970 History of North America
970.1 Native Americans
971 Canada
972 Middle America; Mexico
973 United States of America
973.2 Colonial, Pilgrims
973.3 Revolutionary War
973.4 Lewis and Clark
973.5 Westward expansion, War of 1812
973.6 Mexican-American War
973.7 Civil War
973.8 Spanish-American War, Reconstruction, Transcontinental Railroad
973.9 Vietnam War
974 Northeastern United States
974.7 Ellis Island
975 Southeastern United States, September 11
975.3 Washington, D. C.
976 South central United States
977 North central United States
978 Western United States
978.6 Montana
979 Great Basin and Pacific Slope region
979.5 Oregon
979.6 Idaho
979.7 Washington
979.8 Alaska
980 History of South America
990 History of Other parts of the world – Australia, Arctic, Polynesia, New Zealand, etc.
996 Pitcairn
996.9 Hawaii
You may not notice the correlation between the geography and history sections. Notice the Geography of and travel in the ancient world – 913- and History of the ancient world – 930. Both have a three (3) in the number. Geography and history of Europe both have a 4 in it and so on. Isn’t Dewey fascinating!?
As far as adding books to your library, check the subject headings here and add in as needed. I would recommend that you have a separate section for your biographies which really makes them easy to find.
Weeding this section may go quickly. Check your books on countries and make sure that information is not outdated. Look for two-color photos and other markings of an old book and strongly consider weeding these out and replacing with new editions. It may be that your school subscribes to a database that keeps this information updated and you won’t need to worry about the old books any longer. Try CultureGrams from Proquest for state and country information. They update hourly. In any case, information in this section is best if it is current.
I hope you have a great week. We only have one more to go!
Audrey
This week we will do both 800s and 900s.
The 800s will probably be your largest section to work with. For the most part, you will have three basic sections. We will ignore 820 – 890 since you will probably not have any literature in Old English, German, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Greek, or any other languages. An elementary school library will probably only have literature in English, so we will concentrate on that.
808 Collected stories
This includes books that have multiple stories in them such as Uncle Arthur, The Children’s Hour, Guide’s Greatest, Shoebox Kids, Really Truly stories, and others. It may be that you decide to put these collected story books in with the 813s and that may be what works best for your library. One thing you need to know about these books. Some sets such as Guide’s Greatest stories are written by multiple authors. If you want to keep them all together, catalog them by just one author. We started out with a few that had Lori Peckham as the editor, so now all our Guide’s Greatest books are catalogued as if she were the editor so the series can be shelved all together.
811 Poetry
Look for books on poetry with poems that children would enjoy reading as you add to this section. Keep older poetry books if you need to locate a poem from there, but consider putting in some Shel Silverstein, as well.
813 Stories, Fiction (If you don’t like the word ‘fiction’, use the word ‘story’ instead.)
When adding to this section, look for books that will appeal to boys. I have a few posts on ideas for books for boys on my blog. Sdalibrarian.blogspot.com. For some reason, boys will not read books about girls, but girls will read books about boys.
Weed out books that are in bad shape, missing pages, or marked up. If a book is important to your school or community, replace it with a newer, better copy. Weed out books that aren’t circulating at all. At our school we have years that some books never move, but other years that they are checked out. We won’t weed them because they are being used every other year. If your library is automated, you can begin by compiling a list of books that haven’t been checked out in the past five years or so and then examine those books to determine if they are shelf-worthy.
One thing I have done regularly is to take books that I am considering weeding out and putting them on a special cart or table with a sign to the effect in that these books are in danger of being kicked out of the library, or endangered books, or something clever like that. I have also requested that students take a book and read the first few chapters and let me know if it is a good story and worth keeping in the library. Most students are willing to help in this way. Also, they usually like the story and actually read the whole book, so that is a nice trick to have up your sleeve.
The 900s are geography, history, and travel books.
In the 900 section you will put general history or geography information. This would include books that have information about all fifty states or a history over time. If it cannot be cataloged to a specific historical time period or a specific area, put it in this general section.
910 Geography and travel, pirates, shipwrecks, Titanic, atlases, maps, charts.
913 Geography of and travel in the ancient world
914 Geography of and travel in Europe
915 Geography of and travel in Asia
916 Geography of and travel in Africa
917 Geography of and travel in North America
918 Geography of and travel in South America
919 Geography of and travel in other areas
920 Biography (or put in a separate ’B’ section which is much easier for kids)
920 Collected biographies (books that have more than one story about a famous person)
927 Sports biographies (we have all our athletes biographies here)
929 Genealogy
929.9 Flags
930 History of the ancient world
940 History of Europe – Middle Ages, castles, WW1, WW2
950 History of Asia; Far East
960 History of Africa
970 History of North America
970.1 Native Americans
971 Canada
972 Middle America; Mexico
973 United States of America
973.2 Colonial, Pilgrims
973.3 Revolutionary War
973.4 Lewis and Clark
973.5 Westward expansion, War of 1812
973.6 Mexican-American War
973.7 Civil War
973.8 Spanish-American War, Reconstruction, Transcontinental Railroad
973.9 Vietnam War
974 Northeastern United States
974.7 Ellis Island
975 Southeastern United States, September 11
975.3 Washington, D. C.
976 South central United States
977 North central United States
978 Western United States
978.6 Montana
979 Great Basin and Pacific Slope region
979.5 Oregon
979.6 Idaho
979.7 Washington
979.8 Alaska
980 History of South America
990 History of Other parts of the world – Australia, Arctic, Polynesia, New Zealand, etc.
996 Pitcairn
996.9 Hawaii
You may not notice the correlation between the geography and history sections. Notice the Geography of and travel in the ancient world – 913- and History of the ancient world – 930. Both have a three (3) in the number. Geography and history of Europe both have a 4 in it and so on. Isn’t Dewey fascinating!?
