A shipment of new books arrives and within a short time so does a data disk. Uploading is fast and easy. Since your time is so limited, unless you want to put one or two titles in a special location and need to add a prefix, you don't even look at the records. The simplicity of the process masks possible problems.

The large book jobbers, Baker & Taylor, Bro-Dart, Follett and others send good to excellent MARC records. As these are the bulk of what is added to your collection, you are not likely to spot the poor to terrible ones you have inadvertently loaded.

Consider the Source

Sometimes you purchase books directly from publishers. You might see their sales reps personally or choose from catalogs they left in your box or those mailed to you. Most offer data disks for a small fee. It takes a few minutes to complete the specification form, and you certainly don't want to catalog all those titles.

These data disks are uploaded as easily as the ones you get from your regular jobber. You have no reason to suspect that the quality is not the same. You are probably unaware that these publishers and the small jobbers who work with them have contracted with a variety of companies to produce MARC records, and their aim is to keep costs low.

Little Errors Multiply

The easiest errors to spot are in the call number. Aside from an incorrect classification, you might have the Dewey number and the author letters on the same line or the call number begins one line too low. That is because the "cataloger" put the information in the wrong subfield.

A major annoyance is the practice of listing the volumes in an encyclopedia as separate records. For a twenty-volume set on mammals, you have twenty entries filling several screens as students scroll through their results list. What makes it worse is that invariably the information refers to the first volume.

Wrong fields and subfields occur in other places within these records. Subject headings are kept to a minimum and additional data that is part of a complete MARC record is omitted. The power of the MARC to provide full information to you and your students is at best sharply reduced and often just messed up.

Finding Alternatives

What can you do? You certainly can't hand-catalog all your books. You probably have donations and small orders sitting on backroom shelves awaiting the rare few moments when you might have time to get them into the database.

The solution is to find a company to do the work for you. Several are out there, and it is a matter of determining which one is best suited to you. Price, ease of software, delivery method (FTP or online), and special options are factors you need to weigh. Two options are BookWhere 2000 and MARCIVE

BookWhere 2000

BookWhere 2000's list of libraries includes many universities and large public libraries. Since Follett and SIRS Mandarin both license it to purchasers of their automation systems you know it works well in school media centers. It uses the Z39.50 interface to search hundreds of online bibliographic databases.

Found records can be viewed in an easy-to-read labeled display and exported in MARC format. You can choose to search one library or do a power search of up to 600 databases simultaneously. The software comes with all the Web addresses built in, and users can set up files containing sets of favorite databases. The BookWhere 2000 site provides a free update file that keeps Web addresses current. See www.bookwhere.com.

MARCIVE

Those of you who did retrospective conversions in the late 1980s and early 1990s when automation vendors were not offering the service may have used MARCIVE. The company, incorporated in 1981, has been around since the beginning of the MARC format providing customized MARC records, catalog or shelflist cards. For a very small fee it will also send you book labels, smart barcodes and matching authority records for cross references.

MarciveWeb SELECT is the specific product you would need. After creating your library's profile, you can quickly get records through the Internet. Changes such as adding REF are simple and if you do them online (records can also be modified after downloading) the spine labels and barcodes will include them. Available at an additional charge, MARC Record Enrichment allows you to use the power of MARC with table of contents, added entries for fiction and biography, and summaries. Find out more at www.marcive.com.

Making Choices

As you consider which service to use, look at the pricing structure. Some companies like BookWhere 2000 have a site license fee. Others such as MARCIVE allow you to create a debit account and be billed per record. Decide whether getting labels for books, spine and barcode are worthwhile for you. You might have a problem with some vendors if your district has barred FTP as a security measure.

Individual cataloging needs to be kept to a minimum, but your database is too important to allow inferior or error-laden records to be entered. While your own automation system probably has a service for getting higher quality MARC records, other companies such as the ones described may be a cheaper, simpler alternative. Use a few days of your summer vacation time to explore the options.

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May 2001: Serial Boxes

Who can resist reading cereal boxes? Even non-readers check for special offers and other tidbits of information while spooning in their breakfast. The "Food" chapter of Sharks, Ships and Potato Chips by Toor and Weisburg (1986, Library Learning Resources, Inc.) suggested a book report presented on cereal boxes. For a new twist on the idea, have students from grades three through nine have some fun reporting on their favorite series titles. It is a great way to start a collaborative project with teachers who want their students to read more or do creative book reports.

