Tuesday, March 13, 2007

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
This outstanding and growing database features more than 82 million records, representing 400 languages, and is searchable by ISBN, Title, Author, Keyword, and many other fields.

NOBLE Online Catalog
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
Search this catalog in English or Spanish, by ISBN, Title, Author, Keyword, and many other fields.

Boston Public Library Online Catalog
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
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

Yahoo: 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

Internet Public Library: Cataloging

Dewey Decimal System of Classification

How to Use the Dewey Decimal System

Understanding MARC Bibliographies: Machine-Readable Cataloging

Dewey Services: Dewey Decimal Classification

MARC Standards

FULL-TEXT RESOURCES FOR INFORMATION ABOUT BOOKS AND AUTHORS

Alex Awards
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.

Based on the Book
This easy-to-use resource offers a compilation of more than 1,200 books, novels, short stories and plays that have been made into movies from 1980. Users can sort through author, book title and movie title lists, or search by a film's release year.

Best Books for Young Adults
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
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
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
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
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
This award is presented annually to "authors and illustrators of African descent whose distinguished books promote an understanding and appreciation of the "American Dream."

FlamingNet
This site, a favorite among students, features reviews of preteen, teen and young adult books.

Guys Read
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.

KidsReads.com
Visit this site to find author biographies and interviews, book reviews and more.

Margaret A. Edwards Award
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
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
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."

No Flying No Tights
The best site for information about and reviews of graphic novels, No Flying No Tights includes three "sections" - Sidekicks (for kids), The Lair (for older teens and adults), and, of course, the original No Flying No Tights (for teens).

NoveList
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.(Note: You will need a User ID and Password to log into this database.)

The Printz Award
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!
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
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.

Teen Ink
Teen Ink includes a monthly print magazine, a website, and a book series - written entirely by teens, and featuring fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, as well as movie, book and music reviews. Before you begin, have a look at the terrific Writing Tips resource. Review Teen Ink's guidelines before you Submit Your Work! for publication.

teenreads.com
This site offers reviews (including Manga - Japanese print comics), interviews with authors, book group discussion guides, and more.

SELECTED SITES OF INTEREST TO SCHOOL LIBRARY MEDIA SPECIALISTS

American Association of School Librarians

Massachusetts School Library Association

Z39.50 Resource Page, from the National Information Standards Organization (NISO)