Children's Library Services Handbook

Children's

Library

Services

Handbook

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Children's

Library

Services

Handbook

by Jane Gardner Connor

ORYX PRESS

1

The rare Arabian Oryx is believed to have inspired the myth of the unicorn. This desert

antelope became virtually extinct in the early 1960s. At that time several groups of interna￾tional conservationists arranged to have 9 animals sent to the Phoenix Zoo to be the nucleus

of a captive breeding herd. Today the Oryx population is nearly 800, and over 400 have

been returned to reserves in the Middle East.

Copyright © 1990 by

The Oryx Press

2214 North Central at Encanto

Phoenix, Arizona 85004-1483

Published simultaneously in Canada

All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,

electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and

retrieval system, without permission in writing from The Oryx Press.

Printed and Bound in the United States of America

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National

Standard for Information Science—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI

Z39.48, 1984.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Connor, Jane Gardner.

Children's library services handbook / by Jane Gardner Connor.

p. cm.

Bibliography: p.

Includes index.

ISBN 0-89774-489-6

1. Libraries, Children's—Administration. 2. Children—Books and

reading. I. Title.

Z718.1.C66 1990

027.62'5—dc20 89-8568

CIP

In order to keep this title in print and available to the academic community, this edition

was produced using digital reprint technology in a relatively short print run. This would

not have been attainable using traditional methods. Although the cover has been changed

from its original appearance, the text remains the same and all materials and methods

used still conform to the highest book-making standards.

For

Mae Benne

and for

Robert Daniel

and

Gillian Elizabeth

who are part of the future

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Contents

Foreword ix

Preface xi

Chapter 1: The Roles and Responsibilities of the

Children's Librarian 1

Chapter 2: Understanding Children 9

Chapter 3: Planning for Collection Development

15

Chapter 4: Book Selection 23

Chapter 5: Selection of Nonprint Materials 35

Chapter 6: Collection Maintenance and

Reevaluation 43

Chapter 7: Censorship 47

Chapter 8: Helping Children Use the Collection

51

Chapter 9: Programming 57

Chapter 10: Programming for Preschool Children

63

Chapter 11: Storytelling, Puppetry, and Creative

Drama 69

Chapter 12: Using Nonprint Media in Library

Activities 77

Chapter 13: Summer Reading and Other Programs

to Encourage Reading 83

Chapter 14: Other Activities and Programs 89

Chapter 15: Services to Parents and Other Adults

95

Chapter 16: Administration of Children's Services

101

Chapter 17: Publicity and Public Relations 111

Chapter 18: Relationships with Other Agencies and

Organizations 119

Chapter 19: Current Issues in Children's Services

123

Index 125

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Foreword

Those of us who are involved in library services to

children are aware of the goals and objectives of

this challenging profession. This book tells us how

to achieve them. It combines the ideals and philos￾ophy of librarianship with a pragmatic approach,

resulting in a realistic how-to manual that's stimu￾lating, inspiring, and invaluable. Jane Gardner

Connor communicates a great enthusiasm for the

profession, with all its privileges and responsibil￾ities. At the same time, she describes the essential,

intrinsic demands of the job and the best ways to

meet these demands. Throughout the text there is

clear evidence of the commitment required of those

who want to enter this field. But commitment

alone isn't enough; in these pages we learn of the

professional requirements, the skills, talents, and

qualifications necessary to ensure good performance

as a children's librarian.

Taking into consideration the variety of librar￾ies and variety of people entering the field of li￾brarianship, Ms. Connor covers a wide range of

subjects which will be of value to both public and

school librarians. Among the topics covered are

planning, developing, and maintaining a collection

of both print and nonprint materials; management

and administration; implementing creative pro￾grams utilizing a variety of activities and media,

publicity and public relations; and a common-sense

approach to the problem of censorship. The ex￾cellent, carefully selected bibliographies expand on

the basic principles expressed in the text.