As far as adding books to your library, check the subject headings here and add in as needed. I would recommend that you have a separate section for your biographies which really makes them easy to find.
Weeding this section may go quickly. Check your books on countries and make sure that information is not outdated. Look for two-color photos and other markings of an old book and strongly consider weeding these out and replacing with new editions. It may be that your school subscribes to a database that keeps this information updated and you won’t need to worry about the old books any longer. Try CultureGrams from Proquest for state and country information. They update hourly. In any case, information in this section is best if it is current.
I hope you have a great week. We only have one more to go!
Audrey
Monday, May 18, 2015
Working with Dewey 700s
Greetings!
We are now on the 700s and I can see the end in sight!
The 700s are labeled ‘The Arts’. This is a section that lots of kids really like to browse through especially your artistic types. If you have books in this section that are quite valuable, consider having that book be used only in the library rather than checking it out. Few parents want to pay $60.00 or more for a lost book.
700 Art History
710 Landscaping
720 Architecture
You likely don’t have anything in these sections, but it’s nice to know where they are.
730 Sculpture
737 Stamp collecting, coin collecting
740 Drawing books
743 How to Draw books
745 Handicrafts, Origami, Calligraphy
750 Painting
759 Artists
760 Graphic Arts
770 Photography
780 Music
790 Recreational and performing arts
This section is huge. Include indoor games, jokes, riddles, games, sports, athletics, ball games, weight lifting, track and field, gymnastics, Olympics, camping, hiking, hunting, fishing, backpacking, cycling, bicycles, ice and snow sports, boating, swimming, diving, hot air balloons, equestrian, and more.
If you don’t have much in the 700’s, consider adding joke books, riddle books, books on camping, hiking, and backpacking. Add books on how to play football, baseball, and other sports. Children who like horses might like to see a book on dressage and horse showmanship. We have books on ballet, skateboarding, skiing, martial arts, and much more. What activities do your students enjoy? Add books to support their interests.
Origami books are usually quite popular and drawing and painting books are also great to add.
Artists are included here. Biographies aren’t included in this section, but usually books about artists include more about their art rather than a biography of the artist. You may need to evaluate a book to determine if it is a biography or a book about an artist and his or her work.
Consider adding in books on digital photography. There are lots of books for kids on this topic.
Check with your teachers and see what units they teach or focus on. We have a teacher here who follows the Iditarod each year with her class so we have a number of books on the Iditarod.
Weed out old outdated editions of stamp collecting or coin collecting, and outdated photography books, especially if they have outdated equipment in the photos. Mainly just check for outdated anything in this section.
I hope you have a great week.
Audrey
We are now on the 700s and I can see the end in sight!
The 700s are labeled ‘The Arts’. This is a section that lots of kids really like to browse through especially your artistic types. If you have books in this section that are quite valuable, consider having that book be used only in the library rather than checking it out. Few parents want to pay $60.00 or more for a lost book.
700 Art History
710 Landscaping
720 Architecture
You likely don’t have anything in these sections, but it’s nice to know where they are.
730 Sculpture
737 Stamp collecting, coin collecting
740 Drawing books
743 How to Draw books
745 Handicrafts, Origami, Calligraphy
750 Painting
759 Artists
760 Graphic Arts
770 Photography
780 Music
790 Recreational and performing arts
This section is huge. Include indoor games, jokes, riddles, games, sports, athletics, ball games, weight lifting, track and field, gymnastics, Olympics, camping, hiking, hunting, fishing, backpacking, cycling, bicycles, ice and snow sports, boating, swimming, diving, hot air balloons, equestrian, and more.
If you don’t have much in the 700’s, consider adding joke books, riddle books, books on camping, hiking, and backpacking. Add books on how to play football, baseball, and other sports. Children who like horses might like to see a book on dressage and horse showmanship. We have books on ballet, skateboarding, skiing, martial arts, and much more. What activities do your students enjoy? Add books to support their interests.
Origami books are usually quite popular and drawing and painting books are also great to add.
Artists are included here. Biographies aren’t included in this section, but usually books about artists include more about their art rather than a biography of the artist. You may need to evaluate a book to determine if it is a biography or a book about an artist and his or her work.
Consider adding in books on digital photography. There are lots of books for kids on this topic.
Check with your teachers and see what units they teach or focus on. We have a teacher here who follows the Iditarod each year with her class so we have a number of books on the Iditarod.
Weed out old outdated editions of stamp collecting or coin collecting, and outdated photography books, especially if they have outdated equipment in the photos. Mainly just check for outdated anything in this section.
I hope you have a great week.
