2007 Imprints

Please feel free to add a signed review at the top of this list.

• The best of history web sites by Thomas Daccord (Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2007, 465p. $_____, ISBN: 9781555706111)

  If you Google “best of history websites” you will find, as many high school and college teachers and librarians already know, a huge annotated list of websites across world and U.S. history. For the user, there is a brief description of the various sites on line. Now comes the printed version including hundreds of websites drawing from the online version but including more descriptive notes and grade level recommendations. One can’t help wonder why the “better” version is not on line. Disadvantages to the printed version are currency and correct URLs. Since the cost of this list is substantial, the librarian must decide whether it is worth the price for superior information. (but not always). Heavy use with a social studies department and with lots of student researchers may tip the balance in favor of the printed version as a supplement to the online site. Recommended with reservation.

• Educator's podcast guide by Bard Williams (ISTE, 2007, 279p. $_____, ISBN: 9781564842312)

  Are you puzzled about podcasts and the potential of their uses in teaching and learning? Williams begins his books with helpful suggests for finding and producing podcasts and then turns his attention to the use of podcasts in teaching and learning. But the bulk of his book is a lengthy annotated list of podcast sources across the curriculum including science social studies, literature, and podcasts for educators and even higher education. If you have been struggling for ideas to use with this media and need to get started with some basics, this is a good purchase. Of course, it gets out of date quickly, but you can grab what you can here and get started.  It is amazing how many podcasts are actually quite well done, are free, and are from authoritative sources. This is certainly a media to consider adding to your digital library.

   

• Children's Books: A Practical Guide to Selection by Phyllis J. Van Orden and Sunny Strong (Neal-Schuman, 2007, 238p., $_____, ISBN: 1555705847)

  For those entering the field of teacher librarianship and taking a class in childrens materials, the authors provide a basic guide to choosing the best. They cover the expected topics of general selection criteria and criteria for special audiences such as children with disabilities, books with gay themes, and others along with selection guides and problems dealing with selection. However, if I were teaching a children’s materials course these days, I would have to select a second text to cover multimedia and Internet materials for children in addition to this work. So, while one cannot be critical about not including genre the authors did not intend to cover, a gaping hole in this work is using the resources of automated systems from the various jobbers as tools for selection have cut the old manual selection time significantly. Thus, this work is solidly in the “traditional” camp and leaves us crying out for current and future directions. Recommended with reservations.

• Best Books for Children, Supplement to the Eighth Edition: Preschool through Grade 6 by Catherine Barr and John T. Gillespie (Libraries Unlimited, 2007. 445p. $_____, ISBN: 1591585740)

  For years, Gillespie and now Barr have collected together in a single print volume a major selection tool combining the various review journals of the field. This volume covers 2006 through March of 2007. As with other volumes, the annotated books are arranged in major categories corresponding to Dewey and not only give a very brief description of the book but record the location of at least two reviews for the title. Many teacher librarians now use automated selection tools provided by vendors of automation systems that update books with their reviews on an ongoing basis. However, for those who prefer the printed editions, this one is available and is particularly useful for building larger collections where coverage of certain topics is essential. Recommended.

• Best Books for Young Adults. 3rd ed. Created by the Young Adult Library Services Association, edited by Holly Koelling. (ALA, 2007, 347 p. $_____, ISBN: 9780838935699)If the Best Books for Young Adults list is available on line each year from YALSA, then why compile a combined list from 2000-2006? The answer is that the collection is much much more than just a complilation of the lists. The book begins with a thorough analysis of  YALSA’s efforts over the years to create lists of the best. The chapter that analyzes the trends in publishing for young adults is simply the best analysis we have seen.  It looks at trends such as the feminization of teen literature, changes in family life as represented in the books, trends in the growth of graphic novels and many other aspects of publishing. We are then treated to  combined lists across the seven published lists of themes not used in the lists published each year. These theme lists include: friendship, humor, love and romance, science fiction, among others followed by a number of nonfiction themes. After this section, the collective lists are arranged by author complete with annotations with additional indexes of various types.  For any person working with teens, whether librarian or teacher or counselor, this book is a must have and a must read reference. The YALSA best books list is selected by adults, it is true, rather than a list popular with teens, but it represents one view into the world of YA literature worth considering.  Highly recommended. David Loertsher

• The Collection Program in Schools: Concepts, Practices and Information Sources. 4th ed. Kay Bishop (Libraries Unlimited, 2007, 287 p. $_____. ISBN: 978-1-59158-350-8) Times change. But in school libraries, the more they change, the more they remain the same. This textbook was written in three editions by Phyllis VanOrden and served as a textbook on collection development for many years. Now in its fourth edition by Kay Bishop, the essential structure of the original remains the same with new additions for various new formats. So, if you liked the previous editions, then you will welcome this one as a library school textbook. However, it would seem time to re-conceptualize the entire reason for and methods of building materials for teaching and learning in schools.  For example, digital resources are now far larger than print resources, or at least should be, in schools. It’s called the 21st century and both students and teachers, in love with Google, expect quite different delivery mechanisms, access, and formats. This text assumes the traditional principles still apply with just new formats to contend with. What kind of collection do kids and teachers need? Certainly 24/7/365 is a place to begin. And we keep up with our users in devices, networks, and needs since it is they who will decide and are deciding what formats and systems to use for their information. That’s’ dreaming, but here now. So for Kay Bishop’s effort, use it if you appreciate the traditional approach. However, we put out a call for an entire makeover. David Loertscher