Highly readable and well-organized, the book

can be utilized as a refresher course for practition￾ers, a guide for trainees, and as a textbook for

library science courses. And as a general manual for

children's library services, it deserves a place in

every library's children's room.

This book could be subtitled: "Everything you

wanted to know about children's librarianship but

didn't know where to find it." Well, you can find it

here. In one volume, we have all the fundamentals

of library service to children. I, for one, am very

grateful. No longer will I have to tear around the

library seeking articles and journals to form a basic

reading list for my students. This much-needed

book will serve them well.

Marilyn Kaye

Associate Professor

Division of Library and Information Science

St. Johns University, New York

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Preface

This book is based on a handbook I wrote in my

position as Field Service Librarian for Children's

Services at the South Carolina State Library. The

original Children's Services Handbook was pub￾lished in 1985 by the South Carolina State Library

and was partially funded by Library and Construc￾tion Act funds.

The original handbook developed from a need

for a basic guide to children's services which could

serve as a basis for orientation and training of new

children's librarians and other allied personnel.

After it was issued, requests for the handbook from

around the country indicated a need existed for

such a publication.

Children's Library Services Handbook is an ex￾panded and revised version of the original hand￾book. Its purpose, however, is still to provide an

introduction to services for children. Information

on the school library media center has been added,

with the terms "school library" and "school library

media center" used interchangeably. Although this

book emphasizes public libraries, school library me￾dia centers are also covered because much of the

material presented here will be useful to both.

The purpose of this handbook is to put in one

place the basics of library service to children. Other

excellent books may give a fuller and more com￾plete picture of specific information covered in a

particular chapter, and many of these are listed in

the bibliographies at the end of each chapter. The

emphasis throughout this book is on the practical

rather than the theoretical, not only the "whys" of

programming, for example, but also the "hows."

Ideally, all librarians working with children

would have as a foundation the basic knowledge

contained in this book. However, statistics show

that this is not true. While over 80 percent of

public libraries serve populations of 25,000 or less,

many do not have trained children's librarians.

Branches often have one person to provide all ser￾vices. Even urban libraries have fewer trained

children's librarians than they once did. Enoch

Pratt Public Library in Baltimore now has no more

than four or five trained children's librarians for

the entire system. Chicago has approximately 40

for 85 branches. School libraries often face the

same kind of staffing limitations with one library

media specialist responsible for several library me￾dia centers and daily work done by aides.

I would like to acknowledge the help several

people provided in preparation of the book. Margie

E. Herron, Director of Field Services at the South

Carolina State Library, provided much editing as￾sistance on the original handbook. Jane Ann

McGregor critiqued the original version while at

the Florence County Library in Florence, South

Carolina. Now at the South Carolina State Library,

she has made suggestions for this manuscript and

offered support and encouragement. Millicent

Gardner, my sister-in-law and a children's librarian

just reentering the work force, encouraged me by

telling me repeatedly how useful the book was to

her. Mae Benne, to whom this book is dedicated,

introduced me to the world of children's librarian￾ship at the University of Washington, and her dedi￾cation to the profession, commitment to quality

service, and concern for children have been a con￾tinuing inspiration to me. Last, but not least, my

husband, Ken Connor, encouraged me to undertake

this project and has supported my efforts to com￾plete it.

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Photo Credits

The author wishes to thank the following for allowing her to take

photographs:

Chopstick Theater, Charleston, South Carolina (photo of drama group)

Dallas Dancy Child Development Center, Columbia, South Carolina (photo of

visit to day care center)

Free Library of Philadelphia, Northwest Regional Branch

(photo of dragon)

Kershaw County Library, Camden, South Carolina (photos of children using

BookBrain software, puppets)

Richland County Public Library, Columbia, South Carolina (photos of toddler

story time, storytelling festival, visit to day care center)

Zion Lutheran School, Corvallis, Oregon (photo of girls reading,

boys at card catalog)