Audrey
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Working with Dewey 600s
Greetings!
We are more than halfway through our Dewey weeding project. Let’s move on to the 600s.
This section is all about putting to use the things that are in the 500s. We often call this section the ‘how-to’ section. A few examples include:
1. 500 – Information about minerals; 600 - Man used minerals and made machines (cars, trucks, airplanes, etc.)
2. 500 – Information about animals; 600 – Man domesticates animals for work and for pets (horses, dogs, cats, gerbils, etc.)
3. 500 – Information about plants; 600 – man prepares plants for food (cookbooks)
This also helps us explain to children why the dog books aren’t in the 599s, but in the 636s instead.
In the first two subdivisions, 600 – 610, you will find general technology, inventions, medicine, health, diseases, the human body, survival, and first aid books.
The 620s include subjects on mining, railroads, trains, cars, ships, boats, knots, airplanes, automobiles, space exploration, rockets, and moon missions. One area you likely don’t have anything on would be geocaching. This is a wonderful family friendly activity and I would encourage you to put books in the library on this subject.
In the 630s, we have agriculture and related areas such as farming, forestry, hunting, fishing, conservation, and gardening. Specifically in the 636 section are animal husbandry and all our domesticated animals go here. Look for books on aquariums, and turtles and fish as pets for your library. Check with your students and see what kinds of animals they have as pets and try to get books for those particular pets for your library.
The 640s include home and family management subjects so expect to see cooking, sewing, housekeeping and home repair books here. I love cookbooks for children and we have a lot of them in our library. They are kept circulating most of the time, too. One subject that would be good to have is a book on babysitting.
In the 650s, you might not have much. It is office services, shorthand, accounting, and similar topics.
The 660s also might be slim since the topics are chemical engineering. Explosives, fuels, food technology, and industrial oils, fats, waxes, and gases, and metallurgy are included here.
The 670s section is manufacturing in a more general way. Lumber processing, wood products, leather and fur processing, pulp and paper technology, metalworking iron and steel would be here.
The 680s m might be more interesting. This is manufacture for specific uses. Include blacksmithing, household appliances, printing, clothing, leather, fur goods, and related products here. Also, include books on Legos and other toys such as Barbie and other dolls. Another great addition to your library would be building tree houses and forts. Check out books by David R. Stiles for this subject.
David Stiles’ books might also go into the 690s since that section is on construction, building materials, wood construction and carpentry, roofs, utilities, and heating and cooling. However, since books about tree houses are really kind of like toys, so that is where they really belong.
Weeding in the 600s would include taking a look at the books on medical information. Make sure that your books have current medical practices in them or else discard them. Outdated information here can be dangerous. Check out the books on cancer, AIDS, and other topics that change quickly. This is another place that up-to-date information needs to be accurate.
Check the pets section. Look at the books and make sure the pictures are current photos and the books are in good condition.
As much as I love cookbooks, discard any that are old and not being used. Check the physical condition and make sure all pages are intact. If you have any books on nutrition and food preparation, make sure that these are also current. Replace books that talk about the four food groups with information about the food pyramid.
Mostly you will weed according to use and condition of the book. If a book is used, but is in poor condition try to replace with a newer updated copy. If a book is not being used and is in poor condition, get rid of it. If a book is not being used, but is in good condition, figure out why it isn’t being used, and either promote it in some way, or get rid of it. Pretty new books that no one reads are useless. Get someone to read them or get rid of them.
I put some old weeded books on a table in our hall last week with a sign that said “FREE – Do Not Bring Back”. Ten minutes later after all the students were out of school, nearly all the books were gone. I was shocked, but pleased. I put more books out and the same thing happened. I mention this so you know what might be an option for you and your weeded books. If anyone begins to criticize you for throwing away perfectly good books, just tell them that you are updating the library to reflect the current curriculum.
I hope this week goes well for you.
Audrey
We are more than halfway through our Dewey weeding project. Let’s move on to the 600s.
This section is all about putting to use the things that are in the 500s. We often call this section the ‘how-to’ section. A few examples include:
1. 500 – Information about minerals; 600 - Man used minerals and made machines (cars, trucks, airplanes, etc.)
2. 500 – Information about animals; 600 – Man domesticates animals for work and for pets (horses, dogs, cats, gerbils, etc.)
3. 500 – Information about plants; 600 – man prepares plants for food (cookbooks)
This also helps us explain to children why the dog books aren’t in the 599s, but in the 636s instead.
In the first two subdivisions, 600 – 610, you will find general technology, inventions, medicine, health, diseases, the human body, survival, and first aid books.
The 620s include subjects on mining, railroads, trains, cars, ships, boats, knots, airplanes, automobiles, space exploration, rockets, and moon missions. One area you likely don’t have anything on would be geocaching. This is a wonderful family friendly activity and I would encourage you to put books in the library on this subject.
In the 630s, we have agriculture and related areas such as farming, forestry, hunting, fishing, conservation, and gardening. Specifically in the 636 section are animal husbandry and all our domesticated animals go here. Look for books on aquariums, and turtles and fish as pets for your library. Check with your students and see what kinds of animals they have as pets and try to get books for those particular pets for your library.
