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Curating aClassroom Library

A good library will never be too neat, or toodusty, because somebody will always be init, taking books off the shelves and stayingup late reading them.

—Lemony Snicket,

Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can’t Avoid

EVERY YEAR, I must pack andstore our classroom library

books, so our custodians canshampoo the classroom carpet.Sorting, evaluating, and clean-ing over three thousand booksis a massive undertaking. WhileI could begin this task over thelast few weeks of school, enlist-ing my students’ help, I don’twant to imply to my studentsthat we are finished readingby limiting their book access or choices. Stalling until the last possiblemoment, I typically spend a few days after school ends going throughour books—and as I do, I wonder if we have too many books.Recognizing the importance of a well-tended classroom library tomy students and me, I shrug off my misgivings and start cleaning.

Ranganathan’sFive Laws of

Library Science

1. Books are for use.2. Every reader his book.3. Every book its reader.4. Save the time of the reader.5. A library is a growing

organism.

Source: Ranganathan (1963).

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Why do we need classroom libraries? After all, most schoolcampuses contain a school library. Doesn’t it provide studentswith the reading material they need? No. I believe that childrenneed both school and classroom libraries. According to the 2005National Assessment of Education Progress Report (Kelley &Clausen-Grace, 2010), students in classrooms with well-designedclassroom libraries interact more with books, spend more timereading, demonstrate more positive attitudes toward reading, andexhibit higher levels of reading achievement. Study after studyconfirm the report findings that access to books in the classroomresults in increased motivation and reading achievement (Guthrie,2008; Kelley & Clausen-Grace, 2010; Worthy & Roser, 2010). AsRichard Allington and Anne McGill-Franzen (2013) remind us,“Children must have easy—literally fingertip—access to books thatprovide engaging, successful reading experiences throughout thecalendar year if we want them to read in volume” (p. 13). Over theyears, students discover their reading lives in our classroom library.This book access matters.

Offering students an engaging, diverse classroom libraryrequires more than buying books and putting them on bookshelves.The heart of a reading and writing workshop is the classroomlibrary. More than just a source of books for independent reading,the classroom library provides authentic material to support thereading and writing work we do. We use our books to examineelements of genre and craft, discover titles and authors, andresearch topics that expand our knowledge. Managing a classroomlibrary requires curation—selecting the best, most current materi-als for both curriculum needs and students’ interests.

Factors to Consider When Building aClassroom LibraryBuilding an effective classroom library is an ongoing process. As youselect books for your classroom library, think about your studentsand what books you want to offer them to read. A robust classroom

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library includes a range of reading levels, genres, and topics so asmany students as possible can find books to read that match theirinterests and reading abilities. Begin with books that have wideappeal to many readers, such as popular titles like Suzanne Collins’sThe Hunger Games, Holes by Louis Sachar, and Lois Lowry’s Numberthe Stars. When considering series, make sure you include at leastthe first three or four books in your collections. Students whodiscover a series are frustrated when a book in the series run ismissing. Research award lists and book review websites to locateexemplary texts for students, but don’t load up your bookshelveswith award-winning titles if they lack kid appeal. It’s a waste ofmoney and space. Include a mix of engaging, easy-to-access titles aswell as more challenging texts that stretch students’ worldview anddeepen their reading experiences. Full bookshelves don’t mattermuch if your students won’t (or can’t) read the books.

Introducing Students to the Classroom LibraryFrom the first day of school and for every day after that, I want mystudents to read. This means selecting books from our classlibrary immediately. As I describe in The Book Whisperer, we beginour first class with a book frenzy—inviting my students to go intoour class library and choose a book they might like to read. I helpstudents who need guidance finding a book, while students whoare more confident in selecting books feel free to browse. I learna lot about my students’ reading experiences and preferencesduring the book frenzy. In turn, they learn that I am seriousabout reading and invested in giving them choices about whatthey read.

Turning children loose to rummage through your carefullyordered bookshelves before discussing with them how to use thelibrary and care for the books may fill you with anxiety, but it helpsme to remember that the books don’t belong solely to me once thechildren arrive. It is our classroom library—ours to learn from andshare and enjoy for the entire year. Building a reading communitybegins by getting books into my students’ hands.

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Blake looks for a book in our classroom library.

After the children have selected books, we discuss the finerpoints of using the library. Over the next few days, we work as a classto determine classroom library procedures and explore how ourbooks are organized. Consider the following discussion points whenintroducing your students to your class library.

How to Check Out and Return BooksUnhappy with every paper and computerized checkout system Ihave ever used, I was thrilled to discover Booksource’s ClassroomOrganizer (http://classroom.booksource.com), an online libraryorganizer and free app. Using the barcode scanner feature, my classlibrarians (students who volunteer for this classroom job) and Iscanned every book in our classroom library. Booksource’s websitesearches the cloud using each book’s unique International Stan-dard Book Number (ISBN), autofilling the author’s name, title,reading level, and copy blurb. After adding my class lists into myprivate Classroom Organizer account, my students and I use aNetbook or iPod to check out and return books. Readers can record

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a book’s condition, assign a star rating, or write a quick review,helpful information that survives from one school year to the next.Using the computer motivates many students who refuse or forgetto update their reading lists. I can also print out overdue bookreminders for students who have kept a popular book for too long.I know that I can keep better track of our classroom libraryinventory, too.

How to Take Care of BooksAs a class, I ask students to develop rules for taking care of ourbooks. Working in table groups, students brainstorm a list ofguidelines for protecting our books, and we use their ideas tocreate an anchor chart displayed in our classroom. I keep a fewdamaged books from past years as examples and show these tostudents, so they can see what happens to books when we don’t takecare of them. I reinforce to students that readers will not have accessto all of our books if we destroy the ones we have. Last year mystudents developed these rules:

Our Classroom Library Rules

• Use a bookmark.