Help students get started by pulling appropriate titles from your shelves. Conduct a brief discussion so they are clear on the elements of a series. Most important is a cast of continuing main characters. The same setting or genre can be another factor.

On the Box

Next analyze the type of information found on cereal boxes translating it into how students will report on their favorite series. Note that the front carries the brand name in large lettering, the company that makes it, the net weight and a bold illustration advertising the product. For their reports, the company becomes the author, the brand name is the series title, the net weight is either the total number of books in the series or the number of pages of the title they are showcasing. The illustration can be an enlarged cover, copies from the book or their own drawing.

For the back, where special offers are usually featured, students should highlight the exciting events that occur in the title just read. Encourage them to use their imagination for what prizes might be included inside the box.

Side Panels

One side has the nutritional content which students should use to list the main characters. Have them estimate the "percent" of the book in which each is featured. For ingredients, let them decide what "goes into" the story. For example there might be scary scenes, time at school, playing games, etc.

For the second panel, which varies considerably from one cereal to another, encourage students to add whatever information they think is most likely to "sell" their product. Author biographies are one possibility, testimonials (real or fictitious) describing the greatness of the writing is another.

Presenting Breakfast

After students have pasted the various parts of their report on a real cereal box, they are ready to make their presentations. Schedule a breakfast complete with assorted cereals and have the audience munch away as they hear about great serials.

Once breakfast is over, display the "serial" boxes with the books alongside. The advertising is bound to attract new fans. You may not be improving nutrition, but you will certainly be developing lifelong readers.

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April 2001: Comparative Fairy Tales

Fairy tales are an enduring worldwide tradition. Whether retold with variations as in this month?s bibliography, or one of the many versions that have evolved in different countries, they have similar elements and are well-loved by the people who tell them.

For National School Library Media Month, focus on the treasures of these tales in a creative unit for intermediate through middle school students. Have students explore the many collections and individual stories in your media center and then analyze them as the first step in writing their own variations.

Getting Ready

Before the class arrives, pull all individual fairy tales from the shelves. Group those that are similar. Thus, Tom Tit Tot goes with Rumpelstiltskin. If you need additional books, you can use collections. Otherwise, leave them for students to find.

Prepare a graphic organizer to help students analyze two similar stories and plan their own version. A simple one is a table with four columns. The first is headed ?Key Elements?; the second is ?Story #1?; the third is Story #2; and the last is ?Our Version.? Have at least four rows for them to complete.

Setting the Tone

Start the lesson by reading one of the classic stories. Talk to the class about what concepts are always present ? for example, happy endings, bad people punished and good people rewarded. Ask what other aspects might or might not be included, such as magic or talking animals.

Follow the discussion with a reading of a different version of the tale or one of the modern retellings. Have students list key elements in both stories. Cinderella, no matter where she lives, always has an evil stepmother and siblings. There is some event to which she is the only one not invited, but she gets there all the same and captures the heart of the prince or his equivalent. She always flees, and he must locate her with only a single item ? usually a shoe of some kind ? to identify her. Despite her family?s efforts to keep her away, she is found and lives happily ever after.

Getting to Work

Divide the class into groups of four and distribute the graphic organizer. Explain that they are to choose two stories that have the same idea, just as you did earlier. Begin by having them fill in the first column. Let them start with their own knowledge of the tale and make any changes as they proceed.

Have groups subdivide into pairs with each reviewing one tale, noting how the key element is represented. At this point, they may realize that not everything they thought was ?key? really is ? or that they left out something important. Either have them make these changes immediately or verify their ideas by checking collections in 398.2 for additional versions to see what is consistent.

Creating a Tale

Once the second and third columns are complete, let groups get together to decide what to put in the last one. Imaginations can run freely, tied only to the logic of the story.

Remind students that before beginning to write, they must create a setting for their story. Where do the characters live? In a city? A particular country? The choice is theirs.

If there is time, let them illustrate their tale. After groups have finished, have them present their version to the class. It is time to sit back and listen as classic fairy tales emerge in yet another guise.