The 640s include home and family management subjects so expect to see cooking, sewing, housekeeping and home repair books here. I love cookbooks for children and we have a lot of them in our library. They are kept circulating most of the time, too. One subject that would be good to have is a book on babysitting.
In the 650s, you might not have much. It is office services, shorthand, accounting, and similar topics.
The 660s also might be slim since the topics are chemical engineering. Explosives, fuels, food technology, and industrial oils, fats, waxes, and gases, and metallurgy are included here.
The 670s section is manufacturing in a more general way. Lumber processing, wood products, leather and fur processing, pulp and paper technology, metalworking iron and steel would be here.
The 680s m might be more interesting. This is manufacture for specific uses. Include blacksmithing, household appliances, printing, clothing, leather, fur goods, and related products here. Also, include books on Legos and other toys such as Barbie and other dolls. Another great addition to your library would be building tree houses and forts. Check out books by David R. Stiles for this subject.
David Stiles’ books might also go into the 690s since that section is on construction, building materials, wood construction and carpentry, roofs, utilities, and heating and cooling. However, since books about tree houses are really kind of like toys, so that is where they really belong.
Weeding in the 600s would include taking a look at the books on medical information. Make sure that your books have current medical practices in them or else discard them. Outdated information here can be dangerous. Check out the books on cancer, AIDS, and other topics that change quickly. This is another place that up-to-date information needs to be accurate.
Check the pets section. Look at the books and make sure the pictures are current photos and the books are in good condition.
As much as I love cookbooks, discard any that are old and not being used. Check the physical condition and make sure all pages are intact. If you have any books on nutrition and food preparation, make sure that these are also current. Replace books that talk about the four food groups with information about the food pyramid.
Mostly you will weed according to use and condition of the book. If a book is used, but is in poor condition try to replace with a newer updated copy. If a book is not being used and is in poor condition, get rid of it. If a book is not being used, but is in good condition, figure out why it isn’t being used, and either promote it in some way, or get rid of it. Pretty new books that no one reads are useless. Get someone to read them or get rid of them.
I put some old weeded books on a table in our hall last week with a sign that said “FREE – Do Not Bring Back”. Ten minutes later after all the students were out of school, nearly all the books were gone. I was shocked, but pleased. I put more books out and the same thing happened. I mention this so you know what might be an option for you and your weeded books. If anyone begins to criticize you for throwing away perfectly good books, just tell them that you are updating the library to reflect the current curriculum.
I hope this week goes well for you.
Audrey
Monday, May 4, 2015
Working with Dewey 500s
Greetings!
Now we are getting to the larger sections. This week we tackle the 500s which is the science and nature section. These are the pure sciences: Math, Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry, Earth science, Paleontology, Biology, Botany, and Animals all listed in their Dewey order. I think it would be easiest to take a section at a time and talk about what to weed and what to add.
500 We begin with the 500 heading. This is general science and the kinds of books you find here are books that have many different categories in them like Science Fair projects, science encyclopedias, question and answer books dealing with science and others like that.
Do you have any books with science projects or experiments? That would be a good place to add or update here. Carefully evaluate anything over five years old. I usually notice the astronomy section since there have been many changes over the last five years here. Look at your sets of books and make sure that no individual titles are missing. If you do have missing parts of a set, consider if the set is worth keeping or if it would be better to discard and get a new set or individual books that would cover the material.
510 Mathematics
There are some great books on math and the history of math. It is likely that you don’t have much here, so adding some fun new titles will build interest here. Math does not really get outdated like astronomy does, so check the condition of any books you may have. Weed out old, ugly, unused books. You can discard books that talk about the ‘new math’, books that have fine print and aren’t something you would use to teach math now.
520 Astronomy
We have had some major changes in this branch of science. Update your library with books on stargazing, and make sure your books don’t include Pluto as a planet any longer or say that Jupiter has 17 moons. Look for books that are attractive and have modern technology being used. This is a section to really watch the publishing dates and carefully consider what is valuable to your library and what is not.
530 Physics
Do you even have ANYTHING in this section? I admit that until recently our library was pretty sparse here and I am married to a physicist. But a year or two ago, I asked my husband to help me pick out some books that would be attractive and interesting to students in grades 6 – 8 and he found a number of titles that he felt would be interesting. Let me know if you are interested and I’ll post those titles for you. If you do have anything here, look at it and carefully evaluate its value to your school and your curriculum. If the book isn’t useful to you in some way, why are you letting it take up valuable real estate on your shelves? This weeding information applies to the rest of this 500 section and very likely your whole library.
540 Chemistry
For the most part, chemistry books may also fit in the experiments section. I’d recommend keeping experiments all together. Find books on the elements and put here. There is one that is published by Scholastic called “The Elements” that is used constantly here. I have mended our two hard cover books multiple times each and also mended a paper copy as well. If you choose to get one, I would recommend a hard cover.
550 Earth Sciences
Add books on earthquakes, volcanoes, geology, rocks and minerals, field guides for rocks, gems, and minerals, and meteorology.
560 Paleontology
Add or replace books on dinosaurs, and fossils. There are few Christian-based books, but they are out there. I would recommend you purchase books on dinosaurs and put a disclaimer note in the front. Mine says this: “Please note that parts of this book do not agree with the Biblical story of Creation.” I print out a page of 30 at a time using Avery 5160 address labels. That way when I need one of these disclaimers, I have them ready at hand.
