Do you have a book to sell? As a library media specialist, I'm part of your market...along with thousands of others in schools all over the country and across the world.

Ever wondered how books are selected for a school library book collection? Today, I'm introducing a new series on how school library collections are developed.

Before I even consider the actual books, I have two major restrictions that come into play: budget and space. In this time of cut-backs, I must make every dollar count which basically means I want library books to serve multiple purposes. Does that Picture Book that I'd love to read to classes also fill a niche in the curriculum? Just the fact that a book is currently popular is almost never reason enough for a purchase. Particularly when I factor in my second restriction which is shelf space. Library shelf space is a valuable commodity and I have to determine if a book deserves a share.

How I make those determinations will be the topic of future posts.

Meanwhile, today's post at Editorial Anonymous titled: Children vs Adults is well worth reading. The article discusses the balance in appealing to children who are the audience, and adults who hold the purse-strings. Publishers must weigh those two points of view when considering projects.


Here's the answer to Friday's Famous First: "Fingers trembling, eyes on the man at the cash register, Mongoose snatched the Milky Way bar and stuck it in his coat pocket." The Library Card by Newbery Award winner, Jerry Spinelli.