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March 2001: Mothers of Invention

While the incadescent light and the telephone get significant attention in the curriculum, little time is spent on the myriad inventions that have made life easier, healthier or more enjoyable. In time, these improvements are superseded by others, leaving plenty of room for more innovative designs.

As with most areas of achievement, women have met with great difficulties in getting their ideas to market. Despite barriers, they have a track record of inventions that dates from 3000 B.C. with the 14-year-old Empress Hsi-ling Shi's discovery of silk. That information is from Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women by Catherine Thimmesh (Ill. by Melissa Sweet, Houghton, 2000, 57 p. 0-395-93744-2), which makes a wonderful launching pad for an elementary unit on inventions with National Women's History Month as a focus.

Getting Started

Whether you have Catherine Thimmesh's book or not, scan you collection for resources on women inventors. Be sure to check reference materials on science and medicine where their accomplishments have been more heavily documented. Print out a copy of the inductees in the National Women's Hall of Fame for additional ideas.

Select the women for whom you have the most information for students to research. Prepare Information Sheets, making any necessary changes to the one given here. Put the names of those you have chosen in a box, and have students select their inventor.

Creative Energy

Once students have begun their research and have started filling in their Information Sheets, have them pause to consider the second part of the sheet. They should be able to tell you that being annoyed and frustrated with some practice was often the motivation for an inventor. Other reasons will be given as well.

Record their responses on a flip chart. Introduce them to books on creating inventions, particularly Steven Caney's Invention Book (Workman, 1985). Challenge them to start thinking of what they might devise to improve the world as that is also part of this project.

Presentations and Authentic Assessment

Have students create advertising posters promoting the wonders of the inventions they have researched. For their own creations, let them display designs or working models.

Use the Web sites given here of the list from Catherine Thimmesh's book for contests and organizations that promote young people's creativity and encourage them to submit their work.

Take time to discuss patents and copyright. The Internet, word processing, and other programs have made plagiarism in many guises so easy that students do not always recognize when they are violating the law. Once they have invested their own efforts in creating something, they are more apt to be receptive to understanding the importance of Intellectual Property.

Contests and Organizations

Camp Invention:

NSYA Young Inventors Awards Program

The Inventors' Club

Kids Pages--United States Patent and Trademark Office

Patent Cafe: Invention and Innovation for Kids

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February 2001: Presidential Parties

Instead of having another Valentine's Day party, plan one to celebrate President's Day and involve elementary students in a variety of research activities. As they discover assorted facts and trivia about presidents, several books will serve as excellent resources. In addition to Facts about the Presidents, the recent So You Want to Be President? by Judith St. George and illustrated by David Small (Philomel, 2000, 0-399-23407-1) will delight and inform them as will the older The Buck Stops Here by Alice Provensen (Harcourt, 1997, 0-15-201628-7) and Cheryl Harness' Ghosts in the White House (Simon & Schuster, 2000, 0-689-82118-2). The latter two are discussed in the Literary Theme, "A Guided Tour of the Century" (December 2000).

Start by having students name as many presidents as they can. Leaving out the current office holder, ask them what they know about the others. Unless you have a young history buff in the class, there will be few if any responses. Suggest that with President's Day approaching, this is a good time to have a "Valentine's Birthday Party" for our country's past leaders, but first they need to find out more about these men.

Executive Search

Ask students where they would look for information on the topic. Introduce special resources such as the ones mentioned earlier and any others from your collection that would be helpful.

Prepare a list of major presidents (see box for suggestions). Divide the class into pairs giving each group one president to research. Hand out the printable Information Sheet. Ask students if there is anything they think needs to be included. Make any additions that are necessary, and let them begin their search. Keep track of how groups are faring, making sure that they don't get everything from a single resource. With the special books named, maintain fairness by setting a time limit so that a group can't monopolize a title.

Culminating Activities

In honor of Valentine's Day, let groups present their findings on heart mobiles. Have them put the name of their president, what number he was (first, third, etc.), birth and death dates, and dates in office on a large heart. Smaller hearts are then attached to either side and others are hung from these. Each has a fact headed by the general subject category in which it falls. The final piece of the mobile is either a square or heart with a bow made to look like a gift box. The groups now choose a present for their president based on what they have learned. When they make their presentation, students should explain their reasons for the gift. To keep the party theme, offer appropriate Valentine candy or cookies (depending on what you permit in your media center) to munch on while groups give their presentations. Display the completed work either on a bulletin board or hung from the ceiling.