570 Life Sciences
Add in books on genetics, habitats, rainforest, deserts, ponds, oceans, forests, mountains, and general biology books here. Don’t be afraid to put in a high school or even college textbook here. Some kids really get a kick out of looking through a higher level textbook.
580 Botony
Add books on trees, flowers, and plants here. Make sure you have field guides for local plants and flowers along with general field guides. Something that is kind of fun to have is a book on edible wild plants.
590 Animals
This is the largest section of the 500s and may even rival your 800s section. Books on animals go here. A breakdown of this section will be really helpful to know where to catalog and what you might want to include here. I hope you try to include something in each category.
590 Animals (zoology)
590.1 Animal encyclopedia, general information
590.73 Zoos
591 Specific topics in natural history
591.4 Camouflage
591.5 Endangered animals, Migration, Hibernation
592 Invertebrates (Worms)
593 Marine and seashore invertebrates (Sponges, jellyfish, anemones, coral, starfish)
594 Mollusks (slugs, snails, nudibranch, mussels, oysters, scallops, clams, shells)
595 Arthropods (Butterflies, Bees, beetles, flies, insects, spiders)
596 Chordates
597 Fish; cold-blooded vertebrates
597.8 Amphibians
597.9 Reptiles
598 Birds
599 Mammals
599.2 marsupials, rat kangaroo, wallaby, possum, wombat, koala, platypus
599.3 pangolin, anteaters, aardvark, beaver, squirrel, rodents, sloth, armadillo, rabbits, coney, pikas, hedgehog, mole, shrew, rat, mice, vole, porcupine, chipmunk, marmot, prairie dog,
599.4 bats
599.5 marine mammals: whales, dolphins, porpoises, manatees
599.6 pigs, boars, hippo, camel, giraffe, pronghorn, bovines, bison, gazelle, sheep, goat, deer, tapir, zebra, rhino, elephant, wild horses
599.7 mongoose, civets, hyena, leopard, big cats, mink, weasel, badger, skunk, otter, wild dogs, wolf, fox, bears, panda, seals
599.8 primates, monkey,
599.9 homo sapiens
I hope you are all doing well and are gearing down for the end of the school year. I can barely believe that it is almost upon us.
Audrey
Now we are getting to the larger sections. This week we tackle the 500s which is the science and nature section. These are the pure sciences: Math, Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry, Earth science, Paleontology, Biology, Botany, and Animals all listed in their Dewey order. I think it would be easiest to take a section at a time and talk about what to weed and what to add.
500 We begin with the 500 heading. This is general science and the kinds of books you find here are books that have many different categories in them like Science Fair projects, science encyclopedias, question and answer books dealing with science and others like that.
Do you have any books with science projects or experiments? That would be a good place to add or update here. Carefully evaluate anything over five years old. I usually notice the astronomy section since there have been many changes over the last five years here. Look at your sets of books and make sure that no individual titles are missing. If you do have missing parts of a set, consider if the set is worth keeping or if it would be better to discard and get a new set or individual books that would cover the material.
510 Mathematics
There are some great books on math and the history of math. It is likely that you don’t have much here, so adding some fun new titles will build interest here. Math does not really get outdated like astronomy does, so check the condition of any books you may have. Weed out old, ugly, unused books. You can discard books that talk about the ‘new math’, books that have fine print and aren’t something you would use to teach math now.
520 Astronomy
We have had some major changes in this branch of science. Update your library with books on stargazing, and make sure your books don’t include Pluto as a planet any longer or say that Jupiter has 17 moons. Look for books that are attractive and have modern technology being used. This is a section to really watch the publishing dates and carefully consider what is valuable to your library and what is not.
530 Physics
Do you even have ANYTHING in this section? I admit that until recently our library was pretty sparse here and I am married to a physicist. But a year or two ago, I asked my husband to help me pick out some books that would be attractive and interesting to students in grades 6 – 8 and he found a number of titles that he felt would be interesting. Let me know if you are interested and I’ll post those titles for you. If you do have anything here, look at it and carefully evaluate its value to your school and your curriculum. If the book isn’t useful to you in some way, why are you letting it take up valuable real estate on your shelves? This weeding information applies to the rest of this 500 section and very likely your whole library.
540 Chemistry
For the most part, chemistry books may also fit in the experiments section. I’d recommend keeping experiments all together. Find books on the elements and put here. There is one that is published by Scholastic called “The Elements” that is used constantly here. I have mended our two hard cover books multiple times each and also mended a paper copy as well. If you choose to get one, I would recommend a hard cover.
550 Earth Sciences
Add books on earthquakes, volcanoes, geology, rocks and minerals, field guides for rocks, gems, and minerals, and meteorology.
560 Paleontology
Add or replace books on dinosaurs, and fossils. There are few Christian-based books, but they are out there. I would recommend you purchase books on dinosaurs and put a disclaimer note in the front. Mine says this: “Please note that parts of this book do not agree with the Biblical story of Creation.” I print out a page of 30 at a time using Avery 5160 address labels. That way when I need one of these disclaimers, I have them ready at hand.
