Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Selected Resources for School Librarians

Are you looking for bibliographic records for books, recorded books, videos, or other materials you're trying to catalog? Are you interested in learning more about the Dewey classification system? Looking for information about books and their authors? Use the annotated resource list below to help you as you process materials to add to your collection, or to search for information about a particular book or author.

FIND BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORDS

OCLC WorldCat
http://mblc.state.ma.us/cgi-bin/remote.pl?db=worldcat
This database features more than 46 million bibliographic records, representing 400 languages, and is searchable by ISBN, Title, Author, Keyword, and many other fields.

NOBLE Online Catalog
http://www.noblenet.org
Search the North of Boston Library Exchange (NOBLE) online catalog to locate bibliographic records for books, videos, and other materials available at the Salem Public Library, as well as at 26 other public and college libraries.

San Francisco Public Library Online Catalog
http://sflib1.sfpl.org
Search this catalog in English or Spanish, by ISBN, Title, Author, Keyword, and many other fields.

Boston Public Library Online Catalog
http://www.bpl.org/catalogs/index.htm
Search this catalog to find complete bibliographic records for more than 7.5 million books and other materials available at the BPL.

Library of Congress Online Catalog
http://catalog.loc.gov
This catalog includes detailed bibliographic records for more than 110 million items, in many languages, held at the Library of Congress. (This resource is used by researchers around the world. "Peak usage" days/times are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10:00am to 2:00pm. Therefore, plan your use of this catalog accordingly.)

New York Public Library Online Catalog
http://http://leopac.nypl.org/

LION: Cataloging Resources for School Libraries
http://www.libraries.phila.k12.pa.us/lion/cataloging.html

Yahoo: Libraries
http://dir.yahoo.com/Reference/Libraries
Search for public, school, education, and other specialized libraries from this comprehensive list of links.

LEARN MORE ABOUT CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS

Libraries FAQ: Classification, Cataloging & Citation
http://www.ibiblio.org/librariesfaq/sect5.htm

Internet Public Library: Cataloging
http://www.ipl.org/div/subject/browse/hum45.40.40

Dewey Decimal System of Classification
http://www.july15.com/julia/ddecimal.htm#Geography

How to Use the Dewey Decimal System
http://www.monroe.lib.in.us/childrens/ddchow.html

Understanding MARC Bibliographies: Machine-Readable Cataloging
http://www.loc.gov/marc/umb/

Dewey Services: Dewey Decimal Classification
http://www.oclc.org/dewey/

MARC Standards
http://www.loc.gov/marc/

FULL-TEXT RESOURCES FOR INFORMATION ABOUT BOOKS AND AUTHORS

Alex Awards
http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/alexawards/alexawards.htm
The Alex Awards are named for Margaret Alexander Edward, who worked for many years as a young adult specialist at Baltimore's Enoch Pratt Library. They are given each year to ten well-written, readable books written for adults, selected from genres that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18.

Best Books for Young Adults
http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/bestbooksya/booksyoung.htm
Best Books for Young Adults include "significant adult and young adult" fiction and nonfiction books selected from the current year's publications and recommended for young adult readers ages 12 through 18.

Biography Resource Center
http://www.nmrls.org
This outstanding database features biographical information about more than 275,000 people from throughout history, around the world, and all disciplines and subject areas. More than 400,000 biographies are included from 90 highly regarded Gale Group publications. (To access this database, you will need to use your public library barcode.)

The Caldecott Medal Home Page
http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/literaryawds/caldecottmedal/caldecottmedal.htm
Named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott, the Caldecott Medal has been awarded annually since 1938 to "the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children." This site also features a complete list of all Caldecott Medal winners and honor books from 1938 to the present.

Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site
http://www.carolhurst.com
Hurst's rich site features book reviews listed by title, author and grade level, literature tie-ins to all areas of the language arts, math, U.S. and world history curricula, and suggested titles for all sorts of themes in children's literature, as well as wonderful profiles of children's and young adult authors.

The Children's Literature Web Guide
http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/
Visit this helpful site for information about authors, titles, award-winning books, resources for readers, children's literature online discussion groups, and much more.

Coretta Scott King Award
http://www.ala.org/ala/srrt/corettascottking/corettascott.htm
This award is presented annually to "authors and illustrators of African descent whose distinguished books promote an understanding and appreciation of the "American Dream."

Guys Read
http://www.guysread.com
This "web-based literacy program", created by author Jon Scieszka to help boys find books they will enjoy, features a searchable (readers can search by author, title, or subject in which they are interested) database of titles for "young guys", "middle guys", and "older guys", as well as links to many author web sites.

Margaret A. Edwards Award
http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/margaretaedwards/margaretedwards.htm
The Margaret A. Edwards Award was established in 1988, and honors an author's lifetime achievement for his or her body of work, and its collective popularity over time.