Making Comparisons

Take the project one step further by creating a bulletin board on "Presidential Facts, Trivia, and Idiosyncrasies." Make a large heart for each category and have students fill in the specifics for all the researched presidents. Once the display is finished, have students take turns with each talking about the contents of one heart, making comparisons and contrasts among the different men to hold office. As they use the assembled facts, they will learn how to research results together to come up with an analysis that goes beyond the simple reporting of details.

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January 2001: The Girls vs. The Boys: A Newbery Unit

In most districts, curriculum requires intermediate and middle students to become familiar with Newbery Medal and Honor Books. The announcement of this year's winners occurs, as usual, on the Monday of the American Library Association's Midwinter Conference this month in Washington, DC on January 15. The occasion makes this a good time for a unit on the award.

A recent book, Newberry Girls, suggests a novel way to make these titles come alive. Pit heroines against heroes and the girls vs. the boys in a friendly competition that has students learning to examine the various titles before selecting one to read.

Set the tone by reading one selection from Dietz' collection. Match it with one you choose that features a boy. Last year's Medal winner Bud, Not Buddy would be an excellent choice. Use The Newbery and Caldecott Awards to help you identify titles.

The Lines Are Drawn

Divide the class, first by gender, and then into groups of two or three. Give each group several titles. Be sure there is at least one per student. Boys get those featuring males; girls get books with females.

Hand out Information Sheets and ask students how they can fill in the upper portion without having read the books. They should have a number of suggestions and can begin quickly.

Next, bring the class together to discuss the activity. List in blue the positive characteristics students found. Follow with the negatives in red.

A Closer Look

Have students compare and contrast male and female characteristics. Ask them to identify what makes a hero or heroine someone they enjoy reading about.

Collect the Information Sheets and let students choose a title. Once they have made their selection, give them the matching sheet that group members have previously completed.

After students have read their books, have them finish the lower portion of the form. Post the results so that everyone has a chance to see the before and after evaluations.

Bibliography

American Association for Library Services to Children. The Newbery and Caldecott Awards: A Guide to the Medal and Honor Books: 2000 Edition. American Library Association, 2000, 197 p. 0-8389-3500-1

Newbery Girls: Selections from Fifteen Newbery Award-Winning Books Chosen Especially for Girls by Heather Dietz. Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2000, 201 p. 0-689-83931-6

Sherman, Gale W. and Bette D. Ammon. Handbook for the Newbery Medal and Honor Books, 1990-1999. Alleyside Press, 2000, 118 p.1-57590-046-3

Boy Stories

Curtis, Christopher Paul. Bud, Not Buddy. Delacorte, 1999, 245 p. 0-385-32306-9
Sacher, Louis. Holes. Frances Foster Books, Farrar, 1998, 233 p. 0-374-33265-7
Spinelli, Jerry. Wringer.
Turner, Megan Whalen. The Thief. Greenwillow, 1996, 224 p. 0-688-14627-9
White, Ruth. Belle Prater's Boy, Farrar,1996, 208 p. 0-374-30668-0

Girl Stories

Cushman, Karen. The Midwife's Apprentice. Houghton, 1995, 117 p. 0-395-69229-6
Hesse, Karen. Out of the Dust. Scholastic, 1997, 227 p. 0-590-36080-9
Holm, Jennifer L. Our Only May Amelia. HarperCollins, 1999, 253 p. 0-06-027822-6
Levine, Gail Carsons. Ella Enchanted. HarperCollins, 1997, 232 p. 0-06-027510-3
McGraw, Eloise. Moorchild. Margaret K. McElderry, Simon & Schuster, 1996, 240 p. 0-689-80654-X

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November 2000: Information Skills Teaching Unit:
The Millennium Election

While every presidential election is a historical event, the winner of this one will be known as the first president of the new millennium. Since he will take office in January 2001, even purists who argued that last December's hype was a year premature will acknowledge the title.