570 Life Sciences
Add in books on genetics, habitats, rainforest, deserts, ponds, oceans, forests, mountains, and general biology books here. Don’t be afraid to put in a high school or even college textbook here. Some kids really get a kick out of looking through a higher level textbook.
580 Botony
Add books on trees, flowers, and plants here. Make sure you have field guides for local plants and flowers along with general field guides. Something that is kind of fun to have is a book on edible wild plants.
590 Animals
This is the largest section of the 500s and may even rival your 800s section. Books on animals go here. A breakdown of this section will be really helpful to know where to catalog and what you might want to include here. I hope you try to include something in each category.
590 Animals (zoology)
590.1 Animal encyclopedia, general information
590.73 Zoos
591 Specific topics in natural history
591.4 Camouflage
591.5 Endangered animals, Migration, Hibernation
592 Invertebrates (Worms)
593 Marine and seashore invertebrates (Sponges, jellyfish, anemones, coral, starfish)
594 Mollusks (slugs, snails, nudibranch, mussels, oysters, scallops, clams, shells)
595 Arthropods (Butterflies, Bees, beetles, flies, insects, spiders)
596 Chordates
597 Fish; cold-blooded vertebrates
597.8 Amphibians
597.9 Reptiles
598 Birds
599 Mammals
599.2 marsupials, rat kangaroo, wallaby, possum, wombat, koala, platypus
599.3 pangolin, anteaters, aardvark, beaver, squirrel, rodents, sloth, armadillo, rabbits, coney, pikas, hedgehog, mole, shrew, rat, mice, vole, porcupine, chipmunk, marmot, prairie dog,
599.4 bats
599.5 marine mammals: whales, dolphins, porpoises, manatees
599.6 pigs, boars, hippo, camel, giraffe, pronghorn, bovines, bison, gazelle, sheep, goat, deer, tapir, zebra, rhino, elephant, wild horses
599.7 mongoose, civets, hyena, leopard, big cats, mink, weasel, badger, skunk, otter, wild dogs, wolf, fox, bears, panda, seals
599.8 primates, monkey,
599.9 homo sapiens
I hope you are all doing well and are gearing down for the end of the school year. I can barely believe that it is almost upon us.
Audrey
Monday, April 20, 2015
Working with Dewey - 400s
Greetings!
This week we will discuss the 400s. In this section we have books on languages. Usually when we think of languages, we think foreign (to us) languages, however, English is a language so put your dictionaries, grammar, vocabulary, and books on etymology in this section. You can see where to catalog books on other languages in the breakdown below.
400 Language
410 Linguistics
412 Etymology
413 Specialized dictionaries: Thesaurus, Synonyms
415 Grammar
419 Sign languages
420 English and Old English
423 Dictionaries
425 Vocabulary, grammar (or in 372 section)
430 Germanic languages; German
440 Romance languages; French
450 Italian, Romanian and related languages
460 Spanish and Portuguese languages
470 Italic languages; Latin
480 Hellenic languages; classical Greek
490 Other languages
What to weed from here? Discard old-fashioned and outdated books of grammar. Check the condition of the books and either repair or replace any that are in poor condition.
What to add? Check your dictionaries. Do you have any unique dictionaries? Consider putting in a rhyming dictionary, a book of idioms, or any other interesting ones that you come across. One type of 400 book that is popular in our library is the series “The First Thousand Words in . . .” published by Usborne. We have the typical Spanish, German, French, and Italian but a couple of years ago, students asked for Chinese, Latin, and Russian, so we added those as well. Check with your students to see what languages they would like to have in the library. As children see their ideas come into the library, they become more interested in using it. You might have Spanish-English dictionaries or other dictionaries with dual languages in it. Put those here.
Do you have any children going on vacation to a foreign country? Ask them to bring back a children’s picture book for the library written in the country’s language. I just talked to a girl who will be going to Thailand and asked her if she would try to bring something like that for the library. Most families would not think of this and would be very happy to try to find a book for you.
I hope you have a great day.
Audrey
This week we will discuss the 400s. In this section we have books on languages. Usually when we think of languages, we think foreign (to us) languages, however, English is a language so put your dictionaries, grammar, vocabulary, and books on etymology in this section. You can see where to catalog books on other languages in the breakdown below.
400 Language
410 Linguistics
412 Etymology
413 Specialized dictionaries: Thesaurus, Synonyms
415 Grammar
419 Sign languages
420 English and Old English
423 Dictionaries
425 Vocabulary, grammar (or in 372 section)
430 Germanic languages; German
440 Romance languages; French
450 Italian, Romanian and related languages
460 Spanish and Portuguese languages
470 Italic languages; Latin
480 Hellenic languages; classical Greek
490 Other languages
What to weed from here? Discard old-fashioned and outdated books of grammar. Check the condition of the books and either repair or replace any that are in poor condition.
What to add? Check your dictionaries. Do you have any unique dictionaries? Consider putting in a rhyming dictionary, a book of idioms, or any other interesting ones that you come across. One type of 400 book that is popular in our library is the series “The First Thousand Words in . . .” published by Usborne. We have the typical Spanish, German, French, and Italian but a couple of years ago, students asked for Chinese, Latin, and Russian, so we added those as well. Check with your students to see what languages they would like to have in the library. As children see their ideas come into the library, they become more interested in using it. You might have Spanish-English dictionaries or other dictionaries with dual languages in it. Put those here.
