[CALIBK12] Collection Development and GN After School Nightmare

[Headley Vicki]

I took some of the course work for collection development and I didn¹t think
it gave you a way to solve this problem.  I have a criteria for selecting
books, and it depends on how many of the criteria the books meets.  I will
not have a book in my library that is ³edgy² at a 3rd or 4th grade reading
level when I am trying to increase the reading skills by bringing in higher
reading level material.  On the other hand, sometimes I cannot find books at
a higher reading level without a compromise on ³edgy.²  Your criteria might
be to motivate reluctant readers and encourage them into a more adult venue.
It  also depends on why your students are reading it.  If they aren¹t
reading it, but they are circulating it to see the nude pictures, I would
have a BIG problem with having it in the library.  I found that a student
review for comics was a big help. ( I had a committee of kids to help with
comic selections) They gave me good feedback on what they thought was
appropriate for their fellow tweens ( I¹m at a middle school).  Of course,
these were younger kids and they were very polite about leaving the final
decision to me.  I am not so sure high school kids would be as welling to
give input without seeing the results of their efforts on the shelves, but
it is your community and you would probably know.
Good luck and I would be interested in other¹s opinion as well.

Vicki Headley
Media Specialist
Kennedy Middle School

"And he reads to them, as he does every night, as if watering them, as if
turning earth at their feet."  -- James Salter



On 9/23/08 9:04 PM, "ode2living at aol.com" <ode2living at aol.com> wrote:

> Hello. I was wondering how many of you carry the series, After School
> Nightmare, or are familiar with the series. I ordered the series, but Follett
> delivered just one volume because the others were out of stock. One of my
> technicians was disturbed by the fact it is about a hermaphrodite and that on
> one page, there is a sex scene (bare shoulders in bed with no breasts
> showing). We also have a couple of students who are manga "gurus"; they've
> read tons of GN and recommend a lot of titles to me. Anyway, these girls told
> my tech that this series is NOT appropriate for high school and that one
> volume (or more?) has a scene that contains "full nudity." Does anyone know?
> My tech also said that in the MARC record Follett has the series identified as
> "adult," which is true. However, the publisher has the series classified as
> "OT: Older Teens 16+," and it was named a Top 10 Graphic Novel series for
> teens by CSLA. 
> 
> So, this experience has me really thinking about:
> 1. Should I carry this in my HS collection? If so, how do I address the 16+
> recommendation (if at all)?
> 2. a. How do you address the issue when one of your techs disagrees with your
> collection development decisions? Obviously, it's ultimately the TL's
> decision, and we've been trained to deem what's appropriate. However, I don't
> want to exclude my techs and would rather get them "on board" with what we
> have in our collection, especially when they, too, recommend these books to
> our students just as much as I do.
> b. I also once had a different tech upset that I had purchased a novel that,
> in her opinion, had too many vulgar words. Of course, she hadn't read the book
> or the reviews. She is very conservative. I imagine many of us are questioned
> about our purchases by our staff. When this happens, how do you address it?
> Also, is this important enough for CSLA to address? Would paraprofessionals
> benefit from having a CSLA conference session on censorship and collection
> development, particularly those paraprofessionals who are in charge of
> collection development and don't have the benefit of a TL?
> 
> If you've made it this far, thank you! This post is really two-fold. TIA for
> any input. 
> 
> Connie Joyce
> Teacher Librarian
> Rancho Cucamonga High School
> Rancho Cucamonga, CA
> =
> 
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