Developing Library Skills
Guide to Discovering and Using Library Resources
As we close out our National Library Week posts, we need to have something for the kids. I know we want the kids to know all about the card catalog and the Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature. This is more about teaching tools. The worksheets aren’t too bad if you were in the 4th grade in the mid 1980s. I think we can safely weed this one. It is probably outdated for the parents of the intended audience.
Give ‘Em What They Want!: Managing the Public’s Library
American Library Association
Submitter: This was not a bad choice for 1992. But holding on to it today is just sad. This was still being used at my local library. I think it’s time to update to this century.
Holly: This was great in the early 1990s! I even like the “give ’em what they want” philosophy for library management books for today. It is just too dated to be useful, though. The screen shots below (especially the Baker & Taylor ordering system) are just comical. Of course technology is still part of long-range planning, as indicated in the third image below (the one with the microfilm machine), but the way that is worded is soooo 1992. Or earlier.
250 tested ideas for lively libraries or GO, PEP, and POP!
Baeckler and Larson
Submitter: Not only is this book ancient, but it was also still on the shelf. We are a small, rural public library.
Holly: The sample suggestion card (first image below) is fantastic. At first I thought an actual patron wrote in the book and the staff responded, but it’s just a sample (the authors’ names are in the response). Some of the ideas in the book aren’t bad. Others, like “Acquaint yourself with …various printing machines: ditto, mimeograph, electric mimeo an dstencil maker, offset press.” are horribly outdated.