Do you have any children going on vacation to a foreign country? Ask them to bring back a children’s picture book for the library written in the country’s language. I just talked to a girl who will be going to Thailand and asked her if she would try to bring something like that for the library. Most families would not think of this and would be very happy to try to find a book for you.
I hope you have a great day.
Audrey
Monday, April 13, 2015
Working with Dewey - 300s
Greetings!
This week we move on to the 300s and see what needs to be done there.
This section is the most confusing to me. It is Social Science, and is easily mistaken for Social Studies by children which is confusing since Social Studies (History and Geography) are in the 900s! Another reason it can be confusing is that there seem to be so many categories there. It isn’t as straight forward as the 200s – Religion or 400s – Languages. Here is a list of what is included in the 300s.
300 Social Science
306 Family, marriage, divorce, death
310 Collections of general statistics
320 Political science
325.1 Ellis Island, Immigration
326 Slavery
330 Economics
331 Careers
332 Money; allowances
333 Energy
333.95 Endangered species
340 Law
350 Public Administration and Military science
360 Social problems and services, associations
362.4 Physical disabilities
362.7 Personal safety
363.7 Recycling
370 Education
371.3 Study Skills – testing,
372 Elementary Education
372.4 Old reading series books
372.44 Vocabulary
372.6 Language Arts
372.61 Grammar
372.623 Writing – reports, essays, themes
372.63 Spelling
372.7 Math
380 Commerce, communications and transportation
383 Pony Express, Mail
390 Customs, etiquette and folklore
391 Costumes, clothing history
394.2 Holidays (Rogers separates the holidays out as shown below)
394.2 Christmas
394.21 Thanksgiving
394.26 All other holidays
395 Manners
398 Folklore, fairy tales, legends
So, let’s ignore 310 and 340. You likely won’t use these sections much if at all in the elementary library. Instead here is what you will likely be using most.
306 Family, Marriage, Divorce, Death
320 Political Science
325.1 Ellis Island, Immigration
326 Slavery
330 Economics
331 Careers
332 Money; allowances
333 Energy
333.95 Endangered species
350 Public Administration and Military science
360 Social Problems and services
362.4 Physical disabilities
362.7 Personal safety
363.7 Recycling
370 Education
371.3 Study Skills – testing
372 Elementary Education
372.4 Old reading series books
372.44 Vocabulary
372.6 Language Arts
372.61 Grammar
372.623Writing – reports, essays, themes
372.63 Spelling
372.7 Math – Teaching of math
380 Commerce, communications and transportation
383 Pony Express, Mail
390 Customs, etiquette and folklore
391 Costumes, clothing history
394.2 Holidays (Rogers separates the holidays out as shown below)
394.2 Christmas
394.21 Thanksgiving
394.26 All other holidays
395 Manners
398 Folklore, fairy tales, legends
Use this somewhat shorter list to see what you might put in your library. Do you have books on divorce? Consider how many of your students come from divorced families. It may well be a subject that is important to include in your library.
Books in immigration, Ellis Island and slavery will help support your curriculum as you teach these subjects.
Do you have any books on careers? Allowances? Money? Our Adventist Book Centers have a few books on money management and one or two are particularly focused toward children. Other subjects that are important to have in your library are books on endangered species, recycling, study skills, holidays, and manners.
Some subjects that are fun to include are books with costumes and clothing, and the Pony Express.
What should we weed out of this section? Check to see if the books you have are older than five years. If they are, it is possible that the information inside is outdated. Take a look inside to see what information is given and make a quick evaluation to decide if the book is still worthwhile to have in the library. If you aren’t sure, make a notation inside the front cover of the date you considered discarding the book. If in a year or two the book still has not circulated, you may then feel more comfortable about discarding it.
Look at the books in each section quickly.
1. Check the physical condition of the books. Weed out books that are marked up, shabby, have very small print or poor quality pictures, missing pages, warped cover or wavy pages damaged by water.
2. Check the content. Is the information obsolete? Do you have travel books from the 1960s? Do you have multiple copies that aren’t needed?
3. Do you have materials that aren’t circulating? Why aren’t they being used? Can you promote them so they will be used or would it be better to find other materials to replace them?
4. Is there other information on the same subject in your collection to justify discarding the book?
I was in a school a few years ago that had multiple shelves of old Reader’s Digest and Time Life books on countries and travel. The books were in good condition, and there was a lot of information and pictures in them. I would have discarded them since they were outdated but the teacher wanted to keep them. The books helped to support the study of different countries and any outdated information could be updated quickly by using the internet. You decide if the book will help support your curriculum or not. You might want to discard them, but if there is nothing else to replace the information, it might be best to keep the books until you can upgrade to a new set. Then you can discard the old set.
You might want to consider subscribing to a database such as CultureGrams from Proquest or Scholastic’s database GO!
CultureGrams includes a section about the United States and another section about the countries of the world. The information is updated every few hours so what the students learn is up to the minute.