New York Public Library: Teenlink
http://teenlink.nypl.org
Look for the "New! On the Shelf" link on this page for suggestions on great new books to read. (This page is loaded with links to other terrific resources, too.)

The Newbery Medal Home Page
http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/literaryawds/
Named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery, the Newbery Medal is awarded annually by the American Library Association's Association for Library Services to Children to the author of "the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children."

NoveList
http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?authtype=uid
NoveList is an outstanding resource through which readers can learn about books and authors. This searchable database includes information, including descriptions, suggested reading levels, reviews from high quality magazines and journals, and links to related full-text articles and web sites, about picture books, children's chapter books, young adult novels, and books for adult readers. NoveList is updated monthly, and adds about 10,000 new fiction records, along with descriptions, reviews and other information, to the database each year.

The Printz Award
http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/printzaward/Printz
The Michael L. Printz award honors a work of fiction, nonfiction, poetry or an anthology that "exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature."

Reading Rants! Out of the Ordinary Teen Booklists!
http://tln.lib.mi.us/~amutch/jen/
Visit this site, created for teens, to find a terrific collection of booklists organized by subject. Examples of reading lists currently available include: "Boy Meets Book"; "Coolest Classics"; "Fanging Around: Teen Vampire Fiction with Byte"; "Historical Fiction for Hipsters: Stories from the Past That Won't Make You Snore"; "Short Cuts: Short Story Collections You Might Actually Want to Read"; and "Word UP! Poetry Both by and for Teenagers."

The Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction
http://www.scottodell.com/sosoaward.html
The Scott O'Dell Award for Historicl Fiction is given "to a meritorious book published in the previous year for children or young adults." O'Dell established the annual award of $5,000.00 to encourage other writers to focus on historical fiction.

SELECTED SITES OF INTEREST TO SCHOOL LIBRARY MEDIA SPECIALISTS

American Association of School Librarians
http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/aaslbooksandprod/aaslbooksproducts.html

Massachusetts School Library Media Association
http://www.mslma.org

April is Poetry Month

"Poetry: the best words in the best order." -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Celebrate Poetry Month! Learn more about this wonderful art form, and find a poem that inspires or motivates you, by visiting the links below.

American Literature: Poetry
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761596671/American_Literature_Poetry.html
Read this informative article to learn about the origins, development and different forms of American poetry, from the 1600s to the present.

National Poetry Month
http://www.poets.org/npm/
http://www.poets.org/npm/faq.cfm#1 (FAQs about National Poetry Month)

The Academy of American Poets: Find a Poet
http://www.poets.org/poets/index.cfm
Search the Academy's growing database (it currently includes more than 450 poets) for biographies, photos, and other information.

The Academy of American Poets: Find a Poem
http://www.poets.org/poems/search.cfm
Search the Academy's companion database of poems (1,200 and growing) by keyword for poem text, or browse lists of titles and/or first lines.

Slam Poetry
http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/Slam_poetry
Poetry? A competitive event? Learn more about this form of performance poetry, in which the delivery is as important as the quality of the poetry itself.

Background on Slam Poetry
http://www.slamnation.com/info/backgrnd.htm
Read about the history of the Poetry Slam as a competitive performance event, and learn the rules, too, by reading this brief article, and checking out some of the links available at this site.

SITES FOR TEACHERS
Teach Now! National Poetry Month
http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/k_2theme/poetry.htm

Education World: Poetry Month
http://www.educationworld.com/a_special/poetrymonth.shtml

Modern American Poetry
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/index.htm

Poetry Forms and Terminology
http://thewordshop.tripod.com/forms.html

Glossary of Poetic Terms
http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display_rpo/terminology.cfm#acrostic

FAVORITE POETS
Shel Silverstein
http://shelsilverstein.com/html/home.html

Edward Lear
http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/lear.htm

Selected Poetry of Edward Lear (1812-1888)
http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poet200.html

Dr. Seuss: Seussville
http://www.seussville.com/

The Academy of American Poets: Robert Frost
http://www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?prmID=196

Emily Dickinson: The Complete Poems
http://www.bartleby.com/113/

Modern American Poetry: Emily Dickinson's Life
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/dickinson/bio.htm

Nobelprize.org: T. S. Eliot
http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/1948/eliot-bio.html

Modern American Poetry: T. S. Eliot's Life and Career
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/eliot/life.htm

The Literature Network: William Shakespeare
http://www.online-literature.com/shakespeare/
Visitors to this site will find a biography of Shakespeare, and links to the full text of his tragedies, histories, comedies, and selected poetry.

Shakespeare of Stratford
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/biography/

"Search Oxford Shakespeare"
http://education.yahoo.com/reference/shakespeare/poetry/

Langston Hughes
http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/hughes.htm