Monday, April 20, 2009

Collection Development in a Middle School Library

Link to April 20 Wausau Daily Herald article, "Middle school libraries a challenge to stock".

Excerpt: The first goal, said Sue Engel, the librarian at Horace Mann Middle School in Wausau, "is to support teachers and the curriculum." After that, her mission is "to do everything I can to get these kids to read."

That means books need to reflect a range of interests, and cover plenty of topics and a range of maturity levels.

"We're not going to put graphic sex and graphic violence on our shelves," Engel said. But many books reflect the complicated world in which middle schoolers live and have mature themes.

Although all the books won't be every student's cup of tea, there should be some books in which any student will be interested.

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