GO! is a database that I don’t have, so I went to the website to find out about it. It looks like it includes three encyclopedias, two science resources – one on animals and one on science, a United States resource and a world resource, plus a Spanish resource for Spanish speakers. I don’t know anything about price, but you can check it out at this site. http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/grolier/
I hope things are going well for you and that you have a great week.
Audrey
This week we move on to the 300s and see what needs to be done there.
This section is the most confusing to me. It is Social Science, and is easily mistaken for Social Studies by children which is confusing since Social Studies (History and Geography) are in the 900s! Another reason it can be confusing is that there seem to be so many categories there. It isn’t as straight forward as the 200s – Religion or 400s – Languages. Here is a list of what is included in the 300s.
300 Social Science
306 Family, marriage, divorce, death
310 Collections of general statistics
320 Political science
325.1 Ellis Island, Immigration
326 Slavery
330 Economics
331 Careers
332 Money; allowances
333 Energy
333.95 Endangered species
340 Law
350 Public Administration and Military science
360 Social problems and services, associations
362.4 Physical disabilities
362.7 Personal safety
363.7 Recycling
370 Education
371.3 Study Skills – testing,
372 Elementary Education
372.4 Old reading series books
372.44 Vocabulary
372.6 Language Arts
372.61 Grammar
372.623 Writing – reports, essays, themes
372.63 Spelling
372.7 Math
380 Commerce, communications and transportation
383 Pony Express, Mail
390 Customs, etiquette and folklore
391 Costumes, clothing history
394.2 Holidays (Rogers separates the holidays out as shown below)
394.2 Christmas
394.21 Thanksgiving
394.26 All other holidays
395 Manners
398 Folklore, fairy tales, legends
So, let’s ignore 310 and 340. You likely won’t use these sections much if at all in the elementary library. Instead here is what you will likely be using most.
306 Family, Marriage, Divorce, Death
320 Political Science
325.1 Ellis Island, Immigration
326 Slavery
330 Economics
331 Careers
332 Money; allowances
333 Energy
333.95 Endangered species
350 Public Administration and Military science
360 Social Problems and services
362.4 Physical disabilities
362.7 Personal safety
363.7 Recycling
370 Education
371.3 Study Skills – testing
372 Elementary Education
372.4 Old reading series books
372.44 Vocabulary
372.6 Language Arts
372.61 Grammar
372.623Writing – reports, essays, themes
372.63 Spelling
372.7 Math – Teaching of math
380 Commerce, communications and transportation
383 Pony Express, Mail
390 Customs, etiquette and folklore
391 Costumes, clothing history
394.2 Holidays (Rogers separates the holidays out as shown below)
394.2 Christmas
394.21 Thanksgiving
394.26 All other holidays
395 Manners
398 Folklore, fairy tales, legends
Use this somewhat shorter list to see what you might put in your library. Do you have books on divorce? Consider how many of your students come from divorced families. It may well be a subject that is important to include in your library.
Books in immigration, Ellis Island and slavery will help support your curriculum as you teach these subjects.
Do you have any books on careers? Allowances? Money? Our Adventist Book Centers have a few books on money management and one or two are particularly focused toward children. Other subjects that are important to have in your library are books on endangered species, recycling, study skills, holidays, and manners.
Some subjects that are fun to include are books with costumes and clothing, and the Pony Express.
What should we weed out of this section? Check to see if the books you have are older than five years. If they are, it is possible that the information inside is outdated. Take a look inside to see what information is given and make a quick evaluation to decide if the book is still worthwhile to have in the library. If you aren’t sure, make a notation inside the front cover of the date you considered discarding the book. If in a year or two the book still has not circulated, you may then feel more comfortable about discarding it.
Look at the books in each section quickly.
1. Check the physical condition of the books. Weed out books that are marked up, shabby, have very small print or poor quality pictures, missing pages, warped cover or wavy pages damaged by water.
2. Check the content. Is the information obsolete? Do you have travel books from the 1960s? Do you have multiple copies that aren’t needed?
3. Do you have materials that aren’t circulating? Why aren’t they being used? Can you promote them so they will be used or would it be better to find other materials to replace them?
4. Is there other information on the same subject in your collection to justify discarding the book?
I was in a school a few years ago that had multiple shelves of old Reader’s Digest and Time Life books on countries and travel. The books were in good condition, and there was a lot of information and pictures in them. I would have discarded them since they were outdated but the teacher wanted to keep them. The books helped to support the study of different countries and any outdated information could be updated quickly by using the internet. You decide if the book will help support your curriculum or not. You might want to discard them, but if there is nothing else to replace the information, it might be best to keep the books until you can upgrade to a new set. Then you can discard the old set.
You might want to consider subscribing to a database such as CultureGrams from Proquest or Scholastic’s database GO!
CultureGrams includes a section about the United States and another section about the countries of the world. The information is updated every few hours so what the students learn is up to the minute.
GO! is a database that I don’t have, so I went to the website to find out about it. It looks like it includes three encyclopedias, two science resources – one on animals and one on science, a United States resource and a world resource, plus a Spanish resource for Spanish speakers. I don’t know anything about price, but you can check it out at this site. http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/grolier/
I hope things are going well for you and that you have a great week.
Audrey
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