Research projects for grades seven through twelve usually begin in mid to late October but can continue past the election to give students a chance to see what factors were most significant in determining who won and who lost. Review the Information Sheets given here with collaborating teachers to add or change elements.

Preparation

Divide classes into three groups, each researching one of the following: Political Dynasties, Candidates, or Three Centuries. (The latter actually spans two hundred years but includes three elections.) Make further subdivisions for each section of the Information Sheets. You might want to add a section for Third Party candidates to "The Candidates" sheet.

Before classes arrive, pull reference and circulating materials to encourage students to get to work quickly. Make copies of "Election Central", the Web Cites column in the September 2000 issue. Check to be sure all sites are still active and make any necessary changes.

Students at Work

When students arrive, have them seat themselves by group. Review what they are researching, point out any special materials you have selected, and ask them to briefly explain their strategy. They should plan to divide up and have some work on the print resources while others check out the Internet sites. Even here, at least one member should use the recommended Web addresses while another does independent searching.

As groups present their findings, using graphics to illustrate their points, have them mount their materials on a bulletin board decorated in red, white and blue and submit their glossary. One or two students can earn extra credit by combining all the glossaries into a single list also attached to the display.

By doing their own research on the current and historical elections, students are more likely to recognize the value of the process and its importance in a democratic society. Perhaps more of them will vote and demonstrate that they understand the responsibilities of citizenship.

Click here for printable Three Centuries worksheet

Click here for printable Candidates worksheet

Click here for printable Dynasties worksheet

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October 2000: Technology Today: Web Smart

Since creating Web pages no longer requires much special knowledge, new home pages are proliferating at an astronomical rate. A number of these sites are school-related, frequently the project of a single class. They are often quite attractive, and students and teachers are justifiably proud of their work. Unfortunately, these wonderful designs are loaded with violations of privacy rights and copyright law which can lead to lawsuits and other undesirable consequences.

Safety First

The Internet is not a safe place. Prowlers of all types look for opportunities for their sometimes unsavory practices. Do not post pictures of students without first obtaining signed release statements from parents or guardians. Check with your school to see if they have a form you can use.

Never post personal information. This includes, but is not limited to, names - even first names - addresses, student identification numbers, and sport/jersey numbers. Anyone can track people with very little data. If a class home page gives grade level and pictures with first names and the school's site lists upcoming field trips, someone can appear at the location when the class arrives and call to a student by name. It is far too easy to convince young people that the stranger is known to Mommy or Daddy.

Listing student e-mail addresses is equally dangerous. A study has shown that those between the ages of ten and eighteen and supposedly computer-savvy, when offered free items that appealed to them had no qualms about giving out information about their family's buying habits and other personal data. This makes them and their parents a target for unwanted sales solicitations, and more sinister communication is a potential risk.

Copyright and Intellectual Property

Clip and paste is so simple that Web designers find it hard to believe it is against the law. While not everything is copyrighted, if it is protected the Webmaster is liable. Some sites allow use of their creations and offer it freely asking only that credit be given. Be sure to add the colorful icon that indicates the source.

Syndicated cartoons are available on the Internet. Copying them to a Web site is illegal. If your page is not visited often, you may never have a problem. However, if you have done high quality work, word gets out and you may find that one of those visitors will demand that you delete protected art work. The same holds true for music and video clips.

While there has not been much case law on Internet copyright violations, you don't want to find yourself on the wrong side of a court case hoping the decision will go in your favor.

Becoming "Street Smart"

If you plan to create your own home page and identify it in any way as connected to your school district, get approval from the administration. For example, if all the media centers have a single independent Web site and indicate the name of the district they represent or if extra-curricular activities use the school logo on their home page, permission is usually needed.

Finally, regularly check to see who has links to your site to be sure that no inappropriate references are made to your home page. Several search engines (such as www.alltheweb.com) make it easy to do this in their "advanced search" feature. Simply enter your own URL along with whatever convention that engine uses, and you will get a list of sites that link to you.

None of the above is meant to inhibit the creation of exciting personal Web pages. However, being aware yourself and alerting students and teachers to ethical copyright behaviors and "street smart" practices on the Internet is part of your role as a library media specialist.