• Keep your book away from liquids, small siblings, and pets.

• Keep your book away from markers and pens.

• Carefully slide your book into your backpack or locker.

• Shelve your books in the correct bins.

• Do not pick off the plastic or stickers.

• Return books in a timely manner.

• Report any damaged or lost books to Mrs. Miller.

My sixth graders already knew how to care for books, butcreating our rules together helped build our classroom communityand publicly commit to taking care of our classroom library.

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How the Library Is OrganizedI organize our classroom library by genre. For two weeks, I read adifferent picture book, short story, poem, or article to my studentsand ask them to determine what the genre of the text is. We create aclass set of notes on the characteristics of each genre and determinewhat types of characters, plot lines, and settings we commonly find ineachfictiongenre. Forpoetry andnonfiction texts,we look at the textstructure and text features, too. After students have been exposed toevery genre and discussed genre characteristics, I give them severalbook tubs from our library and ask them to determine the genre oftheir tubs using their notes and their reading experiences. Preview-ing the selections in the tubs, students identify the genre of eachbook. I give each group a genre label for their tubs, and students stickthe label on the front of the tub. This activity helps students locatebooks by their individual interests and reading goals and reinforceshow books are categorized by their commonalities.

During these activities, students have examined and discussedscores of book titles and familiarized themselves with the types ofbooks available to read. Our ultimate goal for building and main-taining our classroom library is to promote and encourage readingby providing students with access to lots of books. Teaching ourstudents how to select and care for our classroom library booksfosters ownership and confidence and reinforces that these booksare an important resource for our reading community.

Is Your Classroom Library MUSTIE?Inhabiting the same classroom and teaching the same grade level, Ihave been lax about removing books from our classroom librarycollection in recent years. Packing for my recent move offered aclear opportunity to handle and consider every book and deter-mine its future use with my students. I should regularly remove anyworn-out books from our classroom library and critically evaluateeach book for reading appeal.

My teacher-librarian friend John Schumacher directed me tothe acronym MUSTIE for the six negative factors librarians con-sider when weeding and evaluating library books (J. Larson, 2012):

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M = Misleading. Removeany nonfiction books that con-tain factually inaccurate or out-dated information. Considerscientific advances, geographi-cal changes, revisions inthought or new information.Goodbye, Pluto: our solar sys-tem books classifying you as aplanet are obsolete.

U = Ugly. Books with stains, torn pages, split bindings, or funnysmells turn off readers. Heavily circulated books eventually wear out,too. If a book is yellow with age or depends on tape to remain in onepiece, throw it away. Regularly dust books, shelves, and book bins,and repair minor damage like small page tears. The physical condi-tion of the library says a lot about its currency andhowmuchwe valuereaders. Unless you can work a Reparo spell, that copy ofHarry Potterand the Goblet of Fire (swathed in packing tape) has to go.

S = Superseded. Replace books continually updated like TheGuinness Book of World Records, almanacs, sports records, and Bestof . . . lists when new editions appear. Be mindful of nonfictionbooks that suggest outdated websites or technology. When exam-ining several copies of the same fiction title, remove books withdated, unappealing covers in favor of more inviting editions. Massmarket paperbacks, while inexpensive to purchase, often containprint that is too small for children to read comfortably. Whenreducing how many copies of the same title you keep, eliminatebooks with tiny print over copies with more accessible text size.

T = Trivial. In my never-ending quest to entice kids to read, Ioccasionally purchase books that tap into particular students’ nicheinterests. While these books may engage one or two readers for asingle school year, titles that lack wide appeal, literary merit, orresearch value don’t warrant long-term residency in a classroomlibrary. Similarly, I don’t keep more than the first three to five booksin extensive, ongoing series like Warriors, Midnight Library, Star

MUSTIE in Short

M ¼ MisleadingU ¼ UglyS ¼ SupersededT ¼ TrivialI ¼ IrrelevantE ¼ Elsewhere

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Wars, or Goosebumps. If a student really loves these series afterreading the first few books, I can scrounge up subsequent titles forthem. The same goes for trendy books like television show andmovietie-ins. Anticipating that novelizations ofmovies like Pixar’sBrave willappeal to my new fourth graders, I bought a few copies, but I knowthat I will weed these out in a year or so when interest declines.

I = Irrelevant. Readers’ tastes change. Hot books in my class-room six years ago, like Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart and EdwardBloor’s Tangerine, don’t interest as many readers now. While youshouldn’t eliminate quality books in good condition from yourlibrary, reduce the number of copies you have on hand to accom-modate newer, more relevant titles. Continuously trying new les-sons and discovering books, I often purchase texts for use during aspecific author’s study, genre unit, or research project. Reflectingon curriculum changes or students’ responses to these books, suchtexts sets should evolve and change.

E = Elsewhere. With the exception of rare editions, bookspersonally inscribed to your class and you, or students’ publishedwriting, every book in your classroom library exists somewhere else.As a new teacher, I scanned every yard sale, eBay listing, and usedbookstore for Newbery and Caldecott Award winners. I didn’t knowmuch about children’s literature, and these exemplary titlesseemed like a good foundation for a classroom library. A decadelater, I can count on one hand how many students have read Riflesfor Watie by Harold Keith or Katherine Paterson’s Jacob Have I Loved.Knowing that our school and local public library carry these oldertitles, I don’t have to keep them.

Because throwing away or donating books we purchased withour own money is always difficult, remember why we build class-room libraries in the first place: so our students will fall in love withreading and find the right book at the right time. We cannot offerour students meaningful book access with damaged, outdated, oruninteresting materials.

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